Are you grateful, really grateful?
Have you heard the conversation that goes like this.
Q: “Are you happy?”
A: “Yes”
Observation: “Then tell your face about it”
Just because we say the word grateful does not mean we are feeling grateful.
We’ve all been on the receiving end of empty comments about gratitude from complacent, otherwise preoccupied, casually unaware, others.
Maybe, if we are honest we can remember being the other.
Well, I have an “Other” way to look at gratitude that will put some HorsePower in your gratefulness and move you and others to gratitude in action.
Or
“Go for IT Gratitude”
Here is the story:
Last week I visited my good friend Spencer LaFlure and his wife Judy. They live in Athol NY within the Adirondack National Forest which is 6 million acres of land. All the other National Parks combined can fit within its borders.
This is where Spencer grew up and where he calls home and he is proud of it.
I went there to get away and “go for it” with my gratitude.
I brought Brenda Lee and Kylian along with us so they could go on a ranch vacation also.
I did not bring them to ride, drive, or train.
I brought them there because I’m grateful for them in my life.
I wanted them to hang out and be horses, to run, gallop, frolic and be with each other in the depth of nature.
I feel grateful for them in my life so I “Go for IT”.
IT, being my Inner Truth in action, my Inner Truth of joy for joy’s sake.
While there, I said thank you to Spencer and Judy many times to acknowledge their gift to me and for offering their ranch experience to my wife Katleen, Brenda Lee and Kylian.
My “Go for IT” was seen in asking Spencer to show me his home, his land, his chosen place to live “In the Wild”.
I wanted to be the Witness of Spencer’s life work as my “GO for IT Gratitude”.
I witnessed, listened, and enjoyed and let him see my joy as he showed me his life.
We cruised Lake George where he and his father would swim 300 head of horses across as part of the dude ranch yearly chores.
We visited Gore Mountain where Spencer would teach and entertain skiers, and while there we bumped into his old friends.
We visited the Dude Ranch where Spencer stepped out his own and where he has his school of Advanced Whole Horse Dentistry.
All the while I had no need to say thank you. All I had to do was be witness to how his life was and where it is going now and show him my happiness in experiencing it all.
After saying goodbye and getting back to the rhythms of life at home, I reached out to both Judy and Spencer and let them know again how much it meant to me to give the gift of their life to those closest to me in my life.
And now I’m going to Go For IT and let him witness how this inspirational visit is unfolding in my life.
It may be our own ranch.
It may be letting him know how much closer Brenda Lee and Kylian are after their first vacation together.
It may be Katleen sending them 120 photos of the entire weekend.
It may be the smile I’m holding in my heart during our next phone conversation.
It will be so much more than just saying “thank you” as I show him the Nextness of his friendship in my life.
Thank you Spencer and Judy for sharing your life and inspiring this whispering.
Thank you Katleen for sharing the journey with me and capturing it in your beautiful photography.
Thank you Brenda Lee and Kylian for giving me reason larger than myself to create my life.
Thank you, who are reading this, for it is the thought of your witness, that inspires me to “Go For It”, and for that I am eternally grateful!!!
The next time someone does something that you feel grateful for, try this:
Acknowledge their gift and the let them see its Nextness in your life.
Show them what happens next after the gratitude acknowledgement.
It could be your happiness, your smile, your joy.
It could be your new state after receiving their gracious gift.
It could be your action of using their gift in your life and letting them witness its use.
Go for IT.
Feel the Connection.
Make your move.
Create that change.
Brian
Take the 14-Day Challenge !
Learn and practice one principle a day to help you find your Way Home at any time and in any given situation.
Create a solid foundation from where you can fully release your Personal HorsePower and make that move toward what matters!