You might want more, but when is the last time you looked around to appreciate all that you have?

BY ROBERT IRVINE

The noted self-help author Louise Hay wrote that if you never appreciate what you’ve got, then you’ll never appreciate what you get. You might hate something in your life right now: A job, a relationship, your car, etc., but Hay posited the notion that if you concentrate your energy on how much you dislike that particular thing, you’ll invariably move on to another situation that you wind up hating. Rather, you need to focus your energy on all that you’re grateful for. Only then can doors open up to bigger and better things. Law of Attraction 101.

I’ve found that this is true in my life. I’m an ambitious guy and I’ve always wanted to do big things. At times when I was frustrated, I became creatively blocked; as I know now, my negative energy was blocking the flow of anything better in my life. When I took a pause to be thankful for all that I had in my life, it was amazing how the world around me almost immediately changed for the better.

If you’ve been reading Robert Irvine Magazine for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that we interview a wide variety of highly accomplished people every month. After a year of publication, here’s just a sample of some of the folks we’ve interviewed: Actors Gary Sinise and Joe Manganiello, celebrity trainers Jen Widerstrom and Jay Cardiello, fitness icon Mike O’Hearn, golfing legend Gary Player, and Super Bowl champion Steve Weatherford. In these in-depth interviews, the editors discovered that positivity isn’t something that happened to these folks AFTER they found success. In all cases, gratitude preceded fame and fortune. It confirms what Hay originally wrote about and what I’ve seen in my own life.

This month, we interview comedian and ventriloquist Terry Fator, who found success late in life. Before winning Season 2 of America’s Got Talent, he was working county fairs. He was making a living, but it’s a far cry from the fame and fortune he found; today he is the third-highest grossing comedian in the world, ranked behind only Jerry Seinfeld and Kevin Hart. Fator says that by the time he was 40, he had given up his dream of being rich and famous, but he never gave up trying to be the absolute best he could be. He did what he did with love, care, and attention. Eventually, the world responded in kind.

His story jives with our featured interview with Gordana Biernat, one of Oprah’s Super Soul 100 teachers and author of the upcoming book, #KnowTheTruth: Why Knowing Who You Are Changes Everything. Biernat talks about how our brains essentially function as radio transmitters with the vibrations we put out into the world reflecting back to us. What we focus on eventually surrounds us. To that end, daydreams of success are not a waste, but useful tools that, when focused upon with intensity, literally come to life.

Does it surprise you, then, to see what came to Terry Fator? The man wears a smile on his face 24/7. If you work towards greatness with joy and appreciation in your heart, greatness will come to you in one form or another.

I believe this concept can be applied to anything we want. So how can one apply this to health and fitness? Simple: no matter where you are in your journey, remember that there is someone out there who envies the body you have. Even if you’re in a low spot where you’re being incredibly hard on yourself, remember what a blessing it is to have a body at all. Then sit quietly for just a few minutes and be thankful to be alive and breathing on Planet Earth and to have a chance today to not just live, but to be even better than you were yesterday.

From total newcomers to elite athletes, that’s all fitness is: a journey of self-improvement. Stay with the journey. And once you’re grateful for everything that’s right with your body, you’ll be amazed at where you can go from here.

Yours in health,

Robert