Gratitude
When you are living life as your Greatest Version, you will not live with a mindset of lack or things missing from your life. This means you are content and grateful for what you do have, rather than ungrateful for what you don’t. As human beings it is natural for us to have desires and wants and that is not a negative state of being, if you know internally that you are still happy, and life is great. Even if your desires are not in your life currently. Many of us want that fulfilling romantic relationship, that new car that blows your mind, that extra $10,000 in our bank account and so on. The key is to know that even though these things are nice, they are not the source of our happiness. And how do we do this? How do we have this mindset of not lacking? We live in gratitude every day!
Every morning when I pray, I thank God and the Universe for all the things that I already have in my life. I express gratitude for my family, friends, my job, food on my table, my car, a bed to lay my head down at night and the list goes on. As I express this gratitude, it helps me to realize that there is so much in my life that I do have and that does exist. Of course, I have desires for things that are not tangible or don’t exist at the moment, but those desires become inconsequential when I compare them to what I have already. We can very easily lose sight of what we do have because we focus on the things we don’t have, but when we are grateful for those things, it becomes empowering as those elements of life come back into your line of site. Being grateful shows your conscious and unconscious mind that you are not living in lack. Not even close! This in turn steers your mindset and being into a very positive direction and knowing that you have so much, cultivates inner happiness and hope. If you have so much in your life already, what is going to stop you from getting even more in life as your journey leads you to your Greatest Version.
When I was at my lowest point in 2018, what helped me get through and come the other side a rejuvenated and inspired Francis? It was the things and people that were already there. Those days when I’d be on my knees crying, my mother, my friend Roni and others would push me and support me, saying “You will get through this Francis”, “You are stronger than this and stronger than you know”. My faith that was always there, but in this time of need, it was a much more prevalent. Even something like the internet, which we take for granted, helped me. I was able to watch and read so much on self love and growth, that once I started, there was not looking back. So how could one not be grateful for all these things if they are the pillars and strength for us, when we are at our weakest.
Another wonderful aspect of living in a life of gratitude is that once you are thankful for your current life and what’s in it, God and the Universe will naturally start bringing you those desires and abundance that you have wanted, but now realize aren’t the keys to your happiness. Even if you are not a spiritual or religious person, this concept of receiving great people and things into your life is still a reality and will still happen for you. As with anything in life, pushing or forcing the issue to get something usually leads to more resistance and that goal seems further away. But gratefully embracing your current life cuts that resistance down, so those things will easily gravitate towards you.
So my friend, live with gratitude. Write down three things that you are grateful for every day if you must. Once you live with this mindset, you will start receiving great thing into your life and more importantly, you will start chiseling away and sculpting that Greatest Version of Yourself that lies within.