Gratitude and Attitude

Hey team. Here we are, it’s another beautiful day, and behind me, you see Devil’s Tower. It’s in Northeastern Wyoming. I’ve never been there. I do have it on my bucket list this summer to go hang out there with my boys. It’s a famous National Park, which is also not very far away from Mount Rushmore, another famous National Park. Looking forward to spending some time with my boys and family this summer. The big moon behind it, I think that might be digitally altered. I find it hard to believe that you can see the moon that clearly and that close. It looks like it’s about ready to land on the Devil’s Tower, but hey, it’ll be kind of cool.

Today’s message or talk or what we’re going to share with you today is something I saw on the internet. It said that gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are a choice. I agree with that.

As a dad to small young boys, I work on teaching my boys about gratitude every time somebody brings them mac and cheese at Red Robin. What do you say? Thank you. Every time somebody puts a wristband on them at Sky Zone, what do you say? Thank you. Showing an amount of gratitude. I know that in leadership and in life many times, I personally enjoy having somebody say thank you for the things that I do for them. And I know that my wife enjoys it when I say thank you for the things she does for me. So having that gratitude in your life. It’s not really about anything else except for it’s a choice that you have.

In the same way, sometimes our attitude. We think that our attitude is defined by the circumstances for which we live in. And while that sometimes feels true, if you’re having a bad day. But ultimately, I really do believe this, that you, by your attitude, you can change. By having gratitude, you can change not only your own attitude but your circumstances around you. Instead of letting the circumstances control you, you control your circumstances through your attitude. And sometimes that’s by showing gratitude. I have found that many times, instead of circumstances being my controller, and if they are my controller, then really what’s deep in me is what’s coming out.

And I’ve seen that in others too. Somebody that life is going perfectly for them and everything’s great, and everything, they might be just doing fine. But as soon as that one thing happens that flips that script and they have challenges, they have toughness in their life. They have adversity, or whatever it is, maybe they’re told that they didn’t do the greatest job in the world and they’re being corrected. Then all of a sudden, their attitude changes in a very negative way. And really what happens is the deep person who they are, rises to the surface. Who they are at their core, rises to the surface. Sometimes we put on a mask and we walk around in life and we pretend and we don’t see somebody’s real person until they have that adversity or that challenge in their life that brings out that.

But if you live a life of gratitude, then circumstances don’t tend to affect you that much. And many times, it’s because of your gratitude and your attitude and the way you look at things, you’re able to come out of trouble, you’re able to climb out of that muck and that pit of despair much quicker because of your attitude and your gratitude.

Now also, many times, because you have gratitude and because you have a great attitude when you get into trouble, you’ll have people rushing to help you, rushing to be involved in your life to help you out of the problems that you’re in because you have a community of people around you that care because of, again, your attitude and your gratitude. Nobody wants to be around Eeyore, nobody wants to be hanging around a grumpy, angry, frustrated, sarcastic, mean-spirited individual. People just don’t like to be around that. People love to be around somebody that’s cheerful. That likes to give, that gives hugs, that gives compliments, that is helping and uplifting in times of need. People enjoy being around that person, and they tend to want to rush to help those kinds of people.

So where’s your gratitude? How’s your attitude on this beautiful day? I hope you guys have a wonderful week. God bless you. Have a wonderful one. And remember, be valuable, nothing less will do. We show off a little bit of gratitude to somebody you know today. See you next week.