Throughout the past 24 hours the words "thankful and gratitude" have been put directly in front of me. It started yesterday with a friend sharing a new album by Chris Tomlin, where the first two songs were called "Thank you Lord". Then, as I did a quick news scroll via my iPhone I found an article about making a "Thankful Pumpkin"--cute! Finally, a few hours later I received an email from neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, with the topic being "The Importance of Gratitude". Even though we aren't in November yet, it's clear I was being told to focus on thankfulness and this week's encouragement also needed to be on living in thankfulness and expressing gratitude.
Gratitude and thankfulness is an iGnite value that we have made a priority throughout the past 14 years, and will continue moving forward. While gratitude is a nice thought, for iGnite, it's a way of life. It's part of our culture, as living in and expressing gratitude affects all relationships--including the relationship we have with ourselves. Gratitude affects our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, our attitude, careers, our mindset--everything!
To sum it up, gratitude changes everything and the best way to live in gratitude is to surround yourself with grateful people, flood your mind with grateful thoughts (and write them down on your Thankful Pumpkin) and express gratitude as often as you can and to as many people as you can. Oh, I also recommend listening to "Thank you Lord" (below) over and over and over again.
After making our family "Thankful Pumpkin" and playing (and loving!) the song "Thank You Lord" all day, I am feeling extra grateful, extra thankful and very much at peace. By doing the same, I am confident you will be filled with gratitude and joy--as will everyone else around you.
With love and gratitude,
Neissa