Have gratitude first. Don't wait for something to happen to feel grateful. Feel gratitude first and then look around at how many things you already have. Gratitude isn't a result of fortunate things magically showing up in your life. Gratitude is an attitude, a state of being, which when adopted illuminates all the magic that already exists in every day of your life.
Decide to be grateful today and everyday no matter what. Don't treat gratitude as a result you have to wait for. Adopt it as your natural way of thinking and being. Be grateful first thing each morning as you awaken to infinite possible blessings and teachings.
Then at the end of each day, be grateful for what the day brought. Be thankful for all you learned, all you did, all you have and all you are.
When we have gratitude no matter what then we are blessed no matter what. Let your life begin and end in gratitude.
Showing posts with label Gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gratitude. Show all posts
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Gratitude followed by Health and Happiness
Scientific studies show that those people who spend more
time being grateful, saying thank you and focusing on appreciation are happier and
healthier people.*
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If I spend
time focusing on all the people, things and circumstances in my life that I am grateful
for, my mood changes, I feel happy. If I spend time focusing on all the people,
things and circumstances in my life that I do not like or do not want, I feel
overwhelmed, angry and depressed. Happiness follows focus.
Our physical health has long been proven to be affected if
not caused by our emotional health. Patience recovering from serious injury,
surgery or illness have shown quicker recovery times and less pain if they have
a positive outlook on life.
So what does it really take to be healthy and happy? We can
start with a good practice of gratitude. Spend time each day thinking of all
the people and things you are thankful for. Write them down in a gratitude
journal. Focus or meditate on them. Let the gratitude fill your heart. Even a
few minutes a day can make a difference. Practicing gratitude means a making a consistent
effort to focus on things you are thankful for each day.
Don’t accept less than a happy and healthy life – it is too
short. Try practicing gratitude instead!
* http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/a_thnx_a_day_keeps_the_doctor_away
* http://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Practicing-Gratitude-Make-Happier/dp/0547085737
* http://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Practicing-Gratitude-Make-Happier/dp/0547085737
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Grateful for Morning
Have you noticed that the night can bring up dark thoughts?
Have you awakened in the middle of the night, laying in bed thinking of
everything that is, can or will go wrong in your life?
Dark deeds are also done at night. Shootings, domestic
violence, and other crimes are far more prevalent at night. In the dark the
boogie man lurks. Where we cannot see, our imagination will fill in with all
manner of evil. Most of us are just a little afraid of the dark and the unknown
terrors that hide there.
We also have cycles in our lives. Winter comes and brings
long nights both literally and metaphorically. We have down times, dry times,
sad times and dark times. We experience the loss of joy, the death of a loved
one, a violent storm that crushes our homes. Dreams will dissipate, freedoms will
be usurped, small and profound failures will come. You will get sick, or fall
and so will your family members.
In the course of your life, all manner of bad, dark and
terrible things will happen. So why even try? Why not curl up in the fetal
position and give up on life if all those bad things will happen?
Because morning always follows night! Morning will come. The
sun will rise. The beautiful, warm light of the sun will come up in the east
and chase away the last remaining shadows of the night. All your dark thoughts
will flee. You will smile and even laugh again.
With the dawn comes hope. With the light comes life. With
the sun come infinite possibilities for growth and renewal. Spring always follows
winter. Plants will sprout. Children will be born. New ideas will surface. Opportunities
bring success following close behind. The storms pass. Healing happens.
Be grateful for the morning; be grateful for the warm light
upon your face. Be grateful for the
chance to live another day. Know that no matter how dark things are or can be,
the morning always comes!
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Grateful for Connection
Yesterday I attended a funeral of a dear older friend. BJ was one of the kindest, gentlest spirits I have ever met. As I sat in the service thinking of the few short years I had known BJ, I marveled at how people come in and out of our lives but touch us forever. BJ touched me and my family greatly.
In reality, we can not survive modern life alone any more than we could survive alone in the past ages of man. Alone we are too vulnerable and weak to withstand what life brings our way. But with the help of others, we become stronger and more adaptable. We are hard-wired for connection and it is a good thing; because it is key to our very survival.
As I look back on my life I see many people who have come in for a time. Each one taught me things, each one helped me, each one made me a stronger and better person from experiencing their presence.
It is not only our physical beings that needs the help and fortification of others. It is also our mental, emotional and spiritual beings which are enhanced and made more whole as we interact and share our lives together.
Today, I am so very grateful for my connection to BJ and all the richness that she brought to me and everyone who knew her. And I am grateful for my connection to all the others before her and who will come in my future. Connection to others makes life livable, full and blessed.
In reality, we can not survive modern life alone any more than we could survive alone in the past ages of man. Alone we are too vulnerable and weak to withstand what life brings our way. But with the help of others, we become stronger and more adaptable. We are hard-wired for connection and it is a good thing; because it is key to our very survival.
As I look back on my life I see many people who have come in for a time. Each one taught me things, each one helped me, each one made me a stronger and better person from experiencing their presence.
It is not only our physical beings that needs the help and fortification of others. It is also our mental, emotional and spiritual beings which are enhanced and made more whole as we interact and share our lives together.
Today, I am so very grateful for my connection to BJ and all the richness that she brought to me and everyone who knew her. And I am grateful for my connection to all the others before her and who will come in my future. Connection to others makes life livable, full and blessed.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Challenges
One of the hardest things to be grateful for is our challenges in life. We naturally want to avoid challenges, trials and difficulties. As parents we want our children to have an easy time of growing up. We only want those people around us that are complimentary and easy to get along with.
But it is the challenges that teach us the most. It is the trails that give us opportunity to become stronger more resilient human beings. It's those really difficult people that can make us think, cause us to define our objections and become more clear on who we are and what we will stand for.
Our responses to challenges and trials are what defines us. When we persevere and overcome we know our capacity and our worth. We should be very grateful for all the difficulties we have experienced for they have chance to become who we are.
When we are in the middle of difficult moments, it is hard to be grateful for them. But once we are on the other side, have overcome, we should reflect and allow gratitude to be part of our response and our process.
We shouldn't go looking for challenges, but when they come our way, we should see them as what they are: opportunities for growth. And growth is something to be grateful for!
But it is the challenges that teach us the most. It is the trails that give us opportunity to become stronger more resilient human beings. It's those really difficult people that can make us think, cause us to define our objections and become more clear on who we are and what we will stand for.
Our responses to challenges and trials are what defines us. When we persevere and overcome we know our capacity and our worth. We should be very grateful for all the difficulties we have experienced for they have chance to become who we are.
When we are in the middle of difficult moments, it is hard to be grateful for them. But once we are on the other side, have overcome, we should reflect and allow gratitude to be part of our response and our process.
We shouldn't go looking for challenges, but when they come our way, we should see them as what they are: opportunities for growth. And growth is something to be grateful for!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Gratitude vs. Scarcity
Gratitude erases scarcity thinking. Scarcity thinking creates scarcity. Gratitude creates prosperity thinking. Prosperity thinking creates prosperity.
Scarcity thinking comes from fear and wanting. These thoughts and energies are spent on what we do not have, what we want, what we can not have, want seems beyond our control or ability to obtain. It makes us feel powerless and limited. It is depressing and defeating.
Grateful thinking comes from our appreciation in the moment. These thoughts and energies are spend on what we have, what abundance fills our every moment of life. It shows us how we are creators and benefactors. It strengthens us and turns our attention to the unlimited abundance of the Universe. It is joyful and empowering.
We do not need to, nor can we truly, create the lives we envision from a place of scarcity. It is only in gratitude where we find the power to be the change we wish to see in the world. It is only in the hope and power of gratitude that our true creative nature can shine.
"If you look at what you have in life,
you'll always have more.
If you look at what you don't have in life,
you'll never have enough."
Oprah Winfrey
Scarcity thinking comes from fear and wanting. These thoughts and energies are spent on what we do not have, what we want, what we can not have, want seems beyond our control or ability to obtain. It makes us feel powerless and limited. It is depressing and defeating.
Grateful thinking comes from our appreciation in the moment. These thoughts and energies are spend on what we have, what abundance fills our every moment of life. It shows us how we are creators and benefactors. It strengthens us and turns our attention to the unlimited abundance of the Universe. It is joyful and empowering.
We do not need to, nor can we truly, create the lives we envision from a place of scarcity. It is only in gratitude where we find the power to be the change we wish to see in the world. It is only in the hope and power of gratitude that our true creative nature can shine.
"If you look at what you have in life,
you'll always have more.
If you look at what you don't have in life,
you'll never have enough."
Oprah Winfrey
Full of Gratitude Now
Gratitude is in the moment; in the moment is Gratitude. This means that if you are feeling thankful, content and peaceful; your are in the present moment. Also, if you are in the the moment, here and now and you stick with it, you will feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
A pure state of gratitude can enter our beings when we are fully in the moment. Getting to a state of gratitude takes mediation, dedication and commitment. But it doesn't need to be difficult.
If we sit for a while and open our awareness to all the blessings in our lives in any given moment, a powerful state of gratitude will overtake us and can wash over you with so many things to be thankful for, you can barely think keep track of them all. It can go something like what follows.
I am grateful for:
Warmth, clothing, fingers and toes, food and clean water, cushions to sit on, clean air, fire, sun light. Thoughts of clarity and thoughts muddled to make the clear ones all the better. Words, literature, knowing how to read and write. Instruments like pens and paper and ipads, keys and keyboards, pixels and computer chips. A house, a warm house, a quaint, cozy, comfortable warm house. Windows and doors, rugs and beds, pillows and towels. Hot water, hot showers, hot tea. Coffee from brazil. Orange juice from Florida or California. Potatoes from Idaho. Green beans from my back yard. Family, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces. Forefathers and foremothers, defenders and nurturers from days gone by. Friends and coworkers, support and laughter, pushing and pulling, talking and silence. Learning, and learning and learning. The internet. Brains and legs and arms and hands and feet. Socks and jackets and hats and gloves. Wood and trees and plants and vegetables. Winter snow, spring thaw, summer heat and fall breezes. Wine and beer and people to share it with. Wife, partner, friend. Music and movies and books and plays and paintings and crafts and things to do with our hands. Jobs and work to fill our days and remind us that we are creators. Green grass, flowers, bees and honey. ice and ice tea. Short winter days and long summer days. Pickup trucks, snow plows and good tires. Toilets and toilet paper. Cooking indoors and cooking outdoors. Cows and chickens and goats and pigs and horses and cats and dogs. Life and death and new life again. Beginnings and endings and new beginnings. Tears and chuckles. Peace and quiet. Love. Now.
A pure state of gratitude can enter our beings when we are fully in the moment. Getting to a state of gratitude takes mediation, dedication and commitment. But it doesn't need to be difficult.
If we sit for a while and open our awareness to all the blessings in our lives in any given moment, a powerful state of gratitude will overtake us and can wash over you with so many things to be thankful for, you can barely think keep track of them all. It can go something like what follows.
I am grateful for:
Warmth, clothing, fingers and toes, food and clean water, cushions to sit on, clean air, fire, sun light. Thoughts of clarity and thoughts muddled to make the clear ones all the better. Words, literature, knowing how to read and write. Instruments like pens and paper and ipads, keys and keyboards, pixels and computer chips. A house, a warm house, a quaint, cozy, comfortable warm house. Windows and doors, rugs and beds, pillows and towels. Hot water, hot showers, hot tea. Coffee from brazil. Orange juice from Florida or California. Potatoes from Idaho. Green beans from my back yard. Family, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces. Forefathers and foremothers, defenders and nurturers from days gone by. Friends and coworkers, support and laughter, pushing and pulling, talking and silence. Learning, and learning and learning. The internet. Brains and legs and arms and hands and feet. Socks and jackets and hats and gloves. Wood and trees and plants and vegetables. Winter snow, spring thaw, summer heat and fall breezes. Wine and beer and people to share it with. Wife, partner, friend. Music and movies and books and plays and paintings and crafts and things to do with our hands. Jobs and work to fill our days and remind us that we are creators. Green grass, flowers, bees and honey. ice and ice tea. Short winter days and long summer days. Pickup trucks, snow plows and good tires. Toilets and toilet paper. Cooking indoors and cooking outdoors. Cows and chickens and goats and pigs and horses and cats and dogs. Life and death and new life again. Beginnings and endings and new beginnings. Tears and chuckles. Peace and quiet. Love. Now.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Gratitude: the antidote for foreboding joy
Over the last year, I have had the privilege to discover and learn from Brene Brown. If you are one of the two people left in the English-speaking world who have not seen her Ted talks. I encourage you to go and watch them. Once you have seen her talks, then go buy her books, you will learn a great deal about yourself!
One of the things Brene talks about is "foreboding joy." She describes it as that feeling that comes over us when something good happens. You know when everything goes right at work one day and instead of feeling joyful about it, we wonder what's going to happen next - surely something terrible. Or when we are staring at our beautiful children sleeping and after a brief moment of bliss we begin to worry about everything that can or will happen to them for the rest of their lives.
Brene points out that this is a modern condition that keeps us from feeling joyful. And since we aren't feeling joy often, we don't have the resources to deal with bad things when they do come up. Joy fills our cup and builds resilience so we are better able to deal with life's bumps and bruises.
How do we change this habit of foreboding joy and begin to fill our lives with job again? Gratitude!
"Scarcity and fear drive foreboding joy. We're afraid that the feeling of joy won't last, or that there won't be enough (for whatever is in store for us next..." If the opposite of scarcity is enough, then practicing gratitude is how we acknowledge that there's enough and that we're enough."
How do we "practice" gratitude? Brene mentions keeping a gratitude journals, filling gratitude jars, and family gratitude rituals. These are all great practices. I find first and foremost we have to understand how important joy is for ourselves, our life and the health of our family. Once we have a commitment to joy, we can find all kinds of ways to use gratitude to bring feelings of joy back into our days.
So the next time a joyful moment comes into your life, and instead of feeling it you begin to wonder when the "other shoe will drop" stop and take a moment feel grateful instead. The foreboding will leave you with only joy to fill the space and your life.
"Daring Greatly" by Brene Bown, 2012
One of the things Brene talks about is "foreboding joy." She describes it as that feeling that comes over us when something good happens. You know when everything goes right at work one day and instead of feeling joyful about it, we wonder what's going to happen next - surely something terrible. Or when we are staring at our beautiful children sleeping and after a brief moment of bliss we begin to worry about everything that can or will happen to them for the rest of their lives.
Brene points out that this is a modern condition that keeps us from feeling joyful. And since we aren't feeling joy often, we don't have the resources to deal with bad things when they do come up. Joy fills our cup and builds resilience so we are better able to deal with life's bumps and bruises.
How do we change this habit of foreboding joy and begin to fill our lives with job again? Gratitude!
"Scarcity and fear drive foreboding joy. We're afraid that the feeling of joy won't last, or that there won't be enough (for whatever is in store for us next..." If the opposite of scarcity is enough, then practicing gratitude is how we acknowledge that there's enough and that we're enough."
How do we "practice" gratitude? Brene mentions keeping a gratitude journals, filling gratitude jars, and family gratitude rituals. These are all great practices. I find first and foremost we have to understand how important joy is for ourselves, our life and the health of our family. Once we have a commitment to joy, we can find all kinds of ways to use gratitude to bring feelings of joy back into our days.
So the next time a joyful moment comes into your life, and instead of feeling it you begin to wonder when the "other shoe will drop" stop and take a moment feel grateful instead. The foreboding will leave you with only joy to fill the space and your life.
"Daring Greatly" by Brene Bown, 2012
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Gratitude vs. Fear
Gratitude and Fear do not coexist. When we are feeling fear, we are not being grateful. When we are grateful we are not fearful.
When fear dominates our focus is not on the present. It is either on the past or the future. When we are fearful everything constricts including our heart.
To turn that constriction into openness we have to shift our focus to what we are grateful for. Gratitude is a present moment emotion, it brings you back to now.
Fear is not stronger than gratitude. It only seems so because we practice it more. We habitually sink into fear easily and without a fight. We must create habits of gratitude.
When gratitude becomes a natural part of our focus, we become powerful in our ability to chase away fear.
Strengthen yourself by practicing gratitude!
When fear dominates our focus is not on the present. It is either on the past or the future. When we are fearful everything constricts including our heart.
To turn that constriction into openness we have to shift our focus to what we are grateful for. Gratitude is a present moment emotion, it brings you back to now.
Fear is not stronger than gratitude. It only seems so because we practice it more. We habitually sink into fear easily and without a fight. We must create habits of gratitude.
When gratitude becomes a natural part of our focus, we become powerful in our ability to chase away fear.
Strengthen yourself by practicing gratitude!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Start with one thing
Gratitude should not be so difficult for those of us who live in the western world. We have so much to be thankful for; we should be blissful all the time. But this is not the case. If anything, more stuff, abundance and wealth seems to often disconnect us from what should mean the most.
We have to begin to change the way we think and what we focus on. When we are always focused on those things that we want to change, that are not quite right, that are less than our ideal (or our neighbor's), we loose site and sink into wanting and scaricy, which leads to unhappiness.
If we can turn that tide in our thinking by focusing on one thing that we can be grateful for: one person, one event, one circumstance that we are truly grateful for. For me it is my relationship. I have the easiest, kindest, and most compatible relationship I have ever known. We love and we laugh. We have ups and downs, stresses and challenges. But our kindness to each other, our love for each other and our commitment to each other sustains us through them all. When all the challenges of life buffet me, when moments of uncertainty come and confidence wanes; I turn to my relationship and feel grateful.
We each have to start with something in our lives that brings us back into our hearts, to moments and thoughts of gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful emotion. It can shift a rotten day, or turn you around when you are heading in the wrong direction.
Focus your thoughts on that one thing, really feel how fortunate you are to have that in your life. As you begin to feel gratitude, stay with it, let the feeling spill over into other areas of your mind. Once you have anchored the feeling of gratitude firmly in our being, stretch those feelings to more things you can be grateful for. If you stick with it long enough, your mood, your day and your life can change. You will be a happier person by far than you ever thought you could be.
We have to begin to change the way we think and what we focus on. When we are always focused on those things that we want to change, that are not quite right, that are less than our ideal (or our neighbor's), we loose site and sink into wanting and scaricy, which leads to unhappiness.
If we can turn that tide in our thinking by focusing on one thing that we can be grateful for: one person, one event, one circumstance that we are truly grateful for. For me it is my relationship. I have the easiest, kindest, and most compatible relationship I have ever known. We love and we laugh. We have ups and downs, stresses and challenges. But our kindness to each other, our love for each other and our commitment to each other sustains us through them all. When all the challenges of life buffet me, when moments of uncertainty come and confidence wanes; I turn to my relationship and feel grateful.
We each have to start with something in our lives that brings us back into our hearts, to moments and thoughts of gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful emotion. It can shift a rotten day, or turn you around when you are heading in the wrong direction.
Focus your thoughts on that one thing, really feel how fortunate you are to have that in your life. As you begin to feel gratitude, stay with it, let the feeling spill over into other areas of your mind. Once you have anchored the feeling of gratitude firmly in our being, stretch those feelings to more things you can be grateful for. If you stick with it long enough, your mood, your day and your life can change. You will be a happier person by far than you ever thought you could be.
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