Appreciating the Power of the World Around You.
Today's society pushes us to look inward.  The messages the radiate to us sound like "do this for yourself," "treat yourself," and "take care of me first." Reality television is pushing us to be critical of others.  Contestants are rude, cheating and coniving in an attempt to "win." Celebrity is focus.  It's important that we're seen as "in" and "cool."  If we have some material thing, we're now more important than the next person. We are routinely judging others and attempt to raise our spirits by the put downs or the bad fortunes of others.

“I am a happy, happy guy. I am grateful, and that is riches. Gratitude is wealth.”
                                                         -Ben Stein

Most of us associate gratitude with saying thank you for the simple things in life.  We say thanks for our families, our friends, our material possessions and the things that have gone right for us.  This level of gratitude we’ll call “simple gratitude.”  Simple gratitude is a default level of thanks often triggered by a someone doing a good deed for us.  Responses such as:  “thanks for helping me out,” or “thanks for the nice gift,” are symbolic of simple gratitude. It is our way of acknowledging what others are doing for us.  Simple gratitude returns positive energy back to us, but at a low level.   Yet by using simple gratitude you will begin to notice small changes in your life.

If we continue to work at gratitude, you will transition to an elevated level of gratitude.  This phase is a higher level of gratitude, where you begin to forgive others more readily.  By deepening your thankfulness, you’ll deepen your understanding of the world around you.  In this phase you will begin to start appreciating the things around you that you have in the past taken for granted.  You’ll also notice yourself becoming peaceful and content with your surroundings.  Others are happy around you.  Negative people are drifting away from you.  You see life as a journey where you can control your destiny.  What you are wanting begins to appear in your life.  You move from a  person reacting to the events occurring around you, towards that of an observer.  The median phase allows you to begin to see life as an highly organized chain of events.  You are seeing that things occur in life for a reason.  Good things are beginning to regularly appear in your life.  You are beginning to feel much happier and more content with what you are being given.

To make major changes in your life, you need to move on to the highest level of gratitude.  This level of gratitude is “genuine” gratitude. 

Genuine gratitude is the goal.  It is at this level that everything that we thought possible, becomes reality.  At this level you begin to realize the power of everything you see, feel and sense around you.  You are an observer to life.  Events come and go without reaction from you.  You accept all that occurs.  Your are thankful for the ability to fully experience life.  What you ask for comes to you.  You have a deep inner peace.  You are happy every day, regardless of what is happening around you.  Negative people and events avoid you.

Defining Gratitude Levels

If we were to rank gratitude on a scale of 1 to 10,
Simple Gratitude is 1 to 3,
Elevated Gratitude is 4 to 6 and Genuine Gratitude is 7 to 10.

1          2          3          4          5           6          7           8          9          10
--- Simple ---               --- Elevated   ----                 ------  Genuine   -------

Another way to look at the gratitude level scale is this:
When an event in your life occurs, how do you currently react to it? 

Do you:  
1          2          3          4          5           6          7           8          9          10
  --- Understand it?---     --- Appreciate it?   ----    -- Accept without Question?--

Moving to higher levels of gratitude evolve over time.  Some move quickly to upper levels and some take years to achieve advanced levels.   Some days you may notice that you are existing in the Median level and other days you drift back to the Simple level. By continuing to be thankful and working to expand your gratitude, you will naturally move to the upper levels of gratitude and create a life for yourself that is currently out of your view.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
                                      -John F. Kennedy

Learning to live at higher levels of gratitude.

Try to learn to detach yourself from events occuring in your life. Don't let the day's events effect you.  Try to become neutral to your surroundings.  When decisions need to be made, step back into a role of an observer, and make the best decision possible.
Don't read anything into a situation. Many times what we think was intended, is exactly opposite of what was intended.
Observe what is happening around you.  Everything is happening for a reason. If an event occurs that catches your attention, ask yourself, "Why is this occuring?  What am I to learn from this occuring? What are others to learn from this occuring? Am I being called to do something?"
Raise your energy level by helping and thinking of others.  Although this takes time to train yourself to begin to put others first, the rewards are priceless.
Keep your thoughts in check.  By becoming aware of your thoughts and their patterns, you can chart your progress.  You can begin to use your thoughts to chart the course to your future. Thoughts are powerful things.  What you think becomes your reality.
Begin to look outward. Most of us have traits of both Inward and Outward facing traits.  As you improve in a gratitude based lifestyle, you will begin to see more Outward focused traits. You will also begin to be more free flowing throughout your day.  The "bumps in the road" that you see in your life will begin to disappear or become greatly reduced. As you move Outwards, you will begin to see your level of happiness increase.

Working towards a grateful lifestyle begins with thank you. By taking time to say thank you deepens are awareness of the world around us, and what everyone is doing and contributing to make our world a better place.
Appreciate the other person.  If someone crosses you, relax.  That other person is presenting an opinion based of what they "perceive" to be true to them at that moment.  Forgive that individual and move forward.  If that person continues to berate you or radiate negative energy towards you, cease that relationship.  Negative feelings that radiate towards you will continue to radiate outwards.  You become the carrier of their negative energy.  Like ripples in a pond the negative energy of your encounter will continue to your friends and family.  But, if you avoid negative feelings and begin to generate positive feelings, this energy will radiate forward to your friends, family and anyone you encounter that moment.   By appreciating and being grateful for the other person, you shut down the negative feelings and return positive feelings to the environment around you.
Leave your past, in your past.  Today is a new day. If someone has done something to you in the past, forget it, forgive it and move on.  Be thankful for the experience of the moment and learn from it.  Do not let the past determine your future.