Don't Let Gratitude Confuse You!

If you've seen any of the videos Carole and I make or visited our Facebook page, you know that we're big on gratitude. We believe a major part of your achieving success in your life and bringing about the Blue Coat BCCPSA practice test changes you seek is to feel gratitude for what you already have and for what you've already achieved.
Now, this may seem a little strange, but I need to make sure you're absolutely clear on what we mean about feeling gratitude. Feeling gratitude is not the same as feeling satisfied. If you see the two as synonymous, then you will most likely make no progress towards your goals and you will not make the changes in your life that you have said you want to make.
No doubt, when our early ancestors discovered how they could harness fire, they were grateful (if they were capable of recognizing such feelings) for the warmth it brought them, for the ability to cook their food and for the added protection it gave them from predators. While they were right to feel gratitude, it would have been disastrous for all the generations that followed, including ours, if they had also felt satisfaction.
Had they been satisfied with their lot, we would still be living in caves and in fear of being on the menu of several larger animals if we allowed our fire to go out.
OK, so that might be stretching a point - but even though it's stretched, it's still a point!
A favourite teacher of ours, Larry Winget, often says it's his job to make people feel uncomfortable because it's only when we're uncomfortable that we feel motivated to take any action. Take right Blue Coat BCCPSP practice test now for instance. Unless you've printed this article out (and, while you're absolutely free to do whatever you wish with it, including sharing it with your friends, we'd rather you saved resources by not printing it) you're probably sitting at a desk or on your couch reading this on your computer or phone.
Are you sitting comfortably? Yes? That's great. We want you to remember exactly how you're sitting right now. Take stock of where your legs are, the angle your body is at, the tilt of your head, the position of your arms and hands. When you've finished reading this, check again. The chances are, you'll have moved.
Why would that be? You are comfortable right now... but you will become less comfortable with that same position, so you will move.
For 'comfort', substitute 'satisfaction'. When we first acquire or achieve something - especially if it has cost us in effort - it's quite right that we should feel both gratitude and satisfaction. But are you still driving your first car? Do you still have the same furniture you bought when you got your first home? How about the same TV?
When you first learned to recite the alphabet as a child, you probably were very satisfied indeed and maybe even got praise from your parents, grandparents and teacher. But they didn't then say "Well that's enough learning for you, young 'un". No! They knew that, while you and they were proud of what you'd achieved so far, you were capable of so much more.
Likewise, if you have children of your own, you probably remember sticking their first paintings (made when they still weren't sure whether paint was something to eat or to wear) on your fridge door. You loved those paintings and were probably filled with wonder at how someone so tiny could create something so beautiful. You wouldn't have changed a thing about it. But, if your children are now, like ours, adults, were they MOFF.EN to present you with those same paintings today, you might start to wonder where you went wrong as a parent!
So yes, be grateful - always. But don't stay satisfied for long. Beware satisfaction, as satisfaction as a permanent state signals the death of progress.
And, by the way, are you still sitting comfortably?