Having just honored our veterans and with Thanksgiving coming up in the U.S., gratitude is top of mind.  With work, family, the holidays, and the pandemic, one can easily get stressed out and feel overwhelmed.  The question is, how often are you remembering to stop and be grateful?

Are you the kind of change agent / leader who is:

• Never satisfied with what you have accomplished in your career and are always seeking the next position?

• Always focused on what you don't have?

• Always striving for more?

• Taking the people in your life for granted?

Or are you the kind of change agent / leader who is often in gratitude and:

• Knows how to stop and smell the roses?

• Feels content with your position in the organization?

• Is focused on, satisfied with, and grateful for what you do have in your life?

• Is able to find something to be grateful for in any situation?

• Deeply appreciates the people in your life?

Or are you somewhere between the two kinds of change agents / leaders above?

Why does being in gratitude matter?  It:

• Moves you out of fear as your brain cannot be in fear and gratitude at the same time

• Leads to a stronger immune system and lower blood pressure

• Results in more joy, happiness, and other positive emotions

• Leads to feeling less lonely and isolated

• Leads to you being more forgiving and outgoing

And that’s just some of the benefits. 

Now there is a big difference between saying you’re grateful for something, and truly feeling grateful for it.  In order to achieve the benefits of gratitude, you have to actually feel grateful.  For example, the below are just some of the things I feel deeply grateful for:

• My paternal grandfather surviving being in a prisoner of war camp for 18 months where he had little food and protection against the cold, otherwise I wouldn’t even be here

• Seeing the cement floor in my basement for the first time which means no more asbestos tiles! (click here for the backstory)

• Staying Covid-free through the pandemic

• Having a warm house and plenty of food to eat

Now that you know why gratitude matters, how happy are you with often you’re in gratitude?  Which of the change agents / leaders above do you want to be?

Call to Action

• Want to be in gratitude more? Reach out to Rosanne for help so you can be the change agent / leader you want to be.

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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.