Contributor: Donna Marie | Photo Credit: Liana | Morguefile
What if the thing standing between you and what you want isn’t lack of effort, skill, or timing—but the energy you bring to the waiting?
Most of us have been taught that gratitude follows receiving. First the gift, then the thank you. First the outcome, then the appreciation.
But there’s another way—one that shifts everything. When you offer gratitude before the arrival, you’re not engaging in wishful thinking. You’re changing your relationship with possibility itself.
This is where transformation begins: at the threshold between what is and what’s becoming.
Today’s #Wisdom
Being thankful in advance is the secret handshake between you and possibility.
There’s a moment before anything becomes real—where what hasn’t happened yet meets your relationship with it.
Most people wait at this threshold for proof. For certainty. For the thing to arrive before they let themselves feel grateful.
But gratitude in advance isn’t pretending. It’s recognizing that your energy toward what’s coming either invites it closer or holds it away.
When you thank life for what hasn’t materialized yet, you’re matching the frequency of what you want to experience. You’re showing up to the relationship before the introduction is made.
This is the secret handshake—the one that opens doors before you reach for the handle.
The Belief That Keeps You Waiting
“I’ll be grateful when it happens.”
This sounds reasonable. Why would you thank something that doesn’t exist yet?
But gratitude isn’t just a response—it’s also a signal. An announcement of your readiness, your openness, your recognition that what you desire is moving toward you.
When you withhold gratitude until arrival, you’re telling possibility: “Show me first, then we’ll talk.”
And possibility matches your energy. It waits too.
What Gratitude in Advance Actually Does
Think about how you feel around someone who believes in you before you’ve proven anything.
Their belief doesn’t create your capability, but it creates space for it to emerge. Their confidence makes it easier to access your own.
Being thankful in advance works the same way—the relationship is between you and your life.
When you practice gratitude for what hasn’t arrived yet, you:
- Create energetic alignment with what you want rather than its absence
- Shift from scarcity to sufficiency as your baseline
- Remove the resistance of desperately needing things to be different
- Signal to yourself that you’re worthy of receiving before it manifests in your life
- Open your awareness to opportunities you couldn’t see from a contracted state
This isn’t manifesting through positive thinking. It’s removing the static between you and what’s trying to reach you.
The Inner Practice: The Gratitude Portal
Step through the threshold between waiting and receiving.
Find a quiet moment. Bring to mind something you desire that hasn’t happened yet.
Notice your current relationship with this desire. Are you gripping it tightly? Holding it at a distance? Negotiating with life?
Now imagine what you desire is already on its way. Not through pretending, but through trusting the movement beneath visible results.
From here, ask yourself:
“If I knew this was already coming, what would I be grateful for right now?”
Feel into gratitude—not for the outcome, but for:
- The growth you’ve experienced in wanting it
- The clarity you’ve gained about what matters
- The courage it takes to desire something real
- The version of you who’s ready to receive it
- The journey shaping you along the way
Breathe into this feeling. Let it expand through your whole body.
This is the secret handshake. You meeting possibility halfway.
Bringing This Practice To Life
Choose the approach that resonates:
☀️ Morning Gratitude Ritual
Begin each day thanking three things that haven’t happened yet—as though they’re already in motion. Not with attachment to outcomes, but with appreciation for the possibilities your day holds. Notice how this shifts your energy before you even get out of bed.
⏳ Reframe the Waiting
When you catch yourself in “waiting mode”—waiting for the call, the opportunity, the shift—pause and ask: “What if this delay is preparation? What if what I’m waiting for is also waiting for me to be ready?” Then thank the space between for what it’s teaching you.
✍️ Write a Vision Letter & Accomplishment Letter
This practice has two parts—a letter to your future and a letter from your past—that work together to shift your relationship with time and possibility.
Your Vision Letter: Date your letter December 31 of the following year. Write in past tense as though everything has already happened—”I did,” “I created,” “I experienced” rather than “I will.” Include the emotions that accompanied these experiences: how enthusiastically you showed up, how powerfully you followed through, how fulfilling it felt to live aligned with your intentions. This isn’t about prediction—it’s about becoming the person who creates this life by holding the vision daily. Read it regularly in the first month, then monthly after that, letting it seed your intentions.
Your Accomplishment Letter: Within the first weeks of the new year, write your year in review. This is your personal acknowledgment—an ode to everything you achieved in the year that just passed. Include it all: the big wins and the small victories, the organized closet and the consistent morning practice, every moment you showed up for yourself. No accomplishment is too small. At year’s end, compare your Accomplishment Letter to last year’s Vision Letter. Notice how aligned they are—how gratitude in advance and gratitude in reflection complete the circle.
🌊 Practice the “Already” Mindset
Throughout your day, replace “when this happens” with “as this is happening.” Instead of “When I get that opportunity, I’ll be so grateful,” try “I’m grateful this opportunity is already finding its way to me.” Feel the difference in your body.
Living in The Freedom Zone™
The secret handshake isn’t about controlling outcomes.
It’s recognizing that gratitude is trust—and trust creates spaciousness where miracles have room to land.
When you’re thankful in advance, you’re not denying reality. You’re acknowledging that reality is always in motion, always becoming, always responsive to the energy you bring.
You’re freeing yourself from trying to earn your desires through suffering or perfect execution. Gratitude in advance says: “I’m worthy of receiving not because I’ve completed all the steps, but because I’m here, open, and ready.”
This is the frequency of The Freedom Zone™—where you stop waiting for permission from circumstances to feel the way you want to feel, and start creating the internal conditions that allow life to meet you.
The secret handshake is this: Meet your future with an open heart before it arrives, and watch how quickly it recognizes you.
What you’re grateful for is already on its way. Are you ready to greet it?
The Freedom Shift is a bi-monthly essay series exploring the inner mechanics of transformation. Each piece offers a key that unlocks a new way of being in relationship with yourself and your life.
For more on living in The Freedom Zone™, visit our Soul Practice page.