As we get ready to celebrate thanksgiving, I did not want to miss the opportunity to write about gratitude, gratitude for so many persons and situations that have contributed to my learning and to my personal and professional growth.

To appreciate is, according to the dictionary, means to give thanks for a benefit received or to reciprocate to care received.

So, I want to begin this blog by thanking God, my wife, my children, my parents and siblings, for always being by my side, in good and bad moments. I also thank the company’s workers and clients, for it is thanks to them that AgroAmerica is a leading, world-class company. And I would be remiss if I did not mention stakeholders, for their support and encouragement to improve.

The benefits of being thankful

Some time ago, I read a leadership blog on the benefits of being thankful. It said that thankful people live happier lives, are optimistic and compassionate. They recover faster from stress, sleep better and fall ill less often. They are more productive in their work; their self-esteem and trust are higher; they attract abundance; their relationships are of a better quality, and they live in the present.

Gratitude leads to happiness

I will be happy when I have a job, when I can become independent, when I have a couple… We make our gratitude and happiness continent on so many requirements! And it is for that reason that gratitude is not at the top of our minds in our day-to-day. We always make it conditional on something, and that restricts our sense of happiness.

The habit of expressing gratitude

A leader understands that gratitude does not often come naturally to human beings. 60,000 thoughts cross our mind during the day and most are negative, repetitive or from the past. For that reason, a leader needs to make an effort and be aware of being thankful each day, for the small things, which will make it easier to then feel thankful for the big things.

According to the law of attraction, one attracts things one is thankful for, and one also attracts more of those things that we complain about.

We should be thankful for difficult situations, because thereare always lessons to be learned from them.

The practice of expressing appreciation turns an individual into a leader worth following. The opposite would be arrogance, and I would venture to say that nobody wishes to be equated to an arrogant person.

A leader should not focus on what he does not have but on valuing everything that is good that life has given him or her. More of that will come. Abundance will come.

Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, I invite you to join in appreciation for life, health, work, family, friends and the lessons that good and “bad” moments have taught us.