You are formally invited to a life-changing event! A shift, if you will. A shift in what? Your way of thinking. Your depth of perception. Your overall attitude.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! It’s all extra.
Do you wonder what it would feel like to win the lottery? It might not feel like it, but you already have! If you can afford to live on more than $10 a day, you’re already among the top 20% of the wealthiest people alive.
Enter entitlement. When we’re unable to appreciate any thing, we take everything for granted. That’s entitlement. That's the problem. But the truth is, no one is entitled to anything . . . yet entitlement is becoming an epidemic. It’s spreading like wildfire. More and more people believe things should almost always go their way and that somehow a good life is owed to them.
This way of thinking is not only crazy, it's destined to disappoint. It sets you up to be upset. Entitled thinking needs to be extinguished! Things are not always going to go your way, nor should they. Life doesn’t owe anyone anything. No one is guaranteed tomorrow. In fact, no one is even guaranteed the rest of today. You didn’t do anything to deserve life, to be alive.
And yet, here you are.
Life has been given to you as a gift! Therefore, any good experience is extra.
So to extinguish entitlement, to begin being a part of the solution instead of the problem, begin seeing every enjoyment as an extra unexpected gift, a welcome surprise, a breathtaking bonus. Acknowledge that you are entitled to nothing and that it’s all extra. With this It’s-All-Extra attitude, your seemingly ordinary life soon becomes extra-ordinary . . . that is, extraordinary!
I am inviting you to shift from an attitude of entitlement to an attitude of gratitude, from expecting to accepting. Instead of expecting things to go your way and getting upset when they don’t, begin accepting things as they come and giving thanks as often as you can.
And since gratitude is the most attractive trait, if we all start to show it, before you know it, it will catch on, and it will change the world!
And entitlement...will be extinguished.
-Jeff Teresi
(This is an excerpt from The 7 Key Abilities Book, Chapter 2.)