How Gratitude Transforms Your Heartspace and Office Space
Today is National Day of Giving. Last Thursday was Thanksgiving.
What I learned about giving is just as my Instagram post reveals, it fosters happiness.
What I learned about gratitude is it's not always about niceties, it's about necessities.
Both are vehicles of caring through one another--especially in experiences of loss.
A loss in business pales in comparison to the loss of a loved one but can still reverberate similar feelings. It can carry side effects of shock and confusion. You still feel grief and anguish; however, the feeling of void in your soul comes from a different place. Your business is an extension of you, your creativity, your hopes, your dreams, your vision. Thus, it's a part of you. And experiencing business loss can be just as tough. But I know even amidst such loss, I still want to be a part of a hopeful future carried through the process of giving through gratitude.
When I give it is not always about dollars and cents. It can be volunteering to serve others. Sharing insight to those yearning to learn more. Adding an unexpected premium to the customer experience. All of these expressions have a common result: uplifting others. And once you feel the surge of gratitude from giving to others, you'll realize it to be a necessity going forward.
On this last day of the Month of Gratitude, try to seek gratitude through giving everyday. Then take a moment to feel. Embrace the hopeful warmth that enrobes you. And smile bright thinking ahead about your future. As Maya Angelou often preached, try to find the rainbows in the clouds.
The funny thing about clouds is that they're always a passing by. In life as in business, troubles can pass as fleeting as a cloudy day. But they do pass. And in counting your seeking gratitude within your current situation, you'll find it necessary to know just how fortunate your waged that storm.
This past year has brought many experiences of loss. Loss of loved ones. Loss of businesses. Loss of connection. Loss of life as we knew it. And an emergence of a new life. A new landscape from which to seed and grow. A new hope for what the future may bring.
Photo Credit: Oprah.com