AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE!
I like to start my day with my gratitude journal and good cup of hot tea. And my dog laying on my lap during all of it. He gets a lot out of it too by osmosis I think! I typically will tie in my meditation practice with my gratitude practice. I like to journal following meditation when I feel like I am in a quiet, relaxed space and my heart is calm, centered and open. The power of gratitude is an underestimated and very powerful thing! And again, IT'S FREE! I have found that being grateful has also changed my life in amazing ways and recognizing all of the things that we have to be grateful for can be life altering. Especially when you are going through difficulties or struggling in certain areas of your life. When you focus on the good and are truly grateful, I believe you get more of that. Focusing on gratitude will also help you to gradually shed and become more aware of the places in your life where you tend to be negative. The more you practice gratitude, the more you realize how we often slip into negativity and it's pretty eye-opening to realize this! You will start to notice your habits surrounding negative thoughts, language, conversations, feelings, and will realize that slipping into that negativity isn't putting your best self forward. You will start to realize how negative some of your relationships and conversations with others are, and you will begin to transform your thougths and yourself. It's amazing how once you begin to pay attention, you will realize how negative people are in your everyday life! What's that saying? Misery loves company? Well, it's so much fun on the other side of all of that! Practicing gratitude is a stress reliever and allows us to be lighter and more at ease in the world. Finding gratitude for even the smallest of things on a daily basis can be life altering.
The thing that I've come to learn about GRATITUDE is that FEELING your feelings of gratitude makes it that much more powerful. When you can feel it in your body, you are on the right track. When you practice gratitude, whether it's journaling, praying, or just silently talking to yourself throughout the day (I do that a lot, judge me if you wish), actually FEELING the emotion of your gratitude is so moving. I believe the energy of feeling the emotion is so powerful and sends us even more things to be grateful for. When I am going through or working through difficult things, I up my gratitude practice and it's amazing how that shifts my perspective of the difficulty so much! It makes me realize that these are just human experiences and that we can learn and find lessons in anything... but we can also find the good. Practicing gratitude has also made me realize that sometimes what we think we wanted, wasn't in the plans for us and we usually don't realize it until much later. However, by practicing gratitude, I now look at whatever comes as a gift from the Universe that I may not understand now, but I will later and I feel loved, guided and protected. Practice gratitude daily. Find just 5 minutes daily and write down 5-10 things that you are grateful for. It can be anything. Don't be judgey of yourself (the other day I was grateful for vegan ice cream and butterflies). Find different things each day to be grateful for, such as your spouse, your children, your comfy pillow, your sweet dog, the walk in nature you are going to take, etc etc. You will find there are so many things to be grateful for and you will watch your world and relationships transform!
Gratitude is also an amazing way to transform difficult relationships. When you focus on the things that you appreciate about the person you are having difficulties with, you will often transform the relationship in a positive way (this works wonders with spouses / significant others, difficult co-workers, friendships, and your children).
The practice of gratitude helps us not take this wonderful, precious, amazing and FUN life for granted!
What are you grateful for? Easy tip: Keep a gratitude journal (or a journal of your choosing... make it fun) on your nightstand or meditation alter, always in view. Get in the habit of journaling in the morning upon waking, or at night before going to sleep, or better yet, BOTH. It's a beautiful and easy habit to build. Practice Gratitude and watch it transform your life. And don’t forget to giggle a little…
