Is there a connection between an attitude of gratitude and a tendency to make a difference?  Recently there was a news feature on television that documented how grateful someone was for their junior high school teacher’s influence on the direction and outcome of their life.  It was a poignant and touching story which caused me to reflect on the many people who have been a helpful and positive influence in my life.  It was at that moment I realized that our awareness and willingness to make a difference in the lives of others most often begins with repeating what was modeled for us by those who have made a difference in our life’s journey.

What if you were to take just a few minutes right now to make a list of the people who have made a difference in your life, no matter how small or large the influence may have been. Most likely this would make an impressive list and trigger some valuable memories of those important moments you may not have given recognition to recently.

When you connect these recollections with the first question in this article, you can hopefully see that there is a very real connection.  Nurturing an attitude of gratitude within ourselves does tend to foster both an awareness and a willingness to make a difference for others.  Mohandas Ghandi is quoted as having said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

If this makes sense to you, you have an opportunity to choose how you want to make a difference for others.  In doing so you will set a string of actions and attitudes in motion that can, in fact, influence a change in the world that you would like to see.  In specifically choosing how, and with whom, we want to make a difference we create a chain of events that cannot be measured in its eventual outcome.

The key regularly launching this cause and effect scenario is awareness.  First, of your own gratitude for the ways that others have made a difference in your life.  Then maintaining an awareness for your opportunities to pass on the legacy to those fortunate folks who will be touched by the difference you will make in their lives.

I often tell my speaking audiences that there is no way to measure what happens when you drop a rock in an otherwise still body of water.  That’s because the wave you create will go to all shores.

What can you do to start making some good waves – - today?  Whatever you choose to do will likely have someone in the future reflecting on how grateful they are for your choice to be the change you want to see in the world.