The Power of Gratitude

This Thanksgiving reminds me of the power of gratitude--you know, just giving thanks. Giving thanks for all of the things we so often take for granted can bring so much more into your life.

People constantly think about all they don't have. That creates the evil of comparison with others.

A wise man once said you will always find people who have more than you, in money, smarts, strength, good looks, in health, in good fortune, and so on. And you will always find those that have far less than you. In all of those areas above.

The evil of comparing is that we tend to concentrate on those that have more than us, not less. And that is the evil of comparison; it creates envy and jealousy, only drives you away from the people that you admire, by envying them, not drawing them closer to you.

At one time, I complained about an aching knee. It kept re-occurring and bothering me, and I envied a man of similar age that I worked with who could run, even ran in marathons. The more I thought about the bad knee, the more mildly angry I got about my position as being mildly disabled and not being able to run or sprint.

Then one day as I approached a store, I saw a man come out, smiling, in a wheel chair with no legs. He was around my age. He could've been a veteran, don't know for sure. But he was happy and yakking away to another man. And all of a sudden my preoccupation with my knee ended, thinking to myself, look at the fact that I can walk---and he's happier than I am!

If we complain about things, we'll only get more of those things. What you think about, or visualize about (which is merely a mental movie of your thoughts), you will bring about. So if we concentrate on Thanks as in Thanksgiving (which is coming up tomorrow), we'll get more of the things that we're thankful about.

Don't think about your shortcomings. You'll only create more of a world in your mind of shortcomings. Think about all that you are grateful for. What you think about, and thank about, you will bring about. Gratitude brings more of the same into your life, of all the good things you've attained.

Visualize the best, visualize success, and you will bring that about. Remember that thoughts are things and thoughts have wings.

Greg Mangan
"VRT Man"