Monday Motivation: Why thanksgiving is not the only day to practice gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers (yes, Canadian Thanksgiving is always much earlier than American). I hope you all are having a great long weekend and spending some time with loved ones. And I hope you had some time to reflect on the things in your life for which you are grateful.

Gratitude is something that I believe we all should practice every day. It can be so easy to just focus on the negative and forget about all the positive things in our lives! That's why it's important to have days like today to remind us to give thanks. Taking time to be grateful and give thanks has been shown to increase overall happiness. 

I try to take time to be thankful every day. And I have definitely noticed the positive effects of practicing gratitude. Not only does it remind me that I have so many wonderful people and things in my life, but it helps to put the problems and challenges into perspective.

If you have trouble remembering or finding the time to practice daily gratitude here's a simple, fast tip that might work for you. Every day at the end of the day, write down one thing that happened that day that you are grateful for. You can use a calendar, or your agenda, but write it in the same place every day. At the end of each week or month or whenever you're having a rough day just go back and read all the latest entries.

Sometimes things are so busy that we rush from one thing to the next without taking the time to acknowledge the small accomplishments. Writing one thing a day helps remind me of all the small victories that occur and the things that really matter. 

Something that I am grateful for today is YOU! Thank you for taking the time to follow and read my blog. I truly appreciate it. Thank you!

Do you give thanks daily? Let me know any tips or suggestions you have for those who find it hard to make time for gratitude. 

Are you wishing away your life?

Looking through my timeline this week on Facebook I realized something a bit frightening. For years now, every Friday my timeline is overtaken with varying versions of “TGIF” and countdowns to the weekend. Do you find yourself counting down to the weekend every week? Well, this week I noticed that more and more people are also commenting on hump day. Statuses like “Just have to make it through hump day.” Or “Can’t wait…2 more days until I’m free! #humpday”. 

I decided to look up hump day just out of curiosity and one of the definitions on urban dictionary was this: the absolute BEST day of the week, the day of maximum hope that maybe, you might make it out of this week alive.

Isn’t that crazy? I find it so scary that it’s so normal for someone to go through the whole week just counting down for the weekend. It’s like we are wishing away 5 days of the week just to get to the 2 good days of the week. Instead of waking up every day happy to be alive and looking forward to a day of whatever it is we are passionate about, many of us spend most of our lives waiting for the future. Those who work the 5-day work week and live only for the weekend will have wished away 27 YEARS of their lives by the time they retire! That’s almost a third of the average life expectancy!

Are you wishing away your days or living the life you want? If you spend more days each week just trying to get through the day then you do actually ENJOYING your day and BEING HAPPY, you are wishing your days away. But you have the ability to take control of your life and start experiencing the fulfillment that comes with living up to your true potential. 

It made me realize how blessed I am to be able to do the things I love and to spend my days doing work that makes me feel fulfilled. This is exactly why I'm so excited to bring you the upcoming Millionaire Artist Workshop! This is your chance to get tips and ideas from myself and other great panelists about how to live your life to its fullest. 

You have until October 6th to get early bird special. And if you have a friend who you know could benefit too, we will also offer a ONE DAY PROMOTION of 2 tickets for the price of 1 on October 6th!

If you are ready to live your life but not quite sure how to make that jump, join us Oct 20th. You’ll get some great tips about how to choose to live your life now, instead of waiting for the weekend to be happy. Check out the details here.