Build Your Gratitude Muscle

“But what about the rest of the day?” Matt asked. “Can I take a thank-you walk during the day, too?”

“Great question. You're a lot smarter than you look,” said Bubba before laughing. “Of course. You can take a thank-you walk any time of day.”

“Good,” said Matt, “because sometimes I feel too tired in the morning.”

“I understand that little buddy and while you can take a thank-you walk any time I encourage you to make it a habit in the morning because there is nothing more energizing than walking and practicing gratitude at the same time. A morning thank-you walk gives you a double boost of positivity to start your day.

“It's also important to know that you can practice gratitude throughout your entire day—even when you are standing still. When you wake up in the morning you can think about the things you are grateful for. You can say I'm thankful for a roof over my head, I'm thankful that I am not sleeping in the freezing cold outside. You can practice gratitude when you are eating breakfast and give thanks for the food and water that nourish your body. You can be thankful that you can walk and smell and hear and see. You can be thankful for lunchtime and nap time, playtime and sleep time. And when you are going to sleep at night, you can be thankful for all the great events of the day. You can think about your favorite success of the day—the one thing or person that made you smile, laugh, and feel great—and you can be grateful it happened.”

“Wow, it seems like you can be grateful for anything,” Matt said. “Do you ever run out of things to be thankful for?”

“Never,” said Bubba. “When you are grateful for the gifts in your life, big and small, you always find more things to be grateful about. I have also found that abundance flows into your life when gratitude flows out of your heart. You become a gratitude magnet and attract more good fortune, joy, love, peace, happiness, and positivity so your list of things to be grateful about keeps growing.”

“But it doesn't happen unless I do it, right?” asked Matt.

“That's right,” Bubba answered. “Gratitude is like muscle. The more we do with it the stronger it gets. So to build your gratitude muscle, what I want you to do today is to identify all the things, even small things, you are grateful for. Even when a negative thought or complaint comes into your mind I want you to replace it with gratitude. For example if you don't like the meal Barry serves today, you can be thankful that at least you have some food to eat while there are so many starving dogs in the world. Gratitude is a choice and you can feed the positive dog inside you all day long if you are ready and willing.”

“I'm ready and willing,” said Matt.

“Great,” said Bubba. “I'm going to go talk to a few other dogs on the other side of the yard that could use some positivity. Remember all the things we talked about, do your best to build your gratitude muscle today and we'll talk about it tonight.”