A New Year of Gratitude

By Madison Grace Lovewith

I’ve always enjoyed new beginnings.  New interests, new friends, new job, new life, everything bursting with freshness.  And with the New Year, there’s the opportunity to clear out old cobwebs that kept us from living our most authentic life and to rejuvenate our sense of self.  Gratitude leads to a new attitude, a unique outlook of perspective and approaching things.

So with the new life, in order to make room for the new, it is so important to remove the old way of handling things.  According to the Bible, new beginnings mean the changing of old to new.  The bible states:     

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (New King James Version)

How can Gratitude help with this transition from the old to the new?  Gratitude transforms old perspectives to new ones.  If you’re going through some challenging times, what are some of the good things that you can discover in the challenges?  When I was working on a job that was causing some me some extreme stress, it was hard for me to find some good things to think about regarding the job.  But if I wanted to transform the situation into a better one, I had to find some good things about the situation to put me into that better feeling place.  And from the better feeling place, I could then start allowing that new creation, the new me to come out.  Coming from a state of misery on my job, I started my Gratitudes small. 

I started to feel Gratitude that I had a good job, that my commute to work was nearly nonexistent, that my team-lead was a kind and sweet person.  I started finding good in small daily things, such as being able to print out a memo, having a nice private cubicle space, the compliments that I was receiving on my work.  And you know what, as I began giving thanks for even the small things, there were more and more things for me to begin being grateful for on the job.  I was transforming myself from being a stressed and worn employee to a more gracious and optimistic employee.  When I began sprinkling a little Grattiude everyday into my job situation, my perspective on things had to change.  Prior to my finding Gratitude in my job, I had been looking for a new job for a couple of years with no success.  Once I began pouring Gratitude into my current job situation, Gratitude not only made it easier for me to work at my then current job but most importantly opened doors for me to find the job with all of the requirements that I was looking for.    

But in order for the new you to be revealed you have to allow the releasing of the old stuff that’s holding you back from the Universe’s blessings.  Whatever your New Year goals may be, sprinkle some Gratitude into them.  If you’re looking at losing some weight, what are some of the good things you can think about regarding your body?  If you’re looking to find the motivation to exercise, what are some of the good things that you can focus on about exercising?  Transform your thought process about your goals and you’ll transform your life.