Rethink the past! My final tip for including more gratitude in your life is to rethink your past period revisit important or emotional events and look at them with a gratitude lens. Thank people for things they did 10 years ago that are still resonating in your life. Reframe bad events by focusing on those that helped you through the bad times. Gratitude works in the present and future and can even make the past better period I am grateful for you.

I have a friend who is well known for his birthday cards and thank you notes. It started when he had a corporate secretary to help him, but even in his retirement he sends 15 to 20 birthday cards a month. He is also known to send thank you notes for even the smallest events. If you go to dinner with him he will write a thank you note for the great conversation if you pay he will write and even longer more gracious note. Express your gratitude. It will help you and everyone else.

Remember, there are many millions of people that are worse off than you. Open the newspaper and read about the horrible things that people do to each other. Be glad that you are not the one they are writing about. Visit a hospital and just hang out in the waiting area or the lobby and you will see that you have a lot to be grateful for. Reach out to an organization helping orphaned or disadvantaged kids and you will see that you have a lot to be grateful for. Believe it or not you have quite a lot to be grateful for

I suggest that you make gratitude a part of your day. Just as you may pray or meditate or do positive affirmations, try to also include some things that you are thankful for. Spend 5 minutes every morning listing things or thinking about things that you can be grateful for. Add dinner, you could go around the table and have each person say one thing that they are grateful for that happened that day. This is a great way to pass gratefulness on to another generation.

Despite what it feels like sometimes, we have a lot more to be grateful for than you might suspect. one of the best ways to feel better about your circumstances is to make a list of the things that you have to be grateful for. It could be small things like having a computer to listen to this on or having a car to listen to the radio or being healthy enough to drive. I think you will find that you have a lot more to be grateful for then you remember. Also try a negative list as well. Make a list of people that are worse off than you Carla it's not hard just open up the newspaper and see the horrible circumstances that some people are living through. If you don't see yourself there you should be grateful for that!

Almost always there is one person in your life that accommodates your vices. That person that wants to buy a pack of cigarettes with you. As hard as it is, you must eliminate them or at least the eliminate the situations you see them, in your life.

Huge part of accountability is being told you are wrong or lazy. You must accept the feedback and not get rude or upset with your accountability partner.

Tell your partner what to hold you accountable for. Set clear goals that are easy to measure. If your goal is to write a book, commit to writing 2 pages a day, or eating one piece of fruit every day.

Must ID a clear powerful accountability partner. Ask someone to hold you accountable by asking the hard questions each week or month? Questions like Did you exercise every day this week like promised? Try to find someone strict but willing to give you day off once in and awhile.

Maintain Excitement – Like with anything new, start in small steps. You can’t invite new accountability into every part of life at once. Start at home, then church, then work.