The Virtues of Gratitude

endeavor book excerpts Oct 22, 2019
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Gratitude is appreciation for what you have and receive. You may be grateful for a tangible object or an intangible concept. Regardless, when you mindfully and genuinely practice gratitude, it can bring profound benefits to your life — not the least of which is greater happiness.

Expressing gratitude acknowledges the goodness in your life. Even more, it helps you recognize that the source of that goodness lies outside of yourself. Once you perceive goodness flowing to you, you begin to feel connected with others and something bigger than you.

That sense of connection brings gratitude, as well as opportunities to let goodness flow through you to other people as well. When you  contextualize yourself, your circumstances, and your surroundings within a broader framework that acknowledges others, goodness appears not as something to be manufactured for yourself but as a gift received from beyond yourself. And when you receive goodness as a gift, you’ll want to share it with others. 

Sharing not only reinforces social bonds and a sense of belonging. It also increases appreciation and gratitude for what we already have, since we give not out of scarcity but from sufficiency.

When we see and act as if we have enough to share and still have enough, we are naturally grateful for what we have and what we have to give. And that  gratitude boosts contentment, optimism, and resilience.

Be grateful.

This is an excerpt from the book, Endeavor: Cultivate Excellence While Making a Difference.


Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose

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