It’s spring in Colorado. Well, kind of. It’s not the kind of spring I used to experience when I lived in Atlanta—not the blooming azalea and dogwood kind of spring, not the lush green-ness kind of spring, not the landscape awash with ga-zillions of flowers in bright colors kind of spring.

No, it’s a Colorado kind of spring. The kind where last week, on Monday, it was beautiful and sunny and 64 degrees, and on Tuesday, I was outside in a snowstorm, shoveling a foot of wet, soggy snow the consistency of cement, wondering if my evening pottery class would be canceled due to the treacherous roads.

Unconditional Gratitude

So I got to thinking about gratitude. It may seem like a weird connection, but truly, the real value in gratitude is learning to be grateful in all things.  Grateful in those sunny days basking in the warmth of the sun and the promise of the glorious spring ahead, and in those snowy days, being grateful for the moisture, and for the vibrant good health that allows me to get out there and clear my sidewalk and driveway.

It’s Unconditional Gratitude.  When I looked up “unconditional” in the dictionary, it said, “absolute; without limitations. ”

Transactional Gratitude

Most of us don’t think of gratitude that way. We think of it as a response to something. Someone gives us a gift, we’re grateful. Someone is kind to us, we’re grateful. Something good happens, we’re grateful.

When I was a kid, I was trained to always say thank you.  So I did, even when I didn’t mean it. My mom trained us to write thank you notes by not letting us use the gift until the thank you note was written. So I went through the motions, I wrote the notes, but I can’t say that my gratitude was heart-felt. It was perfunctory. A have-to. Polite. Expected.

Thinking back on this, I realize that gratitude can become an automatic response that loses its meaning if we are not conscious of what else it can be. “Thank you” can become no more than a rote response if we’re not careful.

When we truly live with a grateful heart, our life expands. Our soul rejoices. Our bodies are revitalized.  We become aligned with the truth of our being, and get into the energy of love and joy. It becomes the background music for our lives. We live in a state of constant wonder and contentment. We are delightful to be around.

Gratitude is Something We Do

Gratitude is not a result of things that happen to us—it’s an attitude we cultivate by practice. And the more we are grateful for, the more we find to be grateful for.

So the invitation of this post, for you and for me, is to pump up our level of gratitude. Make it bigger. Let it fill us up. Let it be the background music of our lives.

Living life as a feisty woman means living powerfully. It means expressing who we truly are. It means taking powerful action to enhance our lives. Living in a state of unconditional gratitude helps us do this.

Ready to take action? Here are five steps to move into Unconditional Gratitude and live with more gusto:

Five Steps To Unconditional Gratitude

1. Before you get out of bed in the morning, let the first two words out of your mouth be “thank you.”  Every day. Without fail. Take a few moments to tune into all of the blessings in your life, and all that you are grateful for. The poet William Blake said, “Gratitude is heaven itself”. Meister Eckhart, the great mystic, said that the most important prayer in the world is just two words “thank you.”

2. Tap into gratitude in every moment. Let’s not be grateful only for favors, gifts, and acts of kindness. Let’s not only be grateful when thing are going smoothly. Let’s notice all of the small things—the beauty of a tree blowing in the breeze, the smile of a stranger, the deliciousness of a cup of tea—and let’s consciously fill our hearts and our being with gratitude. Then, when something goes wrong, we have this deep reservoir of gratitude to pull from. We’re in the gratitude habit. We’re tuned into all of the little miracles of life.

3. “Be where your body is.” Helen Street, a very wise and feisty woman, taught me this many years ago. When we’re in the past, messing around with it, trying to change what can’t be changed, or in the future, worrying about what might or might not happen, we’re missing what’s happening now, in this moment. We’re missing the wonder and the joy of now. To develop your gratitude muscle, tune in.  Look at your life. Find all the things to be grateful for right now, today, the way things are.

4. Be playful. Practice the ABC’s of Gratitude. I learned about this from Lynn Kendall, the spiritual leader of the Unity Church here in Fort Collins. You simply think of something you’re grateful for that begins with an “a”, then something that starts with a “b’”, then “c”, and so on. It’s a wonderful way to begin your day. It’s also great fun at red lights, while waiting in line, as a way of drifting off to sleep.

5. I read about a woman who sings a tune to all of the things she is grateful for when riding in her car. Great idea! You can just start out with “I’m grateful for…”, and you’ll be amazed at how long you can go on for. It’s especially uplifting if you’re not in a particularly grateful mood. What a wonderful way to spend your windshield time. Other people in the car with you?  Alternate verses. Have a gratitude sing-a-long.

So there you have it. Five ways to pump up your sense of Unconditional Gratitude.  Five ways to tap into the amazing power of gratitude. Five ways to enhance your life.

How do you cultivate and express gratitude in your life? How do you use it powerfully?  Please share below.  I’d love to learn from you.

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