Gratitude has the power to transform your life. I know that is a bold statement, but I know it to be true. I have proven it time and time again in my own life.

If you are focused on all the things that are going “wrong” in your life, I promise you, that is all you are seeing and you are unconsciously creating more of what you don’t want.

Let me share a personal story with you.

Several years ago I was focused on all the little things my husband did that irritated me.  I was laser focused on his annoying behaviors and guess what? I only saw his behaviors that really got under my skin. I wasn’t seeing anything that he did that I appreciated.

One bitter cold winter day we were out riding our horses and he did something with his horse that was all wrong (in my humble opinion). I felt the need to correct his horsemanship. Obviously my husband had reached his limit of my nagging. He expressed his extreme anger towards me over my “helpful corrections”.

Let me tell you, the temperature outside was not the only bitter cold that I felt that day.

We had a long, cold, miserable, quiet ride that day. The only sounds I heard for the rest of our ride were the wind ripping through me, our horses hooves rhythmically hitting the ground, and my anxious heartbeat.

On the way home he told me in no uncertain terms that something had to give. He had no intention of spending the rest of his days with a nagging wife.

That got my attention…loud and clear.

As I was licking my wounds from the sting of his harsh words, I realized that I had been focusing only on the things he did that annoyed me. That night I got out a notebook and I started making a list of everything I loved and appreciated about him.

I continued that nightly practice for at least a month until my focus had shifted. All I was looking for and noticing were his wonderful traits.

My entire focus changed.

It didn’t take long before he was once again the most amazing man in the world and I was the luckiest woman alive to be married to him.

He didn’t change a single thing. 

I changed my focus.

What you focus on grows. 

Where is your focus? I invite you to be a careful shepherd of your thoughts by paying close attention to them.

If you haven’t already started a gratitude journal, why not start one today? At first it may be difficult to list even 5 things that you are grateful for in your life. But, after a few days of consciously looking for things you are grateful for, your focus will shift. Before you know it, your lists will flow from your pen like the gratitude dam broke and you will be racing to keep up to write them all down.

Gratitude is a magic elixir that has the power to transform your life by simply by changing your focus from negative to positive.

It works. It really does.