As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I’d share some thoughts on thankfulness and gratitude. Before I do, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take time to thank you, dear reader, for reading my thoughts each week! Readership is growing which provides the necessary affirmation for me to keep writing! Now, on to this week’s thoughts…
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Gratitude vanquishes all negative emotion. Did you know there’s a difference between gratitude and thankfulness? (At least, in my opinion 😉)
Being thankful for something is a reaction to an act of kindness that has been shown to you. It is a reactive emotion. Someone does something nice, you appropriately say “Thank You” as a response to the act of kindness.
Gratitude, however, is a creative emotion…a state of mind. It’s creating a positive mindset about your set of circumstances. It isn’t reacting to something that’s just been done, it’s seeking out something to be grateful for. It’s using your mind to bring out positive emotion in your current state of affairs. It’s seeking out your numerous blessings (both small and large), it’s finding new reasons to appreciate your friends, it’s discovering your inward feeling of joy and contentment.
Gratitude and Thankfulness. Both a necessary. Let’s focus our minds on creating gratitude for the great things in life today!
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I’ll be taking a break from writing next week, but never fear, I’ll be back at it in December, ready to share my thoughts and hopefully encourage someone along the way! Know of someone who’d enjoy reading my posts each week? Please forward my link (www.tonyhixon.com) and encourage them to subscribe!
Happy Thanksgiving!
