***Create Grateful, Happy Ripples

I usually start my day with all that I’m grateful for in my life and this morning is no different.

This past week was an amazing milestone for InspireMeToday.com. In our 5th week after the launch we broke all our old records for visitors. We reached our greatest audience yet, received a lot of fan mail from folks that love what we’re doing, (including a custom song written about our site from a new member in Indonesia!). We had more new members join this week than the previous four weeks combined. We had visitors to the site from SEVENTY-NINE different countries, and all of this on day 38! I think we’re on to something and I am very grateful!

I’m so grateful to our Inspirational Luminaries for sharing their message with the world. I know it’s making a difference. Interestingly enough, each time I interview one of our Inspirational Luminaries and ask them how they start their day, they’ll share how they start their day with gratitude. By being grateful for what we already have- no matter how much or how little, it makes room for more abundance in our lives.

Today, we’re featuring Sami FitzGerald who started her career from a place of gratitude. She’s only SEVEN years old, but already learned the importance of gratitude. It’s had such an impact on Sami that she’s now teaching this to others, and that’s pretty cool at any age, let alone at 7!

InspireMeToday.com was built to inspire you to live a happier, more fulfilled and yes, a more grateful life. Imagine if we reach millions of people who wake up grateful and live today from a place of happiness…. It’s a great vision! We feel as if InspireMeToday.com is tossing pebbles into the still water, creating ripples that will eventually reach everyone. I imagine the caregiver in a nursing home being happy and therefore kind to her patients, the barista at the local coffee shop greeting everyone with a smile and making their day more special, the janitor where you work whistling as he passes by. All happy, all spreading love because they’re inspired and grateful. All of these people who may think that they’re too small to matter will have a significant impact on the world today. Their smile will reach many. Their kindness will reach someone who desperately needs a reminder of what really matters. They are but a little pebble thrown into the pond of life, yet their ripples will reach many, just as your ripples will reach distant shores as well.

So my question to you dear reader is this… What kind of ripples will you create today? Will they be happy ripples coming from a place of deep gratitude? What impact will they have on those around you? We all create ripples in the world around us, whether we’re conscious of it or not, so why not make them grateful, happy ripples?

Using Twitter.com, I decided to ask others what they were most grateful for this morning. Using only 140 characters, I posted, “Good Morning. Just starting another beautiful day. I’m grateful for all of you. Thank for your friendship and just being you. Make it great!”

Within minutes I received these two replies…

“Wow, that was the nicest thing I have heard in a long time! Thank you and I hope you have a great day!”

“Wow, Gail - that’s the nicest tweet I’ve ever read. I hope your day is great as well.”

I realized that my post did a few things. It offered thanks to a few that weren’t used to being thanked and it made a few people stop and think. Just asking the question “What are you grateful for” changed the consciousness of the group and started a ripple.

I got responses that included:

I’m grateful for EVERYTHING. Being alive. Healthy. Happy. Having friends. For Twitter. For coffee. And more! I’m grateful for nice weather and golf. That my dog is healthy. That I’m spending time with friends in a convertible with the top down. Caring parents, music, caffeine, craigslist, air travel, gmail, hair gel, post-it notes and good brakes also made the list. Thankful for my friends, my feet (especially my right one) and my sense of humor. Grateful for unconditional love, online connectivity, daily miracles (no matter the size), balance found in everything and each new day. A loving wife, healthy kids, great friends, fulfilling work, purpose, truth, sun, wine, music, food, grace upon grace. I’m grateful for inspiration and reminders to breathe.

But no matter what the answer, they had to consciously think about gratitude, and from that, a ripple began, and as more people answered and read other’s answers, the ripple grew.

And if you’re having trouble thinking of what to put on your gratitude list, this quote from the Buddha should give you at least one thing to be grateful for. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”

So, what’s on your gratitude list today? Make your list and watch your day and your world open up to greater possibilities. Everything starts from a place of gratitude. Go thank five people for being in your life. Send a thank you email to someone who made a difference in your life. Take that extra moment to make eye contact and say “Thank you” to a waitress today, or the cashier at the grocery store. Be thankful for things great and small. As John F. Kennedy said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”