*this was posted to my FB fan page…and was just want I needed to hear today to recharge my faith batteries, thanks Oprah
“I live in the space of thankfulness – and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.
That’s because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.
“Say thank you!” Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou turned my life around. One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and a hooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent.
“Stop it! Stop it right now and say thank you!” Maya chided. “But, you don’t understand,” I sobbed.
To this day, I can’t remember what it was that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying to make. “I do understand,” she told me. “I want to hear you say it now. Out loud.”
“Thank you.” Tentatively, I repeated it: “Thank you – but what am I saying ‘thank you’ for?”
“You’re saying thank you,” Maya said, “because your faith is so strong that you don’t doubt that whatever the problem, you’ll get through it.
You’re saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds.
You’re saying thank you because you know there’s no problem created that can compare to the Creator of all things.
“Say thank you!”
So I did – and still do. Only now I do it every day. I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple Abundance, list at least five things that I’m grateful for.
My list includes small pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my feet (like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all nine of my dogs and my cocker spaniel, Sophie, trying to keep up; cooking fried green
tomatoes with Stedman and eating them while they’re hot; reading a good book and knowing another awaits.
My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for granted: an “okay” mammogram, friends who love me, 25 years at the same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance to share my ision for a better life, staying centered, having financial security.
I won’t kid you, having money for all the things I want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I’ve kept since I was 15 years old, 99 per! cent of what brought me real joy had nothing to do with
money. (It had a lot to do with food, however.)
It’s not easy being grateful all the time. But it’s when you feel least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you:
PERSPECTIVE. Just knowing you have that daily list to complete allows you to look at your day differently, with an awareness of every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way. When you learn to say thank you, you see the world anew.
And as Eckhart so eloquently stated: “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘Thank you, God’, that would suffice.”
Sarah Centrella is the author of the book Hustle Believe Receive which teaches you how to apply the #HBRMethod to change your life and live your dream.
Follow on social media: Instagram | Twitter | Snapchat | Pinterest | YouTube |Periscope @sarahcentrella
Author | Life Coach | Motivational Speaker and single mama. I'm a chick on a mission to prove anything is possible for ANYONE. My story featured in the New York Times, Steve Harvey Show and NBC.
THANK YOU!
Anna x
I had that quote from Oprah posted as profile Fi in facebook. For a month am posting my thank you God daily at night. I can testify that since then I have become more positive and life became more than bearable, it is enjoyable. Thanks to Oprah for sharing this thoughts.