How do you express gratitude? I mean as a way of life, how do you make that part and parcel of your life? Now in the next session, we're gonna talk about how to turn this into a habit, and practice gratitude. In this session, I want to give you a process a very simple process for being thankful or gratitude. Number one, think gratitude, thankfulness, number two feel thankfulness or gratitude, and then number three, express thankfulness or gratitude. So let's unpack those real briefly.

One is think gratitude, or thankfulness as a way of life just be thankful. get up in the morning and be thankful for the blue sky, for the for the clouds, for the rain, for the shine, for life, for your wellness for a new day, for your friends, for your opportunities for the good things that have happened in your life. Life in the last week or two, for the good things that you anticipate coming forward for those small things for which you're thankful for those large things and people for which you're thankful. So I want you to start thinking about this as a way of life. In fact, the key to thinking about gratitude is to think deeply about it, not only just let it come in your mind, but meditate upon it and think about why you're thankful. Meditation is a great concept there.

There are two types of meditation popular today. One is transcendental meditation, it's where you empty your mind. So you get peace. And in dealing with stress, it's helpful to empty your mind to quiet your mind to to simply rest and sleep and not have things running around that will help you dealing with your stress. But there's another type of meditation I'm talking about now that is filling your mind. That's a break also an Eastern type of meditation, but found particularly in the Old Testament of the Bible.

The Jews were very famous for their ability to meditate or fill their mind, in this case with the Torah or the Word of God. And I believe that's a very powerful thing to do to be to meditate on. good thoughts, meditate on things for which you're grateful. So, meditation in that sense, is really from the root word ruminate, so a cow ruminates. And when she chooses her food, she grabs a chunk of, of grass chews on it for a while and small swallows it into one compartment of her stomach, coughs it up and then swallows that into another compartment of her stomach, coughed it up and swallows into another compartment and over and over again until it is sent throughout the entire system and basically covers her from top to bottom. And that's what that kind of meditation is think of chewing over and over on a thought so you're grateful say for a person, go to Sam great for that person, but think why am I grateful For them, what does my wife, my dear wife, bring into my life.

She brings joy. She brings peace. She, she serves me she meets my needs. She's my companion. She's my friend. She cares for me in every way mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually.

But think of the reasons why you're thankful. That's thinking on gratitude or thankfulness. And then I want you to feel a gratitude or thankfulness. So when you're thinking about it, the key tool or technology is meditating, as we're talking about, when you're feeling it, I want to suggest the major tool to use is journaling. There's something about writing down your thoughts. So you can, as you're thinking deeply about them through your meditation, you can write down why that's so important to you and what you're learning and how you're learning it.

And what about that makes you it makes you feel joy and thankfulness and gratitude that will really fill up your soul and it's a wonderful thing. thing to do is you write and reflect on these things. So journal, not just what you did or what you're thankful for, but why and how you're feeling and the experiences having in your life that's going to make you happy by the way, and give you joy. And then the third thing I want you to do is to express your gratitude, not just thinking, not just feel it, but express it. And the key to expressing your gratitude is articulating appreciation. Now, I'm gonna uncover this at a deeper level when we get into a right perspective toward people by building up in another module.

But for now, I just want you to think about those people in your life, who you come in contact with day in and day out. And I want you to learn the art of expressing your gratitude. So it's like the guy who his wife said, Honey, why don't you ever tell me you love me anymore? And he says, Look at I told you once when we got married, on our honeymoon, I loved you. If I change my mind, I'll let you know. Well, that might have worked for him.

But it didn't work for her. And it doesn't work for most of us. All of us want to hear words of appreciation that people care for us. They, they honor us, they appreciate us, and what they appreciate what they're thankful for in our lives. That's such a powerful, powerful tool. And I want to encourage you to learn to express appreciation or thankfulness.

So, first you think it by meditating, and then you feel it. And journaling is a great technology, and then you express it by showing and articulating appreciation. You got it. So that's what I want you to do. And now in this particular session, I want you to practice that. And to help you get there.

I'm going to give you a five minute exercise it's in on a worksheet. It's in your resource center, and I want you to work through that five minute exercise too. jumpstart your process of appreciation. And then I want you to think through the gratitude exercise sheet where you're listing those things for which you're thankful and are filled with gratitude. And you begin to make that list that you could think about that you can feel and that you can express to others in the days to come. So those are your action steps.

Work through the sheet. And then I want you to also to work through that five minute exercise and this will get you down the road of practicing this process of thinking, feeling and expressing thankfulness