As I write to you, I am coming off of a very full week and an exciting time in my life. So many great things are on the horizon and in the works. While I cannot share it with you right now, I look forward to sharing more about the exciting new projects that are in the works. This is my favorite time of the year. As we move closer to Thanksgiving, my mind is thinking about the smell of sweet potatoes, dressing, greens, and all my holiday favorites. More importantly, I am thinking about the amazing time that I get to spend with family and the opportunity I have to reflect on what I am thankful for. This year more than ever I am grateful for the amazing gift of life and the opportunity to serve the world through my gifts. I hope you will take time to reflect on the blessings in your life and express gratitude!
You have to never forget where you come from. While many people see my success today, very few people know my journey to success. This journey has been filled with ups, downs, trials, tribulations, and failures. However, I would not change anything about the journey because it has made me who I am today. The reality is that my trials revealed my treasures, my process unlocked my power, and my adversity awakened the greatness within me. So many times we curse our experiences not realizing that they are the catalyst to the evolution of our lives. So I want you to take some time and appreciate your journey. Yes, take some time to appreciate the hard times and the disappointing times in your life. If you forget where you come from, then you can never embrace your destiny. Your past is simply a classroom empowering you with the lessons that you need to change your life. Where you have come from cannot compare to who you are becoming. Honor your journey so you can ultimately be empowered to honor the seed of your potential.
Understand the power of this present moment in your life. Sometimes we are so focused on the future that we forget the power of right now. It is impossible to reach for tomorrow when you are failing to realize the gift of today. In other words, you need to learn how to live in the power of now. I am not telling you to abandon your dreams or to give up on your future. However, I am telling you that you will never attract the future you desire until you can appreciate the power of the present moment of your life. Take a moment and be present. Do not worry about what you need to do later. Stop your mind from racing on to what you have to accomplish tomorrow. I want you to permit yourself to be present. What does that mean? I want you take in this moment of your life. Think about everything that it has taken for you to get here. In addition, think about all the lessons that you have learned along the way. I want you to spend another moment thinking about all the steps that you have taken to get you to where you are today. Why am I telling you to do this? In our search of what is next for our lives, we often fail to slow down and realize how far we have come. All progress is a blessing and all change is a gift. If you can appreciate today, then you can advance and embrace a better tomorrow. However, all of it begins with understanding that you cannot afford to take any moment for granted.
Make gratitude a life pillar. For the sake of time, I am going to try and be brief. However, as many of you know gratitude is my favorite topic in the entire world. Why is that? Gratitude both saved my life and changed my life. Gratitude has empowered me to navigate seasons of adversity, uncertainty, betrayl, failure and disappointment. Over twenty years ago, I started keeping a gratitude journal. When I first started my gratitude journal, it was a bit challenging thinking of an entire list of things to be grateful for. However, as time progresssed it became easier for me to write out a gratitude list. It became so easy to me that I would fill up pages of my journal and I could not stop writing. It was at that moment that deep change started happening on the inside of me. Everything about my life did not change immediately. However, I changed as a result of making gratitude a daily part of my life. Now I consider gratitude to be a life pillar. It does not matter what I encounter or what I go through I always take time for gratitude every single day of my life. Gratitude is a life pillar and a life principle. Your appreciation for life and all of its blessings is what attracts success and prosperity into your life. More importantly, as you express gratitude you change your attitude and alter your perception about life. As a result, an attitude of gratitude makes you a magnet for breakthroughs and new realities. I have never lost anything from being grateful. On the other hand, I have gained everything by being grateful. Gratitude simplifies our lives and transforms us into the greatest versions of ourselves.
Develop a gratitude paradigm. As you just heard me say, gratitude is a life pillar for me and it has changed my life for the better. However, I also discovered that gratitude changes the mind. By making gratitude a pillar in my life, I realized that negative and toxic thoughts exited my mind and positive and transformational thoughts entered my mind. In addition, I started to let go of lids, limitations and restrictions. Things that were once impossible started to become inevitably possible. Gratitude is not just a life pillar. Gratitude is a paradigm that we all need to embrace. Gratitude is a magnet for miracles and abundance. Gratitude shatters small mindedness and breaks through mental barriers. Gratitude shapes the mind and ultimately shifts the heart. Gratitude changes our attitude, our character, and the way that we connect with others. A gratitude paradigm causes you to see blessings where others only see challenges, opportunities where others only see opposition, and abundance where others only see scarcity. A gratitude paradigm helps us appreciate everything in our lives and not take anything for granted. A gratitude paradigm causes us to realize that we are abundantly blessed and that our lives are a reflection of God's grace. As we head into this Thanksgiving season, may you take time today and every day to be grateful. Everything in your life may not be beautiful. However, never forget that every day that we are blessed with breath in our bodies is a blessing. Gratitude is a paradigm that causes us to see life through a new lens and from a new dimension. May you never succumb to the trap of ungratefulness.
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