#1117 The Language of Gratitude

Gifts, Blessings and Humility

Not too long ago, we spent some time with Robert Emmons—the leading scholar studying the science of gratitude.

Once again: “Thank you, Dr. Emmons!”

Seriously.

Wow.

THANK YOU for dedicating decades of your life to the pursuit of understanding how we can all Optimize our well-being.

(I’m often astonished by the multitude of passionate Luminaries who are shining bright lights into the various domains of living well…)

So…

I’ve been having fun practicing a lot of the stuff we talk about in our Notes on Robert’s great book Gratitude Works!

One of the things I’ve been most committed to is really deliberately cultivating the “language” of gratitude.

As Robert tells us: “Use the language of gifts. Think of the benefits you received today as gifts. Relish and savor the gifts you have been given.

He tells us that grateful people speak a slightly different language.

They focus on “gifts” and “blessings” as they move from taking things “for granted” to taking them “AS GRANTED” while moving from entitlement to humility. (← Remember THOSE big distinctions?!)

One of the ways I’ve been practicing all this goodness is by starting my Carpe Diem journaling with Gratitude for my Big 3.

I’ve also been deliberately cultivating my Gratitude by directly thanking something MUCH bigger than me for all the things that I have been granted (that I tend to take for granted).

It goes something like this:



The idea of thanking “God” may or may not resonate with you.

For me, it’s an incredibly simple and equally powerful way for me to assume the proper (read: humble!) posture for appreciating all the wonderful things in my life that (echo!) I can too easily take FOR GRANTED rather than AS GRANTED.

I find myself joyfully and playfully grateful (and energized) after spending just a couple minutes doing that reflection.

That’s Today’s +1.

What are YOU grateful for?

Shall we assume a humble posture together and appreciate some Power bigger than us for blessing us with so much awesomeness?

Here’s to savoring all the blessings and gifts in our lives.

TODAY.

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