Gratitude as Energy: The TRUE Power of Gratitude

Transforming from the DOING of Gratitude to the BEING of Gratitude

It’s November - the start of cooler weather, Thanksgiving, and the season of reflection and gratitude. As we move indoors, this is also a metaphor to move inside ourselves, to reflect and find new meaning around giving thanks.  In this article, you will gain more depth around what Gratitude actually is, how to harness its power, practices to apply to life and work, and how our team used the power of Gratitude to transform dynamics for an engineering team from New York working on strategic planning.

This year has been filled with facing uncertainty, orienting our lives toward what really matters, and finding joy in the simplest of things. We imagine that you may find Gratitude helpful as a peaceful respite from these often anxiety-ridden times.

While it may be common sense that the practice of Gratitude is a good idea and many of us call ourselves ‘grateful’, we don’t always leverage the full power of GRATITUDE.

Many coaches, spiritual teachers, even Oprah have raved about the art of gratitude and its power to transform. Yet, most of us, like me, typically misunderstand gratitude as simply “an act,” or something we DO, like saying a prayer before dinner, saying thank you for a gift, or showing our appreciation for others. The real power, however, is in understanding that gratitude is so much more.  

In theory, being grateful, and practicing gratitude seems logical, polite, even, yet in reality, BEING grateful can powerfully transform your life. While it may feel tedious, hard to prioritize, or elusive, learning how to BE in Gratitude and how we practice this is unique to who we are as individuals. How we want to show up as leaders, parents, and community members define what we do. By choosing to embody gratitude, we develop personal meaning, authenticity, and connection.A headline you can’t ignore.

What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is a way of BEING. We believe the power of Gratitude is not the ACT but in the ENERGY that arrives when we are in the act of gratitude. The next time you thank someone and sense the authentic gratefulness within your heart, notice the ‘experience’ or ‘energy’ that is evoked. This energetic elevation or frequency has the power to transform you, those you interact with, AND the physical space you occupy. It has the power to heal, create, manifest, love, and attract. It has the power to change your perspective, open your heart, envision new solutions, change how you are in relationships, or simply to re-energize and lift your mood.

Here are tools and practices to inspire your own relationship with gratitude, and connect you to the power of what gratitude can bring to your life, both at home and at work. 

Gratitude Practices

Practice 1: Make Gratitude Personal

At Intune, we practice gratitude daily, as an important part of how we attract business and create experiences that hold lasting impact and meaning for our clients and team. Slowing down to both express gratitude (it takes a moment) and allow yourself to RECEIVE expressions of gratitude. When giving gratitude, make eye contact, be present, and open yourself to feeling the connection that arises, like connective tissue between you. Finally, take time to use thoughtful words to share gratitude, words that carry appreciative qualities of what you want to convey beyond standard, social courtesies that we can easily fall into as a habit. 

Practice 2: Experience Gratitude as Energy

When we understand that gratitude is what we EXPERiENCE and not simply, we connect to a more powerful energy and elevated frequency of LIMITLESSNESS. This opens a field of possibilities that has the power to attract our intentions. Gratitude is the energy of abundance. 

Try these things and observe what you sense energetically:

1)   Make eye contact and genuinely thank someone (with personal recognition) for their service

2)   Make a phone call simply to thank someone who made a difference for you yesterday

3)   Write and mail an old-fashioned, handwritten thank you note. Before you mail it, allow yourself to hold consciousness of the gratitude you feel before sending.

4)   Keep a gratitude journal for 30 days and notice the energy that surrounds you, your relationships, and life when you practice with consistency.

Practice 3: Share and Express Gratitude

Each of us expresses gratitude uniquely, and it’s important to find an authentic expression for you and simply “do it!” From making a verbal acknowledgement, a kind gesture, to keeping a gratitude journal, the myriad of ways we can express gratitude are limitless. Receiving gratitude feels good, promotes love and healing, expands our hearts, and has the power to stop time. With all this goodness, jump in and find your authentic way to express gratitude and sit back and notice what happens for both you and others.

Practice 4: Sustain the Experience of Gratitude

IIn every Gratitude expression there is an energetic experience, a frequency or vibration that attracts abundance, light, and limitless possibilities to your life, situation, creations, and relationships. It is the frequency of unconditionality, love, acceptance, empathy, and compassion.

The power of Gratitude is actually found in the BEING STATE of GRATITUDE or the energy, frequency and vibration that is evoked through the act or expression of gratitude.

How do we sustain this over time? Living a life with a constant and consistent state of gratitude is possible. It’s a conscious choice, a commitment, a practice, a mindset, and a way of being. By understanding and holding frequency of gratitude as a goal, you can create experiences of peace, calm and grounding in your body, heart, and mind for yourself and in others.

Practice 5:  Develop Gratitude — Journal!

Our days can fly by us without consciousness unless we bring meaning to our own lives. How we start and end our days can help us develop as human beings to the extent that we can sustain our development more and more on our own. Gratitude is an excellent practice for this, and by consistently accessing the felt sense of gratitude each night, you’re giving yourself a beautiful way to fall asleep by focusing on positive highlights from your day, and allowing yourself to settle in for a restful sleep.

Some Prompts to Get You Started: 

-    What happened today that I’m most grateful for?

-    What are 3 things that I’m proud of myself for that I did or said today?

-    What is present NOW in my life that I am grateful for?

Practice 6: Gratitude at Work - A CASE STUDY

Recently we were facilitating a leadership team of engineers from a technology company in New York. On the closing day of a 3-day strategic offsite meeting, the team’s energy was understandably low. They were all extremely tired and lacked the vitality and energy necessary to complete the next session we were about to lead. Our team noticed this “lull” and immediately spoke to what we noticed in the room. They all admitted they were “fried” and had a long commute ahead of them; in other words, they wanted to wrap things up quickly. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Practice #7: Practicing Gratitude at Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s not too early to name some intentions for the holiday. For some, Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday shared with loved ones; for others, it’s a reminder of loneliness or challenging family dynamics that repeat year after year. How to make this year’s holiday a more positive one for all? READ THE FULL ARTICLE