Tim Sanders is an international speaker, Fortune 1000 company consultant, and author of the book entitled, "Today We Are Rich-Harnessing The Power of Total Confidence."
Successful today, Sanders has experienced his share of life's challenges. He chronicles his "sideways" years, the time from his early twenties through mid-thirties when he was unsuccessful in many parts of his life.
Grandma Billye, now 96 years old, raised Sanders from age 4, due to familial circumstances. Her strong faith in God and optimistic perspective helped develop Sanders' character.
One day, early on, Billyy stated, "Today, we are rich!" Curious, Sanders asked her what she meant by those words. She replied that they had all they needed, and enough to share. By being able to share, they were worth something. And, by being ably generous, they were rich.
Through Billye's highs and lows, she learned that by cultivating a strong sense of confidence, you can control your attitude about whether there is enough to go around. "Confidence is rocket fuel," says Billye.
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While most of us will never meet Billye, she lives vicarily in Sanders' book; titled the same as her infamous mantra. Sanders shares seven principles of total confidence that he embodied, learned mainly from Grandma Billye. Once he reconnected with those teachings, he was able to achieve great things.
Here, the third principle is highlighted as a jumpstart for any of us experiencing "sideways" time, or days when you'd appreciate an emotional boost.
Principle: Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle.
"Gratitude is a muscle, not a feeling," Billye once told a junior high school-aged Sanders. "If it was a feeling, you'd feel it all the time, now would not you?" "You've got to give your gratitude muscle a workout every day if you want to feel grateful." Here are six exercises to help strengthen your gratitude muscle:
- Tune In. We need to instruct our subconscious mind, the hard drive and processor in our heads, to notice and record the beauty in our lives. Doing so deeply influences our feelings. Make a daily list of five "avenues of appreciation," about your personal life. Be as specific as possible. Do this too with your work life. Change your daily routine, and new avenues of appreciation will appear. Mealtime, and unappreciated architecture during driving could have been new gratitude's. Anticipate your future. Identify an opportunity in the next year that could prove tangible. Think of an upcoming vacation or leisure activity. Mind your anticipation of its occurrence and how you'll feel during and after the experience.
- Dig Deeper. Exam areas of your psyche, not normally visited. What do you deserve? In most cases, we deserve nothing. We should be grateful for the most basic things in life and never let our expectations define our level of thankfulness. Identify the source for all opportunities, experiences, and relationships you appreciate. Exercising gratefulness toward "who" and not a "what," extends your gratitude completely.
- Start Your Day With Gratitude. Each morning when you wake, make gratitude your first thought. Your waking moments define your entire day by directing your subconscious mind. Make your first thoughts positive.
- Exercise Your Gratitude. Sharing your feelings of gratefulness presents yourself positively to others, and extremely yourself. Others will pleasantly receive you. You'll feel more capable, more inviting and almost destined to be more successful in life. Write a note, phone, or meet in-person, with one of two people who helped you yesterday. Keep it short but heartfelt. Begin work meetings with a statement of gratefulness towards the other participants. These frames meetings as a gathering of kindred spirits, which can lead to cooperation and collaboration.
- Take Your Gratitude Public. By giving public thanks, you inspire others too. On the Internet, use social media. Dedicate your status updates to thank others for their contributions. A strong sense of gratitude will feed your faith and extend your endurance in life. When your gratitude muscle is strong, your total confidence soars. You see yourself as describing on a human level.
- Turn Have – Tos Into Get-Tos. If you have a grateful mind-set, you can turn your have-tos into get-tos. Gratitude gives you the mental power to transform obligations into opportunities. It gives you the strength to transmute suffering into a growth experience.
" Gratitude will give you a desire to give back," says Sanders. "So act on it, because when you give from a heart of thanks, you are ready to be rich."
For additional ideas to exercise your daily gratitude muscle, check out "A Simple Act of Gratitude-How Learning To Say Thank You Changed My Life," by John Kralik: http://www.365thankyounotes.com .