Hello, and welcome to section three. In the gift of gratitude, stop striving and start thriving. In Section three, we're moving from section two that was about changing your perspective. And we're moving into section three, where you actually cultivate the practice of gratitude. So in some ways you could consider this the most vital, and the central section of the course. And so this is how to increase abundance and how to put what you're doing into practice.

And so cultivating gratitude is a daily choice how gratitude can attract more abundance in your life, and this is the introduction to that section. Now, gratitude can create a transformative experience in your life. While we discussed how everything won't go your way, and gratitude won't remove all your problems and previous lecture, it will make your problems seem less overwhelming, and also it will help you see them differently and will increase the abundance in your life. What is abundance? A lot of people will ask what exactly does that mean? Does that mean like the outward circumstances of my life?

Or does that mean just how I perceive life? Because I'm interested in how things can actually change the outward circumstances of my life. A lot of people will say, Oh, that's fair, fair enough. And so I believe that it includes both and I think both are important. And I think each one influences the other. So I see them as a package deal.

Abundance, I spent two years of my life studying abundance exclusively. What is it? What does it do with one's life? What does it do to change a person? What is its power for 20 years of spiritual study learning and practice and healing? I believe abundance is twofold, and that there are two schools of thought on what abundance is.

The first definition of abundance is gratitude is a change in perspective, as we discussed in Section two, and it doesn't necessarily change external circumstances in your life. Though it can based on this definition, it's an attitude adjustment, or as I call it a gratitude adjustment. And when your perspective changes the things you look at change, like I've said a bunch of times already. And so you have a new outlook, you practice gratitude as a choice and you start to feel better and have a better outlook on different areas of your life. In other words, it's a practice in changing your perception. But it doesn't necessarily bring more money, love, success, health or luck into your life.

I don't see how it couldn't. But it doesn't guarantee that according to this practice, it does, however, guarantee more contentment and happiness. And so many schools of thought believe that this is true abundance and the only thing we have control over in an uncertain world. Now, the second school of thought definition to have abundance is that if we can know how gratitude can transform lack of motivation, or help transform depression, jar apathy, remind one of the good things in one's life shift ones Because radically without necessarily changing anything about when circumstances change a negative attitude into a positive one. How can it reach those who don't know how to get started or don't have much use for cliches. The second school of thought is that there are those that believe the law of attraction actually works in changing circumstances in our lives in creating a more abundant life circumstantially.

And what that means is that it could be materially, not just in our experience and in our perception, but in this school of thought practitioner students, and others believe that what you believe in focus on multiplies and comes back to you literally, not just regularly for ink. For instance, if you believe you are blessed financially and in relationships, wealth, abundance, relationships, and love will come to you. And in some cases, the school of thought doesn't focus on quality of character or morality, but simply on the facts. That the universe returns to you what you focus on. But for both of these schools of thought, I don't believe that they have to be mutually exclusive. I believe they work together harmoniously and in conjunction with one another, and when one is enriched, the other can be enriched as well.

And for my experience of study, both thoughts are true. And abundance is an attitude and a choice. And it is a mindset. And it does draw more positive actual things into your life. And so the mindset has to come first. And it has to be real for it to work.

And so they basically work in harmony together and interact. How do you make something real that you don't believe that's definitely tricky, and that's one of the things that people often ask about abundance and stuff like that. And so you were probably saying, you know, you've probably heard fake it till you make it and there is truth to that. And but if you believe in your intention, then your intention is real. So if you affirm abundance, into your life and you only believe your intention, but not the thing you're affirming. That's a start.

And with time, you can gradually start to believe what you immerse in your mind. And so gratitude actually takes care of that concern. And but I want you to know what gratitude can do for you and create a transformative experience in your life from the inside. And from the outside. Both if you shift your focus, it can transform your life radically in both ways. So how do you attract more abundance according to both definitions into your life?

Well, gratitude is a cultivated practice, it doesn't just land in your lap. It may on occasion, but for the most part is a cultivated practice. And if something good comes to you, you can usually see how a gratitude or an attitude adjustment even if you didn't know those definitions, and even if you didn't use those practices consciously how you might have been practicing that in a sort of unconscious way. And so when you work on it as a cultivated practice, Use the specific practices. In this section, you will start to see the change in your outlook and your circumstances. And so, welcome to section three.

And we will talk about in the next lectures how gratitude is a cultivated practice, what those practices are and how to put those into practice. I'll see you in the next lecture.