Gratitude Creates an Abundant Life

Ep: 198

How often do you stop and take a moment to appreciate what you have?

When life feels challenging or our work circumstances are less than perfect, we have a tendency to focus on what’s missing. But when you flip your focus and hone in on what you do have, then you can instantly shift how you feel.

And that shift toward abundance has the power to alter what you invite into your life. 

Gratitude will help you attract more of what you want because it allows you to believe you deserve it. 

Today on The Bridge to Fulfillment®, Blake reveals why expressing gratitude and cultivating a daily gratitude practice is such a powerful tool for change. Gratitude is the simple act of focusing on what you have rather than what’s lacking in your life. This powerful tool is the simplest, quickest route to changing how you feel.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to stop focusing on the negative aspects of your life and work through a daily gratitude practice. Feeling grateful for what you have helps attract more of what you want by simply shifting your focus away from the negative.

Challenging yourself to wake up every day and remind yourself of what’s good can literally change your life.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why the holidays can feel overwhelming (0:50)
  • How focusing on the negative affects your outcome (2:06)
  • A gratitude challenge that will shift your thoughts toward abundance (5:25)
  • When gratitude shows up in unexpected places (7:08)
  • How to feel gratitude instantly (8:18)


Favorite Quotes:

  1. By focusing on gratitude, you can take someone who is depressed, unhappy and ungrateful and turn them into somebody who has gratitude and a positive approach to life.
  2. When we talk about lack or the things we wish we had, we actually create more lack.
  3. If we don’t stop and appreciate things, are we even really enjoying the fruits of our labor?
  4. A life of abundance and fulfillment has to be centered in a life of gratitude.

Additional Resources:

Rather than hoping the grass will be greener, identify what the RIGHT next step is. 
We can help you do just that. 

Get clarity on where you are on your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optional paths to get there, and the right next step to take.

Start your complimentary, Personalized Career Fulfillment Plan by going to www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan

Want free resources to set your job search up for success? You can get them by going to: https://thebridgetofulfillment.com/mistakes

Transcript

Blake Schofield 0:05
Hi, I’m Blake Schofield, founder and CEO of The Bridge to Fulfillment, mom to three, USA Today top 10 professional coach, and former corporate executive who got tired of sacrificing my life for a comfortable paycheck. My mission is to expand women’s perspectives and empower them to achieve greater impact at home and work without sacrifice. This is the Bridge to Fulfillment.

Blake Schofield 0:39
Gratitude, it’s something that we probably all have heard is important. But how many of us are actually living a life of gratitude? You know, this podcast episodes coming out just a little bit before Christmas, and really right in the thick of the holiday season where I think often there can be such a mixed bag of emotions, the holidays can be a wonderful time, but they can also be a time of loss of grieving of those who aren’t with us of overwhelm stress and anxiety of trying to do at all of disappointment of what we maybe didn’t accomplish, or where we hoped we would be at this time of the year, they can also be a time of optimism, of planning for what’s next. Regardless of any or all of those feelings that you might be feeling. Today, I wanted to really reflect and talk about gratitude, what I’ve learned about it, and how gratitude can literally change your life. You know, there was a old study done. And I’m not going to remember all the specifics. But I’ll give you the general gist. There’s an old study done that basically asked, Can you turn a pessimist into an optimist, and the data actually proved, in fact, you could, by focusing on gratitude, you could literally take someone who was depressed, unhappy and ungrateful and turn them into somebody who had gratitude and had a positive approach to life. I’ve shared this before, and I’ll share it again, what we focus on expands often when we’re in places in our life, when we are wanting that want actually creates a feeling and a sense of lack a sense of scarcity, a sense of not having the things we want. And often I talk about the power of our minds, and that we don’t even understand how powerful they really are. But our brains are goal striving mechanisms, we say and do things and we’re literally creating goals every single day, we just are completely generally not aware of it, we generally just don’t understand that the things we’re saying, are actually creating the outcomes that happen for our lives. And so when we talk about lack or the things, we’re ungrateful for the things we wish we had, that we didn’t have, we actually create more lack. We actually create circumstances where it’s harder to get the things that we want. And I know this might sound a little woowoo. But I promise you, there’s science that backs it up.

Blake Schofield 3:04
On the flip side, when we focus on gratitude, we tend to find more things to be grateful for. And in doing so more opportunities become available. Now, whether that is right, more from a woowoo standpoint, or from the standpoint of just we have a greater sense of awareness, about possibility, we’re more open, and therefore we see you can look at it many different ways. But if we aren’t grateful for what we have, why do we believe we should have more? If we don’t stop and appreciate things, right? Are we even really enjoying the fruits of our labor and all of the stuff that we’re really getting out of life? You know, I think one of the interesting things about the COVID pandemic was it stopped and challenged every single one of us in a way we never thought we would be challenged. And what it did for me and I know for many was to begin to be grateful for the little things that I had never been grateful for. The ability to go to the grocery store, the ability to go hang out with friends or go to a concert, the Millay go out to a restaurant or go travel wherever I wanted to travel, things that were just taking a granted for they were just part of everyday life. And I remember thinking, as we could see that the pandemic was starting to get to a place where life was coming back to somewhat normal. I hope I don’t forget the level of gratitude I have today for things that I never appreciated before. I hope that I never forget that. And often I think that we go through difficult times in our life and we can become very grateful for things we previously took for granted. And then we forget about them. But I believe I key to a life of abundance and fulfillment has to be centered in a life of gratitude and what my experience has been as the more grateful I am the more I am given the more opportunities that come when I feel like I am seeking something that feels challenging, the faster I get into gratitude and appreciate what I have, the easier the solution comes. And so as we’re right smack in the middle of this holiday season, and I think a time of reflection of where you are in your life and where you want to go, no matter where things are in your life, I challenge you to stop today, and start taking an action towards gratitude. And it literally can be as simple as this waking up each morning. And before you do anything, stop and be thankful for three things. Sometimes it’s just grateful that I am in good health, or that I live in a warm home or that I have the ability to get up and take care of and provide for my family. Sometimes it might be greater things than that it might be gratitude for some amazing opportunity that’s come your way or the ability to travel for the health of a loved one who overcame cancer. There are a million things on a day to day basis we can be grateful for. But if you just start putting a really simple gratitude practice in place, you’ll begin to see a a lightness and how you go through your day in appreciation of the things that come but you’ll also find more things to be grateful for. So like I said, the most simple way is to wake up every morning. And before you get out of bed. Think about three things that you’re grateful for. I also like to end my day or my week in gratitude. Who am I grateful for that I crossed paths with that shared something with me that loved on me that provided insight that took time for me, what progress Am I making that I’m grateful for? What time do I have that I’m grateful for what abilities physically, mentally, etc, do I have that I’m grateful for. And you’ll begin to see that when you have gratitude with no expectation on anything on the other side. And when you share that gratitude, there’s a beautiful ripple effect.

Blake Schofield 7:08
In fact, this week, I challenged one of my clients to actually reach out to three people in gratitude, very small gesture with absolutely no expectation on the other end and just see what happens. And I was talking to a friend about this about how I had challenged her to do that. And he shared with me that every time in his life when things got difficult or challenging, that he would go do something in gratitude or go do something for somebody else. And this is a friend of mine I have so much respect for he’s an extreme sports enthusiast. And just under two years ago, he almost died in a helicopter crash, went through so many surgeries and came out on the other side, having to amputate his leg. And I think often when you see people who’ve been through really challenging things in their life, near death, horrible health incidences, they come out with a level of gratitude that most of us who have lived much easier lives don’t have. And as a result, they see life completely differently. They experience it differently. And I think many times have an abundance of things to be grateful for as a result of it. And so he shared with me about how anytime he feels down, or he has someone around him that feels stuck, the very first thing he suggests to them is to be in gratitude and go help somebody, go help somebody who doesn’t have what you have. And what you’ll find is a level and a sense of gratitude for the fact that you have that thing that maybe you didn’t even realize recognize or appreciate beforehand. And so today, I challenge you to start living a life of more gratitude, to start sharing that gratitude with others. And I believe you will see the same incredible benefits I have seen and others I know who have approached this have seen because at the end of the day, isn’t that why we’re all here because we want to feel passionate and excited to get up every day. We want to feel like our lives have value and meaning that they’re fulfilling and that ultimately our lives matter. And when we can see all of the big and small things that contribute to that life and appreciate the fact that we have them when in many cases other people may not. It truly allows us to put so many things into perspective. Thanks again for being a loyal listener to the bridge to fulfillment. I feel so grateful to be able to spend my time at this podcast and be able to share my insights and experiences my incredible guests and clients with you to help you be able to have more tools, insights and perspectives to truly create more of the life that you want. And as we look at moving into 2023 I wish you nothing but the best of health, joy, happiness and the opportunity to really look forward to 2023 with confidence, hope and happiness about what it is that you truly want to create for yourself. Until next time, have a great one.

Blake Schofield 10:10
Thanks for joining me today. Rather than hope the grass will be greener identify what the right next step is. We can help you do just that. Get clarity on where you are in your journey to career fulfillment, where you’re headed, optimal paths to get there, and the right next step to take. Start your complimentary personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan Again, you can get your personalized career fulfillment plan at www.thebridgetofulfillment.com/plan Thanks again for joining and have a great week ahead!