The Gift Of Gratitude

By Ilana Jankowitz

When was the last time you allowed yourself the gift of feeling truly grateful? Some of the world’s most impactful and influential people agree that having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ and a daily gratitude practice, is like rocket fuel to their success! In this month’s blog, I am exploring the power of gratitude and how you can incorporate it into your everyday life. I hope you enjoy it!

GRATITUDE AND ‘PAYING IT FORWARD’

Anyone who has worked with me knows the first thing I ask my clients to do is to start a ‘Gratitude’ diary. I want them to write 5 things each day they are grateful for.  On the face of it this seems like such an easy thing to do, yet it never ceases to amaze me how difficult this exercise is for most people! Sadly, most people put their focus on all the things they don’t want and regret in their lives.

And I get it!

With a daily drip feed of pessimism and fear about the world from the media, to worries about debt, work, relationships and, believe it or not, even the weather, most people are blinded from seeing even the smallest miracles that happen in their lives every day.

REWIRED FOR GRATITUDE

Thankfully, this can be easily turned around, and all that’s required to adjust your attitude to one of gratitude is a little rewiring of your mind. The important thing to understand about your mind is that what you think you feel, and therefore what you focus on, you get more of. So, when you turn your attention to gratitude, the more things you find to be grateful for. This fact is proved to me repeatedly by my clients who, after just a few weeks of completing their gratitude diaries, can write 30+ things each day.

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY...

I have so many things in my life to be grateful for. Today, let me share with you how a friend helped me finish my studies and realise my dream of becoming a coach. I was working as a teaching assistant in an international school and took on extra babysitting for some of the teachers’ children. I didn’t enjoy it and that made me ask myself, ‘What do I want to do with my life? What career do I really want?’ I was also having Money Coaching at the time, as I desperately needed help with my finances - you’ll see in my bio that my money story had taught me some bad habits.  

WHEN YOUR DREAM CAREER COMES KNOCKING...

The Money Coaching helped me immeasurably and completely changed my life, and my way of thinking. I was so deeply impacted that I decided to become a Money Coach. I knew my calling was to help other women find their purpose or grow their business by understanding their Money DNA, and how it affects their decisions. To say life became busy is an understatement! I worked day and night jobs, squeezing in studying while I was babysitting. I worked every weekend to complete my assignments. It was a juggling act that left me absolutely exhausted most of the time.

ENTER AN AMAZING FRIEND...

My wonderful friend saw my situation and asked how much time I needed to finish my course. When I told him I still had another 3 months to go, he offered to pay me 3 months’ salary so I could stop all the extra hours of work and concentrate fully on my studies.

Wow!!!

 I cut back my hours, finished my course and achieved my coaching qualification. I was, and still am, beyond grateful and I wish the world had more amazing people like my friend. Every day I look for ways to ‘pay it forwards’ - so that his generosity is impacting the lives of others. So how about you - what are you grateful for? How do you express gratitude?

GETTING STARTED…

If you would like to try keeping a Gratitude diary, here are some steps to follow:

 1) Treat yourself to a gorgeous journal for recording your gratitude’s in.

2) Set aside some time every morning or evening to reflect on your life.

3) Write down 5 things you are grateful for - they should be specific and real. As you do this, you’re wiring your brain to notice details about all the positive things in your life which brings with them energy and joy.

4) Next, write down 5 things you want to be grateful for from your current situation. These are things that aren’t perfect and that you would like to change. Doing this sows a seed of intention that will grow.

The process of focusing on gratitude will help you clear your mind, have better focus, energise you and, of course, make you more grateful! A daily gratitude practice has a dramatic effect on your life and on the lives of those you interact with.

Finally, I would love you to share what you are grateful for in the comments below. Gratitude is powerful, and it is even more powerful when it helps someone else to be grateful too, so spread the gratitude love!

THE GIFT OF ‘PAYING IT FORWARD’ - FROM OVERWHELM TO FINDING HER TRUE PURPOSE

Many women I have coached have really flourished through my program. So much so, that they’ve chosen to ‘pay it forward’; paying for friends, sisters and colleagues to work with me too.

Meet Lisa! Lisa is one such client whose sister gifted her the opportunity to work with me - now that’s sisterly love for you!

 Lisa’s journey took her from feeling overwhelmed to finding her true purpose. Listening to Lisa’s testimonial brings me so much joy and gratitude for the work I do and the people I have the honour to support. 

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.” - Henry Ford

Oh, how very true! I cannot stress enough just how powerful your thoughts are. Combine them with your natural awareness of the accompanying feelings and, BOOM, you’ve unleashed the best special effects department known to man! Our thoughts are so powerful they entirely shape our reality and our experience of the world we live in. So, if you fill your head and surroundings with negativity, whingeing and a ‘can’t-be-done’ attitude - your life feels like hard work. However, if you fill your life with gratitude, encouragement and positivity - just watch how joyful everything becomes.

So sink or soar - the choice really is yours!

Ilana Jankowitz is a certified Money Coach born and raised in South Africa and currently residing in Zurich. Her work is all about identifying behavioural patterns around money, transforming negative thinking and moving from a self-destructive mindset to one that is positive and inspiring.

She is passionate about helping women to break free from self-doubt, low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence and move towards financial liberation and she can help you too with her free money quiz.  You can read all about Ilana and her work here or on any of my social pages Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube