[A Grateful Heart] — JOEY MALONEY

Life is interesting. Because it is so different for different people. To some people it is exciting and full of awe and wonder and then to others it is dull and constantly filled with worry and stress.

I think life is supposed to be incredible. And I think perspective is huge.

It's funny how when you have a grateful heart you find yourself being so much more excited about things. When you start your day and end your day thinking about all the gifts and blessings you have, your day usually ends up being a day filled with you seeing all the other blessings that are added to you.

I have been pretty humbled by how good we have it in the United States. In the past few years I've spent time in Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala and the thing that always surprises me about spending time in developing countries is how grateful the people are there, which usually translates into joyfulness as well. But then coming back to the US we have it all but somehow we are not that stoked about life, we are not that joyful.

So, what does it take to BE or BECOME joyful? I really think the first step is a grateful heart. Because when you are grateful you have this contagious attitude that nothing is going to slip by (even the little things) without you acknowledging how great it is and how thankful you are that it is in your life. When we are grateful we stop focusing on the handful of negatives and we open our eyes to the buckets full of positives.

When we are grateful for what we have we cannot stop smiling. And smiling is contagious. And so we smile at people on the street and then their day gets brighter. When we are grateful we realize that we have more than enough for ourselves, so why not go hang out with people who are homeless and bring them an awesome lunch with exactly what we would want in our favorite lunch.

When we are grateful we are excited about our future because a heart that is grateful is a heart that is hopeful, and a heart that is hopeful is a heart that is going to bring life to others and change the world.

May your love be strong,

Joey

***The picture is of my Spanish teacher in Guatemala, Carlos, and I. He was such a grateful person and was so excited about life and loving other people. He had this contagious joy which got other people to appreciate the little things about life.