Today’s article is the LAST article in my article series on “What Leads to A Thriving Life” using the word THRIVING as an acrostic.

TODAY, I’d like to wrap up this series talking about what the letter G represents in this acrostic: GRATITUDE & GOD

First off, it’s hard to talk about a thriving life without talking about gratitude!

Gratitude is a superpower when it comes to virtues because having a gratitude mindset trains us to focus on that which is positive and that which we can be thankful for.

And this doesn’t even include all the health benefits including things like:

– improved mood

– decreased anxiety

– improved heart health

– decreased stress

– improved sleep

I can personally attest to how powerful having gratitude can be in one’s life as having the gratitude mindset has helped me tremendously!

The journal I use prompts me every morning to write at least three things I am grateful for. While I honestly I don’t always feel like focusing on these things, I appreciate the forced reminder so I can try to stay consistent in my gratitude mindset.

Paul, the Apostle, says this in the book of Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 says:

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

While Paul is actually talking to a group of Christians in the first century city of Philippi (part of modern day Greece), I believe his instructions are key for anyone seeking to grow in gratitude.

So what are those things you are grateful for? Is it the health you have? Love ones? Your job? Your talents?

In other words, we have to “fix our thoughts” in such a way that we foster an inner ongoing sense of gratitude…a gratitude mindset, if you will.

One last comment…while I think it’s important that we think through what we are grateful for, I also think it’s important to think about who or what you are grateful to.

In many of our cases, that may lead to another G – God.

By way of example, I just had the chance to practice having gratitude for the birth of Christ as we celebrated Christmas as a family. Personally, this has always been a meaningful experience for me especially as the year winds down.

So..what about you?

What are you grateful for?

And..who or what are you grateful to?

SUMMARY:

Having a gratitude mindset is powerful in that we train our mind to fix on things that we can be grateful for. When we do that, we can experience multiple mental, emotional, and physical benefits!

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE:

Take time to think of what you can be grateful for. Write it down, whether “big” or “small”! What was that like?

Make it a regular practice to cultivate gratitude in your life.

Last but not least, ask yourself: who can you be grateful to? Are you grateful to people? And are you grateful to God?

Let’s go THRIVE, shall we?

Sean