power Of Gratitude!

How to fix the 5 big mistakes that keep you from _putting gratitude to
work for you

Wes Hopper

The Astonishin Power of Gratitude .....

There's a ton of information floating around about how to be successful

- both on line and off line. I'm sure you've heard about the need for a
clear vision, a strong belief, a good understanding of human behavior
and the principles of influence, and copywriting skills.

If you're like me, you've probably got a "$10,000" bookshelf full of

material from Bob Proctor, Joe Vitale, Jim Rohn, Dan Kennedy, and
many others. It's priceless, and I wouldn't trade my library for
anything.

But what happens when we feel like we're doing all that stuff in the
books and tapes, at least to the best of our ability, and we're not really
getting where we want to be? Is it possible that there is a missing link
in our program for success?

From what I've seen, there is a very common piece that gets left out.
We get so busy doing that we neglect it. There are also some mental
obstacles that get in the way.

It's a simple idea, but it's not always easy, for reasons we're going to
cover in this book. It's also one of the few things that Mom taught me
about life that turned out to be true!

"Wes," she said, "when you get something, say thank you!"

Of course, there's more to it than that, and Mom was only half right,
but at least she was on the right track.

"Now, wait a minute," you might say. "I work my fingers to the bone on
my business and I've got the boney fingers to prove it! Who or what
am I supposed to be saying 'Thank you' to, and why?"

We'll get to the "who" later on, but for the "why" we have to look at the
kind of universe we live in. We don't live in a universe of

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
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"Successful people have libraries.

The rest have big screen TVs." Jim Rohn

"Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in
poverty by their lack of gratitude. " Wallace Wattles

random chance or luck. We live in a universe that works by laws;

predictable, repeatable, understandable laws.

The best program I've ever found on these laws is Wallace Wattles'
book, "The Science of Getting Rich." In it, he says this:

"There is a law of gratitude, and if you are to get the results you seek,
it is absolutely necessary that you should observe this law."

Now, what is this law of gratitude and how does it work? Wattles goes
on to tell us that it is an application of the law of cause and effect:

"The law of gratitude is the natural principle that action and reaction
are always equal and in opposite directions."

Here's what he means - we know that everything we put attention and

emotional energy on, good or bad, will eventually show up in our lives.
The universe, and our subconscious mind, don't know good from bad,
and they treat fear and enthusiasm exactly the same. If we're putting
energy on it, we're placing an order for it.

It's important, then, to be putting positive energy on what we want, not

negative energy (fear, worry) on what we don't want.

Gratitude is so important because it is a very high energy positive

vibration of thought. It is powerfully attractive! Wattles says it
connects us with the Source:

"You cannot exercise much power without gratitude because it is

gratitude that keeps you connected with power. The creative power
within us makes us into the image of that to which we give our
attention. The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best,
therefore it will receive the best."

Do you see what he is saying? If we are grateful about everything, we

are focusing on what we want. It's a way of making sure we are putting
the highest possible positive energy on our desires, and withholding
energy from the doubts and fears that we don't want.
"Let he who would, learn this: that everything, even dust and feathers,
goes by Law and not by chance or luck."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Your thoughts are the tools with which you carve your life story on the
substance of the universe. When you choose your thoughts, you
choose results. " Imelda Shanklin

This is the reason that almost everyone who teaches about goals
insists that you see your goal as already accomplished, and that you
be grateful for it - now! It's a powerful way to be sure you're putting
strong energy on the goal - using gratitude.

You'd think with gratitude so important that everyone would be

conscious of it. But what I've noticed is that many people are actually
pushing away the success they want without knowing it because they
are violating this law!

There are 5 key mistakes that keep people from being grateful. They
all have to do with errors in our thinking and our beliefs, and these are
what we are going to show you how to correct.

We're going to start by looking at the question that Einstein said was
the most important one that each person must answer for themselves.

"People who can sincerely be thankful for things which they own only
in imagination have real faith. They will get rich; they will cause the
creation of whatever they want. "

Wallace Wattles

Einstein's Question ....

Einstein suggested that the answer to this was very important:

"Is the Universe friendly to our desires?"

It seems a little unusual that a scientist like Einstein would imply that
the universe might have a bias about whether we succeed or not.
However, I think he was asking us to decide if the universe was
designed to make it easy for us, or difficult.

In other words, is there enough to go around?

How we answer this question does make a big difference! After all, if
there is a limited supply of "stuff' and lots of people want it, then life is
difficult. Many people believe this way. We call it "scarcity" or "leek'
thinking. It's hard to be grateful when there's not enough.

"This is a great truth. The universe in which we live is strangely and

wonderfully accommodating. " Eric Butterworth

This belief leads to competitive thinking - the idea that in order to get
what you want, you have to take it away from someone else. This is a
belief system that encourages fear and worry. Most sales training is
based on this idea. So are all wars.

How easy is it for anyone to be grateful when they think that the
universe is designed to make things tough for them? Especially when
their thinking keeps creating situations where they get to be right
about how tough it is.

Let me show you how abundant the universe really is. Both science
and spirituality tell us that everything is made out of the same original
stuff. Science calls it energy. So how much is there to make more of
whatever we need?

A recent scientific survey of the cosmos added up everything they

could find and determined that only about 4% of the available energy
was used to make the entire universe! There's 96% left over, or
enough for 25 more universes! That seems pretty abundant to me.

So let's choose a different way of thinking. We can see an abundant

supply, rather than scarcity. We can choose to create our success,
rather than compete for a limited supply. When we do this, we cease to
be a victim of circumstances and we begin to reclaim our power over
our lives! Seeing the universe this way is the first step in the law of
gratitude.

"Gratitude will keep you in close harmony with creative thought and
prevent you from falling into competitive thought. It will keep you from
the error of thinking that the supply of riches is limited - and to think
that would be fatal to youraimsf" Wallace Wattles

Non-Resistance ....

Non-resistance is one of the most misunderstood principles of success,

and not practicing it keeps an awful lot of people out of gratitude. Non-
resistance is simply taking the mental attitude that whatever is, just is,
and we don't fight it.
Most of us go through life with many beliefs in our mind about how
things that "are" a certain way "should" be some other way.

Don't get me wrong, here. I'm not talking about simple stuff, like the
car's in the driveway and it should be in the garage. If it is, go out and
move it!

What I'm talking about is usually the behavior of people and

circumstances that we can't do anything about. We say to ourselves
(and others), "He shouldn't have done that!" or "The car shouldn't have
broken down here!", or "She shouldn't have treated me like that!", or
"We should have won that contract!"

Sound familiar? It probably does, we've all done it. There are a couple
of things to notice about this, though.

First, notice that we are arguing with reality being the way it is! How
successful are we likely to be with that?

Second, notice the thoughts that go with this attitude. Someone or

something has taken our "stuff' (money, success, love, respect) and we
are victims. This is all based on "not-enough" thinking. How are you
going to find any gratitude in a pile of mental doo-doo like that?

So this is where non-resistance is so important. Keep in mind that non-

resistance does not mean you have to be a doormat for anyone. It only
means that you don't argue with reality. What is, is.

Instead of arguing, apply one of the universal laws, the law of

opposites (or polarity). This law simply states that everything has two
equal and opposite sides. Every situation that looks bad has an equal
amount of good, if you look for it.

If you really understand this, it will change your life dramatically, so

think about this carefully! Everything that happens just "is". Like two
sides of a coin, it has a side that looks "bad" and it has a side that
looks "good".

You get to choose. Whatever you call it, it becomes for you.

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
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"The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with
what is.
All the stress that we feel is caused by arguing with what is."

Byron Katie

Here's how you apply non-resistance in any situation. First, you remind
yourself that the universe is friendly to you. There is a virtually infinite
supply of everything you need. There is always enough money,
customers, time, love, friends, etc. so that no situation can leave you
without those things for long. You do not absolutely need "that one",
you can move on to the next.

Next, you remind yourself that you get to decide what to call the
situation - good or bad. You know the good is there (and, yes, I know, it
is sometimes hard to see when you're in the thick of it), but you do
know it's there.

In my life the worst experiences that I have gone through have without
exception eventually proved to be the greatest gifts. They were my
teachers, and each one contained in it the seed of something
astonishingly good for me. Took me a while to find it, sometimes, but it
was always there.

I've found that resistance (calling it bad) increases the suffering and
prolongs the experience. Putting the energy on the "bad" experience
only creates more of it! The value of non-resistance is that it really
speeds the process up and gets you to the good part faster!

So find the good in the situation, and be thankful for it! This shifts the
energy to what you want, and is the second step in the law of
gratitude.

"And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you

should include all things in your gratitude. "

Wallace Wattles

"Nothing on earth can resist an absolutely non-resistant person. "

Florence Shinn

I Can't Get No - - - Satisfaction ....

You can find success principles anywhere, even in classic rock 'n roll!
Although I learned this concept from Bob Proctor, not Mick Jagger, this
song title points to an important lesson about gratitude.
You see, there is a fundamental difference between happiness and
satisfaction. And we want to get happy, but we don't want to get
satisfied.

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
Rights Reserved

The difference between those two words is a concept that many people
struggle with, at first, because the words are used almost
interchangeably, at least here in the USA. But it is vital to understand
the difference.

Satisfaction implies an acceptance of the status quo, being

comfortable with the way things are. People can be satisfied without
being grateful because they have just accepted things the way they
are, even though it's not what they really want.

Happiness, in contrast, implies a quality of mind, a state of joy and

gratitude, for what we have and what we are. It is, by definition, a very
positive and attractive mental energy.

Many people are satisfied, but unhappy. "I hate this crummy job, but
it's the best I can do, so I'll stick it out until retirement." Whew! What a
poor way to live!

Satisfaction with the status quo puts a lid on that desire within you that
always wants to grow, to expand, to be more, have more, experience
more. When we get satisfied, we get stuck, stop growing, and start to
rust.

The place you want to be is happy and dissatisfied! In other words, to

be thrilled with what you have, joyful and grateful for your
accomplishments and blessings, and at the same time, enthusiastic
about your ability to do even better.

So our guy in the example above might better say, "I am not satisfied
with this job, because I know I can do better. I am happy and grateful
that I have it because it is giving me the opportunity to earn while I
learn, and I am learning what I need to know to create the better job
that I really want."

Do you see the difference? Dissatisfied, but happy and grateful.

When Bob Proctor talks about this, he makes the point that all progress
in society and in our individual lives, springs from dissatisfaction, the
constant quest for a better way.
"Spirit within you is always for expansion and fuller expression. "
Thomas Troward

"Flying is now as familiar as walking. " "But why?" "Because someone

was not content to walk."

James 0 Freeman

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
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Happiness, on the other hand, is the ability to look at the present and
see it as good. If we decide that our happiness is coming in the future,
then we don't have much to be grateful for now.

We all hear people say, "When I get the job, the raise, the

relationship, the house, the success then I'll be happy."

Hey, I've got bad news for you, bucko! Now is the only time you've got.
If you can't be happy now, you never will.

Look at your life and find what works. Focus on that and see that you
can be grateful for it! Everyone has something to be happy about.

We know that what we focus on grows in our life. So what are you
focusing on? What you have, or what you don't have? Are you living in
the future, or the present? When you are grateful for what you already
have, you open the channel for more to come.

When we are able to practice living in the present and being grateful
for what we have right now - blessing what we have - we have
mastered the third step in the law of gratitude.

"We should form the habit of blessing everything that we have. We

know that we are setting the law of increase into operation. "

Charles Fillmore

Anything But This!. ...

We're doing pretty well with this law of gratitude. We've got the
friendly and abundant universe, we don't argue with what is, we find
the good in everything and we're happy and grateful right where we
are.
What more could we possibly need to do?

Well, there are a couple of little things.

This next one you might not like. I know I didn't.

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
Rights Reserved

It took me a long time to understand this one. I hope you can get

through it faster than I did. It's only one word .

Forgiveness.

Forgiveness for everyone who ever did anything that you've been
carrying a grudge about.

The guy who cheated you in that business deal. The sister-in-law who
never paid back the $50. The teacher that gave you the F that you
didn't deserve. The ex-spouse who dragged you through the ugly and
expensive divorce. Everyone. Anything.

And here's how you can tell if you've really forgiven them:

Can you genuinely wish them well? Are you grateful for them?

Sorry, but half-baked phony forgiveness won't do the job. You have to
do this completely. Forgiveness is not something you do for the other
person, it is something you do for yourself.

We know that long-term resentment has nasty physical effects on your

body. It can show up as migraines, or heart attacks, or cancer. Why
would you want to hang on to that?

Charles Fillmore points out that the first step in becoming free of debt
is to release everyone from debts to us! This includes the emotional
debts we call resentments. We cannot get what we aren't willing to
give.

In a cause and effect universe, every thought we plant comes back to

us multiplied. Resentments are emotional bombs that always
boomerang back on us, one way or another.

For this reason, every area of your life where you can't or won't forgive
is a blockage in the flow of your success. The only way to unblock it is
to be willing to release the person or situation with gratitude for what
they brought you.

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
Rights Reserved

"And because all people have contributed to your advancement, you

should include all people in your gratitude. "

Wallace Wattles

"Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to
die." Anonymous

Remember, the universe works by law, not by chance. There are no

coincidences in the people that show up in our lives. And because the
universe is friendly, they don't show up to punish us, but often to teach
us.

We can apply the law of opposites and know that there is a benefit, a
learning, a gift, somewhere in that experience with that person. We
can find that gift, if we look, but sometimes we need to have some
distance from the events to see it clearly.

After all, whatever they did wasn't about us, anyway. It was about
them. When we reach the point that we can be truly grateful for them,
when we can really wish them well, then we have cut the chains of
resentment that tied them to us and we are free to move on.

The last step in forgiveness has to do with ourselves. There is no

escape from this step, because we can't give love or support to others
unless we can give it to ourselves first.

We want to be grateful for everything. That means forgiving ourselves

for all the supposed mistakes and imperfections in our life. We need to
be able to love that person in the mirror.

Don Miguel Ruiz expressed this idea much better than I can:

"When you look in the mirror and hate what you see, you need
addictions to survive. If you don't like the main character in your story,
then everything and everyone in it becomes a nightmare. But if you
accept yourself 1 00%, then you trust yourself. And whatever you want
to manifest in the world will happen."
I can tell you from my own experience that just beginning the process
of forgiving and expressing gratitude for everyone in your life and your
past is an incredible gift to yourself. And it's the fulfillment of the
fourth step in the law of gratitude.

"Nothing people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. "

Don Miguel Ruiz

"You can not give what you do not have." Thomas Troward

Get In The Flow .....

Everything we have talked about so far has been about our thinking.
There's a reason for that - everything in this world we see begins with
a thought! For years I played the game of trying to change the results
in my life without changing me or my thinking. Bob Proctor has called
that the "Cycle of Doom."

The only way we can make any real changes is to start with the
thinking part. The mistake some people make is they stop at that
point. But effective change always shows up in our actions.

So how does a grateful person, one who has worked through the first
four steps of the law of gratitude, act?

It's really simple - they give!

They give money, time, support, encouragement, everything. Because

they are grateful for what they have, they give it away. Because they
know that they live in an abundant, friendly, cause and-effect universe,
they know that by giving, they make receiving possible.

If you really want to understand the power of giving, you have to look
at everything you have, not as "stuff", but as evidence of a flowing
current, a river of abundance. When you give, you are demonstrating
your confidence in that abundance and your gratitude for it. You are
making room for more to come.

You know what they call a lake with water coming in, but with no
outlet? The Dead Sea.

By giving gratefully and continuously, you place yourself squarely in

the flow of life and become both an inlet and an outlet for the
abundant universe to work through.
"By thought the thing you want is brought to you. By action you
receive it."

Wallace Wattles

"Prosperity is not in the possession of things, but in the recognition of

supply, and in the knowledge of free and open access to an
inexhaustible storehouse of all that is good."

Charles Fillmore

For 100 pages of stories about how this works, get Dr Joe Vitale's
incredible little book, "The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History."
You will love these personal stories from well-known people about how
they learned the power of giving.

I especially like the story of Percy Ross, who gave away money.
Starting with $2 million, he wrote as many as 120 checks per week. In
17 years, he gave away $30 million! But wait a minute! Where did the
extra $28 million come from? Think about it. He was in the flow!

Let me give you a couple of examples of my own. These illustrate the

principle that we often get paid back in whatever it is that we give.

In my business, since I deal in information, I use books as giveaways. I

have friends in Phoenix who wrote a wonderful little book about
thinking, called "As You Wish". I sell it on my web site at
www.CreateSuccessSeminars.com and I have also given away almost
200 copies!

I also love a book that Dr Joe Vitale wrote, called "Spiritual Marketing"
and I bought 100 copies for giveaways, too.

So what is the result? People are always giving us books! Before we

left Phoenix, one of my wife's coworkers gave us 3 big boxes of
metaphysical books and tapes, over 150 items.

Last month I mentioned a particular author that I was interested in to

some folks here and within a week was surprised with a full set of his
books! It's hard for me to give books away faster than they come back.

Another example - in my seminars I have never let money keep anyone

out who was really motivated to learn. I have done this without any
expectation of return - some people have eventually paid me, some
have not. I don't care; either way I know it will come back to me.
"True giving is not something we do for someone, but it is our consent
to let the flow of God flow through us to that person. "

Eric Butterworth

Imagine my delight when we got here to Kansas City where my wife is

going to school and I found out that as a spouse I could attend and
participate in her Communications (speaking) class and all the special
events and guest speaker workshops along with the students. That's
access to information that the students are paying thousands of dollars
in tuition for - free!

Isn't that astonishing? We do get paid back in the currency we use. So

if you need money, give money. If you need time, give time. If you
need books, give me some books!

By taking the action of giving, you demonstrate your gratitude for what
you have, and this completes the fifth and last step in the law of
gratitude.

"If we seem to experience difficulties, it is because we are out ofthe

flow. And one of the most effective ways of getting back in the flow is
through giving. " Eric Butterworth

What's Next? ...

Now that you've read the book, are you ready to put gratitude to work
for you? If so, this means that you're going to have to do the five steps,
not put this book away in a file or lose it on your hard drive.

Here's an exercise for you to do. I recommend that you do it daily for
the next month to get these new habits in your brain.

Take a sheet of paper and fill the paper with things you are grateful
for. Make sure you have at least 25 - 30 items and that you have a few
items from every area of your life. Include your finances, health,
career, relationships, toys, recreation and anything else you can think
of.

Stop right here and do this before you go on.

How was that? Did you have any problem coming up with enough
items? A short list means that you have a lot of things in your life

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life
to celebrate. " Oprah
that you have not applied the law of opposites to. These are things that
you don't like the way they are.

Here's part two of this exercise. No matter how many or how few you
had on your first list, this exercise is designed to reveal areas where
you need to apply the first four steps of the law of gratitude.

Take another sheet of paper and make another gratitude list, with
items from all the areas of your life. But, for this list, start with things
you don't like.

Look at your boss with the bad attitude, your car that won't start, your
volcanic teen-age stepdaughter, your ex, the IRS, the pimple on your
nose that won't go away, the bills that keep coming. Now write down
what you're grateful for about them.

For example, using my sample list, you might be grateful that you have
a job and a car, for your new parenting skills, for your new insights into
relationships, the income you have to pay taxes on, a healthy body
and the benefits of the merchandise and services represented by the
bills. Get the idea?

Whatever it is for you, start with these kinds of items, find something
to be grateful for and write it down. Fill the paper with these gratitude
statements.

Stop! You can't skip this exercise and go on. Don't read any more until
you have finished. Even if you've done this before, now would be a
good time to do it again. Go ahead!

Now, how was that? Did you finish? You may have felt a lot of
resistance to some of the people or conditions on that list. That
resistance is making it difficult for you to get what you want in life.

Take a look at the items that bothered you and decide which of the
first four steps needs to be applied to them. Go to work on it.

Something else you can do is keep track of what you give. Every day
find some way to give somebody something, to share what you

''A person of power embraces challenges in complete gratitude. No

matter the situation life may bring, discontent is never iustitied, rather
all is experienced as an opportunity and a privilege to adventure and
grow."

James Ray
have. If there is something you feel you don't have enough of, give
that! Be a confident, courageous, cheerful and enthusiastic giver and
watch what happens!

Now to cover one last item. Back at the beginning I told you that we
would answer the two questions of why you should be grateful, and to
whom.

I think we pretty well covered the answer of "why." Gratitude, we have

shown, is one of the most powerful attractors of what we want.
Gratitude helps us build the life of our dreams.

As for the "who" to be thankful to, you've probably figured out that
we're talking about the Power behind the Universe It doesn't really
matter what name you use. But if you'd like a list to choose from, I'll
give you one from Wallace Wattles, the author of "The Science of
Getting Rich." In his book, he uses these names and terms
interchangeably:

Energy, Power, Infinite, Creative Power, Supreme Intelligence, Thinking

Stuff, Original Substance, Formless Intelligence, Source, Universe,
Intelligent Substance, Nature, One Living Substance, Father, and, of
course, God.

There are many other names you can use, too, like your Higher Self,
the Infinite, and more, so pick one that resonates with you. I can
assure you, it doesn't matter what you call it. Just be grateful that we
live in a friendly universe!

If you'd like to share your experiences with putting gratitude to work or

to ask questions about any of these ideas, you can do so at the web
site, www.DailyGratitude.com

We'll be posting the best stories there as they come in. Send your
friends there to read the comments and get their copy of this ebook.

Thank you!

"There is a mind which knows all there is to know. And, if you have
deep gratitude, you can come into close unity with this mind." Wallace
Wattles

Butterworth, Eric - many books available on Amazon In The Flow of Life

Spiritual Economics
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Amazon

Fillmore, Charles - many books available at www.unityonline.org

Prosperity

Freeman, James Dillet - many books available at www.unityonline.org

Katie, Byron - book available on Amazon or www.thework.org Loving

What Is - get this powerful book on forgiveness!

Proctor, Bob - books and tapes available at

www.CreateSuccessSeminars.com

Ruiz, Don Miguel - books available on Amazon The Four Agreements

The Voice of Knowledge

Shared Vision Network - www.sharedvisionnetwork.com Networking in

agreement with the law of gratitude

Shinn, Florence Scovel- books available from www.devorss.com The

Game of Life and How To Play It

Your Word is Your Wand

Troward, Thomas - books available at www.devorss.com The Hidden

Power

Vitale, Joe - many books and tapes, all excellent! www.mrfire.com

Wattles, Wallace - book and seminar www.CreateSuccessSeminars.com

See also Rebecca Fine's wonderful site www.scienceofgettingrich.net
for the ebook version

Copyright © 2006 by Wes Hopper and Horn Creek Productions LLC All
Rights Reserved