Jack Canfield shares five daily practices to build gratitude: a seven-minute morning list, appreciating three people daily, an appreciation game, carrying a gratitude token, and a nightly mirror affirmation. He explains why gratitude matters and challenges you to practice for 30 days.
Chapters
Hi there. I'm Jack Canfield, and today I'd like to talk to you about creating daily habits of appreciation. Now, with Thanksgiving nearly here and the holidays right around the corner, now is the time when most people tend to express their sincere joy, appreciation and gratitude. But wouldn't it be nice to experience that level of appreciation, kindness and openness every day of the year? Well, appreciation is one of the highest emotional states you can be in. It's the state of abundance. The law of attraction states that like attracts life. And if you are grateful for what you have already received, you will attract more for which you can be grateful. Many people find that it requires great diligence to cultivate an attitude of appreciation. We are culturally conditioned to focus on what we don't have rather than appreciating what we've already received. Now, it's important that you always take the time to appreciate even the smallest blessings. It's important to activate your gratitude by acknowledging the gifts most people take for granted. If you had food in your refrigerator, clothes in your closet, and a roof over your head, you are better off than 75% of the world's population. Almost half the world, over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. And at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. If you eat three meals a day, you're far better off than the 1 billion people on the planet who eat once a day at most. So take time to appreciate and celebrate these simple blessings. Do you have a phone? Be grateful. Millions of people don't. How about a car that allows you to travel, to work or to explore the country? Is your family healthy? Do you have a computer and Internet access to stay in touch with the world and get access to education and perform work for which you are paid? Do you have clean water to drink? These daily conveniences are gifts that most people in the world do not enjoy. Now here are five easy ways to make appreciation part of your daily routine. First, take seven minutes each morning to write down everything you appreciate in life. Starting your day this way primes you to be receptive and grateful for everything the day will bring. Second, appreciate at least three people every day. Most people enjoy receiving verbal appreciation, but written notes are also nice because they can be saved and they can be re read by the people now. Third, play what we call the appreciation game. As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. Look for the good in all situations. You know, when my wife was in a car accident, she could have chosen to criticize herself or question her judgment. Instead, she focused on her gratitude for suffering only minor injuries and for the help she received from the other drivers who stopped to help her. Now, fourth, carry a physical token of gratitude in your pocket, such as a stone, a crystal, or some other small item. And as you reach into your pocket throughout the day and feel that token, use it as a reminder to stop and breathe and take a moment to feel fully experience the emotion of gratitude and finally, appreciate yourself. We all need acknowledgement, but the most important acknowledgement is that which you give yourself now. In addition to celebrating your big successes, acknowledge your small daily successes as well. One of the most powerful ways to acknowledge and appreciate yourself is by doing the mirror exercise. Now, this powerful exercise is one in which you appreciate yourself for the day's accomplishments while talking to yourself in the mirror right before you go to bed at night. It's a little weird, but it's an exercise that should be performed every night for a minimum of 40 days. Some of my students have done it every day for years. So what you do is you start with a few seconds of just looking into the eyes of the person in the mirror, your mirror image of yourself looking back at you, and then start by saying your name. In my case, I'd say Jack. Then follow that by appreciating yourself out loud for the following things. First, any achievements you had that day. Now, these can be business successes, financial achievements, educational growth, personal things you've done, and emotional successes you've had, like perhaps holding your temper or staying calm in a difficult situation. Second, acknowledge yourself for any personal disciplines you kept that day, such as exercising, meditating, doing your prayer work, or dietary commitments you have in life. And third, any temptations that you did not give into, such as eating dessert or lying or drinking too much or staying up late watching TV or surfing the Internet until hours of the morning. Maintain eye contact with yourself throughout the exercise and when you are complete, end by continuing to look deep into your own eyes and say the words I love you and then pause and just stand there for a few seconds and really feel the impact of the experience as if you were the one in the mirror who had just listened to all of this appreciation. The trick during this last part is to not just turn away from the mirror feeling embarrassed or thinking of yourself or the exercise is stupid. Let me give you an example of what it might sound like for me. Jack, I want to appreciate you for the following things today. First, I want to appreciate you for going to bed on time last night without staying up too late watching tv. So you got up bright and early this morning and you had a really good conversation with Inga. And then you meditated for 20 minutes before you took a shower. Then you ate a healthy, low fat, low carb breakfast. Then you got to work on time and you led a very good staff meeting with your support team. And you did a great job of helping everyone listen to everyone else's feelings and ideas. And you were great at drawing out the quiet people. Oh, and then you ate a really healthy lunch, soup and a salad. You didn't have the dessert that was offered, and you drank that 10 glasses of water that you committed to drinking to today. And you stayed in a good mood all day today. You didn't let other people's problems become your problems. It would have been easy to let Deborah's problems get to you. But you didn't. So good job with that. And let's see. Oh, you edited five Stories for your Living the Success Principles book, and you got a really good start on scheduling next year's Train the Trainer sessions. Oh, and you took time to appreciate Veronica for how well she served and covered everything while you were away. Last week. You had a healthy dinner and now you're going to bed with a good time again and not staying up all night surfing the net. You were great today. And one more thing. I love you. Now, one last bit of advice. If you live with someone your spouse, children, your roommate, your parents, let them know in advance that you'll be doing this exercise each evening for a month or so. You don't want them walking in on you while you're doing it and thinking you've totally lost it. Now, let me end by saying that all this appreciation may not feel natural at first, especially when you're appreciating yourself. But by faithfully practicing the daily appreciation habits I've outlined in this video, you'll begin to change your conditioning. Giving thanks should be more than an occasional exercise once a year. Let it become a daily discipline that allows you to attract more of what you want from life into your life. Now here's your homework to complete after watching this video. I invite you to experiment with this discipline of giving thanks and showing gratitude over the next 30 days until new Year's. And watch your blessings multiply. And also to let me know what you have to be thankful for in the comments below. So thanks for watching. And remember, nothing will change for the better until you do. Now, if you found this video helpful, make sure you like it. Share it with a friend who may need it and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one, and for some additional resources on gratitude and habits, visit my website at jackcampfield. Com. So thanks again for watching.
