One of the easiest ways to feel good and attract wonderful things into your life is to have an “Attitude of Gratitude”. You’ve probably noticed when you feel grateful, everything gets better and when you feel resentful life is miserable. Irregardless of your actual circumstances. If everyone knows this, why are we one of the unhappiest countries on the planet?

There’s a trend in our culture to cultivate an attitude of gratitude through mantras, sticky notes on the mirror and inspirational stories. But like a lot of quick fix answers, focusing on gratitude only works for a little while. Many self help gurus explain this away by saying “You must be doing it wrong, try harder. Or better yet, sign up for my program”.

But so many of the self help books miss an interesting part of the process, recognizing and feeling sincerely grateful for your circumstances. So, how do you stop sabotaging your attitude of gratitude?

Sincere gratitude happens as a result of life experiences. When you really know what it’s like to be the bug on the windshield, you are overwhelmingly grateful when you’re not. Soul deep gratitude comes from a knowing that life can and has been much, much worse.

If you’d like to live in gratitude, don’t mask your unhappiness with inspirational quotes. Rather, feel it, own it and keep exploring life with all it’s joy and misery. Only then will you be able to look at your less than satisfactory circumstances, feel grateful for what you’ve got and both create and attract something better. Otherwise, your gratitude is a thin layer hiding your misery.

InSpire offers our online/in person community a reasonably priced spiritual retreat every June to help you find meaning and purpose in your life. You get everything you need to grow: intimacy, security, new experiences, nurturing and nature. We keep it small and personal so you should sign up now before we run out of super-cool cabins. Although some camping is available too if we’ve got a few extra who’d like to come. so you should sign up now before we run out of super-cool cabins. Although some camping is available too if we’ve got a few extra who’d like to come.

Author's Bio: 

As a bodyworker and human being, I have spent my life exploring the human experience. My love of feeling good, on all levels, has led me to create InSpire, a private practice that helps people find happiness through touch, healthy living, self-discovery and intimate relationship.