Gratitude is not some mushy feeling. It is a powerful way of conditioning your subconscious mind for success. So many people focus on what they do not have and in this way further program their subconscious minds with the idea and feeling of lack and loss. And guess what? That is exactly what they keep on enhancing in their lives. In time, this turns into a habit of expecting lack and fearing loss. Some people then embark on a journey of looking for further proofs that life is a dreadful thing, filled with meaningless struggle, so they abandon all effort to make something out of it and begin acting in ways that actually invite more losses and dismal experiences. Then they wonder why they feel depressed.

Step 1

While gratitude does include saying "thank you" to others, it really begins within, by appreciating things, people and circumstances we may have taken for granted - even if all we have is the air that we breathe, food, clothing, shelter.

Perhaps you can think of some things that have been beneficial to you and which you might have taken for granted. If you stop now, for a moment, to appreciate what you already have in your life, you will already begin to feel happier and wealthier.

Step 2

More challenging for most people, is feeling gratitude for dismal experiences in our lives, for those people and situations in our lives that brought us even some pain and discomfort and in that way pushed us to challenge ourselves, to reach deeper within and discover incredible resources within ourselves, untapped powers we did not even know we had. Or perhaps they pushed us to develop some new skills, skills that have tremendously enriched our lives. Maybe the skills we have learned have enabled us not only to emerge victorious out of our own struggle, but also to be of greater service to others. No one may be better equipped to help a person going through a challenging experience than someone who has already been there, experienced it, and knows.

Think now about some of your life experiences that you wished you did not have to go through at a time and consider what have you learned from those experiences, and how have they actually enriched your life.

The benefit of this new perspective of looking upon seemingly dismal situations from your past is that once you have learned what you needed to learn from your experiences, you would not have to go through them again - you will set them free, and you will be able to move on. You will feel lighter and happier. By transforming this emotional baggage, you will open new space in your life for new and wonderful things to come your way.

Step 3

Now, go one step further and think of all those things you would like to have in your life - feel how would you feel having them right now and express gratitude for them as if you already have them. Gratitude is the fastest way to draw those experiences into your life.

When you feel gratitude for something, you acknowledge that you have already received it. You program this desirable experience as your reality into your subconscious mind, you expect it to happen, you begin looking for proofs that it is a part of your life, you begin acting as if this is true for you now and you begin to experience what may be nothing short of miracles.

Remember that you program your subconscious mind by what you FEEL to be REAL for you NOW! When you express gratitude for something you would like to experience as if you already have it now, you acknowledge that this desired experience is REAL for YOU now, you CLAIM it as YOUR OWN and you open the way for it to come into your life! The Power of Gratitude