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Because I’m all about Gratitude and since it was the one thing that changed my life more dramatically than anything else I’ve tried, I think it’s time I tell you where it all started for me, how I went from a negative mindset to a positive mindset.
Here are the 3 personal development books that set me on the journey that changed my life forever, made me more positive, confident and happy.
In August 2018, I read a book by Pam Grout called Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy. In fact, I got the Audio version so I listened to it while going running along the river a few times a week.
Before that, I had read (OK listened to), a few books about how your mind determines your outlook on life, mostly Law of Attraction books like Richard Murphy, etc, and of course, everyone’s favourite, Rhonda Byrne from The Secret, plus a few other personal development books. One day soon I’ll do a review of those as well, I promise.
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The Secret (The Movie) – By Rhonda Byrne
I think The Secret (a movie by Rhonda Byrne) was free on Amazon Prime or Netflix for a while, and while doing other chores I had it playing in the background (I was going through a documentary phase). She sounded so happy and relaxed, that I decided to buy The Power.
PS did you know that instead of buying the Audiobook on Audible for full price, if you have a Kindle you can often get the Audiobook for a few dollars extra when you buy the Kindle version.
Rhonda Byrne has an amazing voice (she narrates her own books) and her story is pretty amazing. She tells her story about how poor she was, how negative her mind and her life were, and how nothing in life seemed to go right for her, until something happened to her, something that she describes as The Secret. She does say her daughter gave her an ancient book with a secret that people like Leonardo da Vinci used to achieve success but to be honest, I suspect that is a metaphor more than anything else, then again, perhaps she really did receive some ancient book. Who knows!
What’s important is her message, how Love and Gratitude changed her mind-set, which in turn changed her life, and how ultimately it led to a fuller, happier life.
Using Love and Gratitude to Change Your Life
I will say that I loved that book, but I suspect that because it’s a Law of Attraction book a lot of people might avoid it, you shouldn’t though. It’s an amazing book even if you are NOT into LOA stuff, mostly because of the message, using Love and Gratitude to change your own life.
The Power – By Rhonda Byrne
However, The Power is more about Love than it is about Gratitude, or perhaps I wasn’t ready for the message, because it didn’t have as great an impact on me as Pam Grout’s book, Thank & Grow Rich.
I guess sometimes you are just ready to hear something, and for me, all the books before, including The Power, led me to be more receptive to Thank & Grow Rich.
In Thank & Grow Rich, Pam Grout explains how the Practice of Gratitude changes how you feel, how you see the world, your daily mood, how you see yourself in the world, or simply how you experience the world around you, and she challenges you to do it every day for 30 days.
I remember when I was younger, someone said to me that everything that happens in your life is neutral, it’s how you react to it that makes it a positive or negative experience and that has always stayed with me.
Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy – By Pam Grout
So when I read Pam Grout’s book, Thank & Grow Rich, I really was ready to give it a try.
I was already practising my affirmations on a daily basis before going to bed and I had come to realise that this was having a major impact on me, in a very positive way.
So trying something like practising gratitude daily for 30 days wasn’t something that sounded like a lot of effort, I could simply replace one practise with another.
I had this little notebook by my bed in which I would write everything down (I still have that little notebook), and to be honest, those early days, all I could say was that I was grateful for the roof over my head, a nice warm bed, good health and a few other things. And there was a lot of repetition most nights, ha-ha. It was hard to think of new things every evening to be grateful for. Looking back at my notes, I can see on day I wrote socks on the list! I mean seriously, SOCKS? Oh, and coffee made a regular appearance too, after all, I’m not a morning person, I love that first cup of coffee of the day.
But I persevered and it wasn’t long before I started to notice that when I practised gratitude, this feeling would come over me, I would feel all warm inside my body, and at peace inside myself and with the world. It was a very peculiar feeling.
But also, I felt love. I felt that I WAS loved. Even though nothing in my life had changed, suddenly I was feeling so much love and joy from everything and everyone.
My Life Started to Change
It was like the world around me had changed COMPLETELY but really, nothing had changed. The world was still turning at the same pace it had always turned, yet I FELT DIFFERENTLY, I SAW THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY; it was like my place in the world had changed, for the better.
I would go to sleep feeling nothing but happiness and love, as opposed to lying in bed obsessing about every negative thing that had happened to me at work that day, which allowed me to fall asleep really quickly, instead of lying awake for hours.
And even better, I would WAKE UP feeling like that too. And that mood would stay with me throughout the day. Almost like having a “positive” hangover from the night before.
It occurred to me that if it has such an effect on me at the END of the day, then how much of an effect could it have on me if I did it BEFORE my day got started, so I switched to practising gratitude first thing in the morning before going to work. And I can see in my Day One app history (it’s a free journaling app for IPhone and Android) that I started practising gratitude daily in the mornings before work sometime in May 2018.
I would use the Day One app when I didn’t have my notebook with me, it really is just so easy and quick to use and you always have it with you, I can highly recommend it. It also allows you to have more than one “notebook” and you can tag or categorize entries. It also captures your location and the weather, although I can’t say I’ve ever been particularly interested in that.
Either way, the change was MASSIVE. It’s one thing to practise gratitude in the evening and have the warm glow of a “positive” hangover the next day, and another thing entirely to START your day that way.
Suddenly EVERY DAY I was happy, chilled, at peace, full of joy, I didn’t get so stressed at work, or if I did get stressed, or upset, I was quicker to get over it.
Every day was suddenly amazing!
Just imagine, feeling happy and loved every day, and not because life has changed, simply because YOU have changed.
I also realised that when I was feeling miserable, or upset, or I started to get wound up about something and I could feel that tension and stress build inside me, that a quick session of reminding myself of all the things I’m grateful for would let me snap out of it immediately.
It was like the ultimate get “out of a bad mood” monopoly card. I could just “turn off” the stress or the bad mood, JUST LIKE THAT, just like FLIPPING A SWITCH!
Pretty cool huh!
All because I decided to give Pam Grout’s 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy a try.
It really is the book that changed my life.
Ok admittedly The Power also changed my life and I highly recommend both, but for me Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy pushed me over the edge. It was rather like the straw that broke the negative camel’s back until it became a happy, positive and loveable camel (it’s entirely possible I’m taking that metaphor a tad too far hehe).
But I changed. I changed for the better. My entire life felt different even though I was still living in the same house, had the same job and the same boss, did the same things week in and week out, with the same salary as before.
And yet…..MY LIFE WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
It really is true what they say, it is in the eye of the beholder! Which is to say, life is what you make it, what you see as bad someone else sees as good, and it’s only your mind-sets which are different.
The 3 Personal Development Books That Changed My Life Forever
- Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy – By Pam Grout
- The Secret (The Movie) – By Rhonda Byrne
- The Power – By Rhonda Byrne
Final Thoughts:
So my recommendation to you, if you want to do one thing that will change your life more than winning the lottery, more than running a marathon, or becoming president, falling in love, getting a pay rise, being promoted, falling pregnant, or pretty much anything else I can think of, then try practising gratitude for 30 days.
It only takes 5 min a day; really you don’t need to do more than that.
And if you don’t want to buy and read a book, then I even have a totally free email course that guides you for 30 days on how to do it.
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear back from you on how it changed your life, so either leave a comment, or email me at girlhasamind@gmail.com and tell me all about it.
As always, all of my love. I believe in you.
Lynette
After learning how and changing my own mindset, it is my mission in life to help others become their best self, positive, confident, happy and successful! 💕
