Read this from Bo's site. Just simply inspiring ;-)
3 Kinds Of Gratitude
There are three degrees of gratitude:
· Superficial Gratitude
· Simple Gratitude
· Sacred Gratitude
1. Superficial Gratitude
This is when you’re thankful for Big-Ticket items only.
You win the Lotto.
You get a new car.
You finally pass the board exam after 9 tries.
Your daughter finally gets married at 45.
Your visa is approved after 16 years of waiting.
Your adulterous, jobless, alcoholic husband finally changes.
Or your adulterous, jobless, alcoholic husband finally dies.
Whichever comes first.
I mean, how can’t you not say thanks?
Everyone starts with Superficial Gratitude. But I call it superficial because this feeling of gratitude will disappear rather quickly.
Superficial Gratitude is great. But if you want to be really happy, you need to graduate to a deeper form of gratitude…
2. Simple Gratitude
In Simple Gratitude, you’re thankful even for the small things in life. For the roof over your head, for the leftover food on your table, for the semi-neurotic family around you. Stuff you take for granted.
Remember this famous line?
I once was sad for I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.
–Unknown
One day, my friend complained about his decreasing hair. I told him to think positive: his hair wasn’t decreasing, it was his forehead that was increasing. He didn’t believe me and became more depressed.
So I texted him this slightly-edited version of the line above:
I once was sad for I had no hair until I met a man who had no head.
I think that sobered him up. If you were to choose between baldness and beheading, what would you choose?
Today, he shines his head and calls himself Bruce Willis.
I read this mother’s prayer somewhere and decided to print it here for all the wonderful mothers reading my blog.
Thank you Lord for this sink of dirty dishes; that means we have plenty of food to eat. Thank you for this pile of dirty, stinky laundry; we have plenty of nice clothes to wear. Thank you for this finger-smudged refrigerator that needs defrosting so badly; It has served us faithfully for many years. It is full of cold drinks and enough leftovers for two or three meals. Thank you, Lord, for this oven that absolutely must be cleaned today. It has baked so many things over the years. Thank you, Lord, even for that slamming screen door. My kids are healthy and able to run and play. Lord, the presence of all these chores awaiting me says You have richly blessed my family. I shall do them cheerfully and I shall do them gratefully.
But do you know that there’s something even more powerful than Simple Gratitude?
3. Sacred Gratitude
In Sacred Gratitude, you’re thankful for life itself.
You’re thankful that you’re alive.
You’re thankful that you exist.
You’re thankful that you breathe!
You’re thankful for the adventure of daily life, with all its ups and downs, highs and lows, and twists and turns.
This kind of gratitude doesn’t depend on situations anymore.
And there’s a big difference between knowing you need to be grateful, and actually having every cell of your body singing, “Thank You!”
This is Sacred Gratitude.
It’s one of the sweetest things in the world.
Nothing can touch you. You’re at peace.
When you have Simple Gratitude—and especially Sacred Gratitude—you receive so many blessings.
Why?
Because when you become grateful, you also become an…
…Inverse Paranoid!
I read this from Jack Canfield in his book, Success Principles, and quoted by many other authors—and I think it’s fantastic.
What is an Inverse Paranoid?
You know what a Paranoid is: A fearful person. He thinks that the world is out there to get him. To steal from him. To hurt him. To put him down.
Well, an Inverse Paranoid is a happy person who believes the universe is conspiring to bless him. To serve him. To love him!
An Inverse Paranoid expects the best out of life.
An Inverse Paranoid expects great things will happen.
An Inverse Paranoid expects that he’ll walk into fields of blessing each day.
An Inverse Paranoid believes that the world is plotting to fulfill his dreams!
An Inverse Paranoid looks at bad things as merely disguised blessings.
An Inverse Paranoid wakes up each morning and say, “I expect to be blessed today! Yeepee!”
Are You A Blessing-Expert Or A Problem-Expert?
Why do grateful people become Inverse Paranoids?
First reason: Gratitude is one of the most powerful forms of love. And you know that love casts out all fear. Paranoia is fear. So gratitude casts out fear from your life.
Here’s the second reason: Because grateful people focus on blessings in their life, they become Blessing-Experts. What does that mean? They know how a blessing looks like, sounds like, smells like, tastes like, and feels like. Because of this, when they open their eyes and look around their life, they’ll smell a blessing a mile away! They’ll zero on it and grab it.
Ungrateful people are Problem-Experts.
When they look around their lives, they can’t see the blessings right in front of their eyes because they don’t know how they look like.
I hope you become an Inverse Paranoid, a Blessing-Expert very soon.
Believe me, it’s outrageously fun!
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
