You Can't "Acknowledge" Gratitude- You Have to Feel it

We live in a world where most people skip over the underlying theme of Thanksgiving which is (obviously) the expression of gratitude. Yes, yes of course the holiday started from a feast- but it also came from one group's struggle and another's supportive reaction to said struggles. 

We love to pass around "I'm thankful for this food"s or "it's Thanksgiving, so I'm thankful for you"s, but oftentimes, we cut to the chase so that we can cut the turkey. 

Today, for example: Starbucks was crazy busy for several hours straight and I was having an overall bad morning. I tried to stay enthusiastic and positive but things just did not feel like they were going my way. So, I tried to remember the day and all of the reasons that I had to be grateful- but I was so angry that I just thought "yeah yeah, I'm obviously grateful for my job". Then, when dinner came along, I was still so stressed and deenergized that I couldn't bring myself to talk to people. I carried around that burdening ball of stress and anger all day, because I just could not defuse. 

Then, I decided to shift my perspective. I started to write this post and to truly reflect on my thoughts and feelings about the people in my life. I slowly and slowly felt my heart warm up so I did more: I posted a 3 minute video rant on my Snapchat story about how grateful I am for everyone. 

By thus point, my heart was nearly singing- then my cousin called me downstairs- my grandma had bought all of us pajamas. This is a tradition we've carried out since I was a kid, but since I'm not living at home I wasn't expecting such a gift. This gesture sincerely touched my heart and made my entire day 100 times better. 

The moral of the story is this: 

When you "acknowledge" gratitude nothing happens- your mindset barely even shifts and so you don't set yourself up to attract more things to be grateful for. 

When you stop to feel love and gratitude, your attitude- and in effect your whole aura- shifts towards one that will bring you even more things to be grateful for. 

Here's some Thanksgiving love from the ladies♡

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I love You!