San Diegan tells how he became ‘Dave, the Gratitude Guy’

SAN DIEGO — I am proud of my Jewish heritage. Being Jewish is a gift. I treasure that identity. It has been a source of the important values of all: family, charity, wisdom, compassion, social justice, and culture. To be Jewish today is to recognize that every person is created in the image of God and that our purpose in living is to be a reminder of God. And above all, to safeguard and open the gates to the celebration of life as well as the suffering of tears of distress that are our legacy as Jews. I am especially excited, later this year, when my son will be called for the Torah for his Bar Mitzvah. But I have to tell you something truly amazing that happened to me when I discovered my life passion in the form of gratitude.

Like many in today’s economy, I was having a hard time making ends meet and trying to find things to be grateful for. I had lost my home, job, and my bills were starting to pile up. Growing up in Beverly Hills, I just considered this your classic riches to rags story. As I was starting to believe that this was the best I could do and I was destined to live a life of mediocrity. So, I will just give myself another “pity party” and just accept that this is as good as it gets. That way I can justify my feelings of being a loser and be right. Insanity!, doing the same things over and over again, and expecting different results, that’s what I was doing.

Not being a deeply religious man, I reached out to God, and asked for guidance. “Lord, please help me during my time of need. I know I was put on this earth for a reason. But I’m just lost now! Help me find the way, give me a sign, anything, I beg of you. Thank you, amen”, I said. Several days later while working during my five-month employment at a toll booth, something amazing happened. Not being an avid reader, I brought a book to read to occupy my time, as I grew tired of the doom and gloom that I read in the newspaper. It was called “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace Wattles. Small by nature, but big on it’s message, I was totally mesmerized as I sucked up the information, like a sponge. What I found especially interesting was the chapter on gratitude, the biggest chapter in the book. This got me to thinking, “Gratitude, yes I like that, I can do something with that”, I said.

I began reading more self help books such as: “Integrity is Everything” by John Lavenia, “Three Laws of Performance” by Steve Zaffron, “Thank You Power” by Deborah Norville and my favorite, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. Then I did something I had not done before. I began to open up my mind and allow all the possibilities, that could be, to enter my life by starting to live a life of gratitude. For I discovered that being grateful, you will attract more of what you truly want to come into you life.

I first created the “Gratitude Ball,” a gift I give as a baseball-size reminder to be grateful and encourage others.  I then formed the “Grat Pack,” which I define as “a group of people who openly express their gratitude by thanking others in words, and even moreso by our acts.” They are everyday people, from all walks of life, who have made a conscious choice to see the world through grateful eyes. And by doing so, provide encouragement and inspiration for others to do the same. This experience whet my appetite for a new journey and lead me to create “The Gratitude Tours.”

The main purpose of the Gratitude Tours is to have grateful people be joined in gratitude with other like-minded people.The most immediate benefit, of course, is that grateful people are happy people.  When we look upon our world with gratitude in our hearts, we tend to see only what is good about our surroundings, our relationships, our situation.  We tend to focus on the positive aspects of our world, and to filter out the negative.  These tours will allow for an empowering experience to be felt by discovering the journey that leads to one’s true happiness in life.

I began to feel strongly that the tours represent the perfect world that we all could be living in. As we send out a powerful wave of gratitude strong enough to be felt around the world, amazing changes start to occur in your life. For example, I never would of dreamed that by being grateful, that I would have an opportunity to meet former NFL running back, Ricky Watters, at his home in Orlando, but it did.

To further open up my mind to all the possibilities that life can offer, I completed an amazing transformation gratitude training course in Lake Worth, Florida.  Created by my mentor, Jo Englesson with TOFA (Tokens of Appreciation), the training  involved extremely powerful and emotional draining exercises to let go of deep, long held, hurt feelings, to stop playing the victim, be accountable for your actions and start to break down the ego wall.

I learned that persistence, faith, and vision, do not work if you don’t have a clear intention. When you feel you are ready to do whatever it takes, you are ready to start the action process. Because who we are and what we do is based on past beliefs, so let go of the past and live in the present.  Trust who you are and what you are doing, and others will recognize this.

But the best part was experiencing a moment to share the love bottled inside me with great big hugs! What an amazing feeling, to give and receive the love for another person. What a wonderful world it would be if we could open up and share the love and gratitude we already have. At that point, I declared that I AM now a loving, powerful, free man, ready to show up in the world as  – Dave, The Gratitude Guy.

For 2011, my latest projects involve a new full feature documentary I am creating on how the emotion of gratitude feels good, feels right, feels natural, and can save a life. The documentary takes you on an emotional and informative journey through the experiences of various people who have found true happiness by living a life of gratitude. The film will include in-depth interviews with noted actors, artists, professors, psychologists, and writers. And include the “Grat Pack” doing various acts of kindness throughout the film.  Tentatively, called “Gratitude Stories”, my goal is to have the film released by the summer.

Also, the official start of The Gratitude Tours will begin with the first tour starting May 1 from Washington DC to New York City. Join us as we travel from the nation’s capital, through Philadelphia, and end up in the big apple, New York City. It will be an exciting, empowering experience that will have a lasting effect.

Finally, I have decided that I want to blog more this year. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’ve created a Gratitude Blog. I will be posting a daily blog of spontaneous gratitude occurrences of people, places, things and ideas once a day for all of 2011. So far, I have written about my favorite color of yellow, my first and only basketball trophy, confidence, my walks with my mother, and discovering the joy of drinking coffee. It will be a fun, inspiring, and wonderful year long commitment.

As “Dave, The Gratitude Guy”, I am very grateful for so much in my life, as I take nothing for granted. Especially for the love I have for my family and friends, for health and happiness, for the jobs that I am fortunate to have, and to God for allowing me to find my road to true happiness. I also want to say to everyone that despite anything that has taken place in your life so far, you have the ability within your heart to turn any circumstance around. Because the only way to bring better things into your life right now is by being grateful for what you already have. People are growing tired of the gloom and doom scenario and are longing to connect in a more meaningful way. The missing ingredient for many people has been gratitude, because we always tend to be reaching for something that we don’t yet possess. This creates a feeling of being deprived and a negative mood. We won’t get to possess what we want, until we feel massively grateful for what we already have.

I’m on a mission to spread the message about the importance of having daily gratitude around the world. My vision is to educate everyone that the best way for us to value our present day happiness and gratitude for what we have is to live up to our potential.  Being grateful for what you have is mandatory if you are ever to be happy. If more people made a decision to be grateful for what they have now, great changes would occur.  Because Gratitude is the key that opens up the door to happiness.

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Dave Block, aka “Dave, The Gratitude Guy” blogs at www.mygratitudelife.com