Hi all! Welcome to my blog, A Grateful Living. I started this blog for a lot of different reasons. Some, you can read about on my home page under “Our mission here”. I have always had a passion for mentoring, providing a service to others, and have surprisingly come to love writing in recent years. One thing you’ll come to know about me from my writing is that I’m extremely transparent and forthcoming about most things with myself. If I take the time to read someones thoughts, I want to know who they really are. Not the deep dark secrets of course. We’re all entitled to our privacy. But when I take time to read a book, a blog post, an article, watch a Youtube video etc., I want to feel like the author “gets me”. Like he’s the same as me…a human being that fucks up too and doesn’t always have their shit together. Oh yea, that’s another thing you’ll come to know about me. In my transparency, I have a potty mouth. Yes, yes I know, this is a blog centered around gratitude and good vibes and I do “walk the walk” in that realm (affirmations, gratitude journal, read the self-help books, gratitude quotes). But I’m not gonna pretend to be something I’m not. I am a 40 year old husband, father of 4, United States Army Veteran, tattooed, fowl mouthed, EXTREMELY GRATEFUL individual….among other things you’ll learn. I’ve been told by my wife, and others, that I’m a bit unassuming once you get to know me. Any ways, enough about me. Let’s get into why daily gratitude can absolutely change your life! But last thing before I do that. I wanna cover the ground rules of what you can expect from me over the course of anything and everything I publish.
What this blog won’t be or include
- religion
- politics
- news outlets
- shit talking others
…or ANYTHING that relates to the aforementioned.
What you can expect from this blog
- all things gratitude, inspiration, and positivity
- fitness
- nutrition
- finance
- real life and relatable stories that may save you from fucking up in some of the same ways I have
- giveaways from time to time (and some free downloadable resources)
- other resources I’ve found that may also benefit you in some way
OK so here we go!! G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E
HOW IT STARTED FOR ME
When I was around 34 or so, I was starting to get to a point where I was feeling a bit stagnant in my life. At the time, I was an instructor for the Department of Defense in Pensacola, FL. I was also running a residential construction company, living in a new home I built after getting outta the military. I made decent money, seemed to have a stable life, and good friends. But for some reason, I felt like I could be doing better. A lot better. I wanted to elevate myself somehow.
So, I started taking a deep inventory of my life and who I was in it, and decided I was going to start implementing some changes. I remember the very first thing I did was Google “best podcasts for personal growth”. To this day, I still feel I got spoiled (and lucky) on the first one I landed on as it set about what would come to be the most powerful period of self-discovery for me…a wave I’m still currently riding (although I’ve fallen off a few times). That podcast was the School of Greatness, and it was EVERYTHING I was searching for! There was episodes centered around growth, positivity, service to others, gratitude, money, and so many other topics I was eager to learn more about.
The podcasts (and the host, Lewis Howes) led me to other inspiring figures, which led me to those self-improvement types of social media pages, which led me to self-help books and…you get it. When I started to engross myself into these motivational people, videos, books, and social media pages, I started to notice a pattern in the way they all communicated. The way they all talked. Everything about them was fixed on serving others and I noticed that they ALL used the same terminology–words like service, visualization, manifestation, gratitude, law of attraction, Universe, energy, frequency, and others.
I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence, so I started diving deeper into other big and influential figures of the world to see if I could find similarities. Some of the ones I focused on were Jim Carrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Phelps, Albert Einstein, and Napoleon Hill. Yup! You guessed it! They all spoke this way as well. I knew there had to be something to it.
JUST FOLLOW THE PROOF
All of the powerful figures above believed in and practiced all of these concepts daily. Jim Carrey in the early 90’s, wrote himself a check for 10 million dollars for “acting services rendered” and he kept it in his wallet for years. He’d drive up to Mulholland Dr. in California where he wanted to live and just sit in the neighborhood visualizing himself living there. He’d tell the Universe out loud what he wanted in life and how successful he wanted to be. A few years after writing that check, Carrey landed the role in Dumb and Dumber and was paid 10 million dollars for it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger used manifestation and visualization (and hard work, same as all of these powerful beings of course) when he was lifting weights. He would see himself on stage as the body building champion of the world while he was training. And as most of us know, he helped put bodybuilding as we know it today, on the map (along with the documentary, Pumping Iron).
Albert Einstein believed in and practiced many of these concepts as well that make up, or fall into the Laws of the Universe. Einstein said that “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.” Napoleon Hill wrote what is still considered to be one of the most influential self-improvement books of all time, Think and Grow Rich. I’ve read it and for those who haven’t, let me point out that this book is NOT about making money. Not entirely. It’s in big part, about implementing all of the above listed practices daily and by doing so, what opportunities and blessings one can draw in or attract into their own lives.
I STARTED INCLUDING GRATITUDE EVERYWHERE
Eventually, I began consuming nothing but this type of information daily. I didn’t turn on the radio anymore in my truck. That was now time dedicated to podcasts. I started reading daily, something I’d NEVER done before. I started journaling everyday, something all of these thought leaders and innovators seemed to attribute much of their daily success to.
Another thing I noticed in all of my research during this journey was that most of these successful people all did one thing in particular…they built their daily habits and practices on gratitude. The more I consumed of this world, the more I saw that word popping up. If you yourself have also taken a dive into the world of self-helpery, then you’ve undoubtedly seen this word a many a times. At this point, I am here to tell you that it is so much more than that…a word. Gratitude has changed my life in ways that I can’t even begin to explain…but I’ll try.
WHAT GRATITUDE HAS DONE FOR ME
By implementing daily gratitude practices, which have opened my eyes to the power of perspective, appreciation, helped kill off my ego (most times), I have become a better husband, a better father, and a much better human all around (not that I considered myself terrible…but we all should work on ourselves daily I think). As I said, one daily habit I picked up was journaling. I kept two journals (still do):
- contains goals, budgets, and a section for random jot down type thoughts
- a gratitude journal
Each and everyday of my life (almost…more on that later), I start by sitting down and writing 5 things I’m grateful for. I structure it in a way that has me reflecting on the previous days events. So, at the time I’m writing this, it’s December 13th, 2023. This morning, I journaled what I was grateful for specific to the 12th. I like structuring it that way because it allows me to sit and deeply reflect on the previous days events to really feel what it is that gets me into a state of gratitude and THAT is one of the most pivotal pieces to gratitude.
You see, I don’t just write 5 things down willy nilly, shut my journal, and then head out to start ma’day. From everything I’ve researched and consumed around gratitude, the studies say (yes, there are thousands of medical and scientific studies and so much published documentation on the benefits of gratitude) that while trying to incorporate gratitude daily into your life will help improve it (in ways I’ll talk about on this site), if you REALLY wanna elevate your state of being, you need to practice feeling gratitude. The research proving this is A-S-T-O-U-N-D-I-N-G!
WHAT I DO WITH GRATITUDE
Here’s a page out of my journal so that I have something to reference about ‘feeling’ grateful instead of just going through the motions. This is also some of that transparency I spoke about earlier so that you can see, I’m a flawed human, same as you…
So as you can see, 5 random things, that I pull from the day before. They can be anything, big or small. For me, there are some structures to mine I like to follow. For instance, I typically like starting my first entry of the day with something related to my wife, Lindsey. She is my center. My balance. My reason for existing (you’ll find if you follow along on this journey, I’m also a hopeless romantic of sorts).
Sometimes, I also make the same entry multiple days if it’s an affirmation I’m wanting to focus more on such as “Financial independence”. And yes…I made an entry (as I often do) about being grateful for “our amazing sex” my wife and I have. Look, we have 4 kids ranging from 16 all the way down to 5 year told twins. As some of you probably know, sex in a household like ours can sometimes be hard to come by. But my wife and I make it a priority to make a conscious effort to always come back to each other each day. We call it “coming back home”. We love our children so much but understand that in order to show up our best selves for them, we have to be in balance with each other. And no, sex isn’t the only thing that this entails haha. But a healthy sex life is part of the equation…we believe. You may also see that I miss days sometimes. It happens. I’m human. BUT, I keep showing up.
YOU HAVE TO FEEL IT
Getting back to what I was saying about feeling gratitude. As I recall the previous day, I eventually land on an event that lights me up. I make sure to close my eyes and put myself back there so that I can feel the event I’m experiencing gratitude over. Once I’ve written all 5 entries, I read each of them separately and do the same thing again. And from everything I’ve read, researched, studied…THIS is what begins to elevate a person from a sub-conscious and conscious level. These entries, this journal, provides me with one VERY important quality (among others) that I feel most of the world is lacking…perspective. You see gratitude, like positivity, isn’t pretending that bad shit doesn’t happen or exist. It ain’t woo woo foo foo like a lot of people think. Part of it is about perspective. Acceptance. A shift in mindset even.
When I started dedicating my days to my gratitude journal (one tasks of many I refer to as non-negotiables), I swear to you for years, I did not have ONE-BAD-DAY. I was in the zone! I’m not saying unfortunate shit didn’t happen to me. Of course it did. That’s life. I would describe it more as this…I had some bad things happen within my good days. Because I didn’t lack perspective. I kept gratitude close. I knew and acknowledged that no matter how shitty the situation, it could always get worse and that someone else out there would KILL to be in my shoes, living in my house, have my job etc.
At one point, I even made a game out of it by telling myself that I wasn’t allowed to get outta bed each morning without being grateful that I woke up to actually exist in another day. When practicing gratitude became a daily, consistent routine, I’m telling you, my life began to transform in the most beautiful ways. And THAT is what I want for you. For everyone.
GIVE IT A SHOT
At some point, I’ll get more into the science behind the benefits of practicing and feeling gratitude. For now, maybe give it a shot. Don’t think about doing it for a week, or a month, or a year even. Just start with one day. You’ve literally got nothing to lose and hell…the times gonna pass any way. But I’m telling you, if you make a little time each morning to write down at least 3-5 things you’re grateful for, carry them with you as best you can throughout the day, show gratitude for the random pleasures that pop up each day, and go to bed grateful, you will see your life transform, I guarantee it.
As for the science behind it and what most may not know about what gratitude can do for your mind and body, I won’t dive too much into that in this post as it’s getting a tad long. You can take a quick glance here if you like on my About page to see several health related benefits proven and tied to gratitude.
Hope to see you in the next post. Appreciate you all so much for bringing me into your life. Stay grateful!
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