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Everyday Thanksgiving: Create Habits of daily gratitude

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Everyday Thanksgiving

“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” Anthony Robbins

It’s that time of year again when we all start thinking of what we are grateful for. Since I was very young I have practiced waking up and falling asleep at night with a ‘thank you’ to LIFE (Spirit, Source, God, Divine). Most of the time my list of gratitude’s is significantly long. However, there are times that I can only mutter, “Thank you for another day – YES! I’m breathing!” These simple acts help me to realize my connection to everything, they help me stay tuned in to more than what is happening around me.

When you are lost, how can you begin living in gratitude?

That’s a big question. Many of us allow our circumstances to block us from seeing the good in our lives. We become so absorbed in the “situation” that we can’t see the light. Sometimes we might have to look a little harder than others because we tend to focus on what we don’t have instead of what we do have.

Create a habit of choosing to see things from a new perspective.

Developing daily habits of gratitude soon becomes our natural state of mind and raises our vibration, which opens our life up to more possibilities. Grateful people are happier people.

Action step 1: For one week, when you wake up in the morning, before you even put your feet on the ground, thank the Universe/God/Spirit/Source (whatever it is for you) and Mother Earth for the breath you take and another day to be here. Close your eyes and send joyful BLISSINGS to yourself, everyone and everything on the planet.

Action step 2: Practice living in gratitude by seeing what’s good, by paying attention to what’s working in your life. With regular practice, gratitude will begin to flow easily and effortlessly through you. Get yourself a notebook, something just for you and create a gratitude journal.  At the top of each page, write the date.  Every night for a week, before going to bed, Count YOUR BLISSINGS by writing down at least 3 actions.

What action are you thankful for?

Example: I’m thankful my son was home to feed the dogs since my meeting ran late.

What thing are you thankful to have.

Example: I’m thankful for the coffee pot and coffee that helps me wake up in the morning!

Who are you thankful for?

Example: My mom, for not stopping at 5 children!

At the end of a week you’ll have over 21 examples of gratitude’s in your own life. Recognize the small things at first: the breath, even if it’s labored (ok, that’s not so small), a sunny day even when it’s cold, a warm coat even if it has holes, or food on the table even if it’s only rice.

Action step 3: Choose a different letter of the alphabet and record everything you are grateful for that begins with that letter. Begin with the letter A.

OR write each letter on a piece of paper, fold it up and place it in a special bowl or sacred cup. Each day, reach in and grab a letter; again, write down everything you are grateful for that begins with that letter.

Focusing on gratitude takes your attention off of the lack or negativity in your life and puts the focus on what’s working, what’s positive and joyful.

 Remember, what we focus on multiplies, thus gratitude raises our vibration to our own place of joy.

Be Genuinely Grateful

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Banner for SSRC…For what you already have in life and tearing up the list of what you do not have will be gratifying.

“It’s the thought that counts,” my mom would say as I opened a Barbie Doll when I really wanted a G-I Joe. Growing up I often heard this sentiment. But as a child I did not understand the concept of gratitude, for simply being thought of fondly in someone’s heart through a gift or for all that I did have, compared to what others did not have.

There was a time when my focus was negative. The grass always seemed greener on other people’s lawns. A co-worker’s relationship seemed better than mine. The job I really wanted went to someone else. My life view was that my glass was empty. I was wallowing in an attitude of lack. But an ungrateful attitude did not once result in my grass turning green, or my relationships improving, or the dream job to magically appear. Yet, my lack of a grateful attitude persisted until I was taught a very hard lesson by being downsized from an executive position right before 9-11.

Without any prospect of a job in the city where I’d lived for twenty years I had to move away. I was forced to sell the new home I’d moved into only two years earlier. I had to leave the beautiful English cottage garden I’d built stone by stone and plant by plant. I lost my relationship. It seemed overnight I was involuntarily removed from the familiar, from friends, from the life I knew. With a master’s degree I thought finding a job would be a piece of cake. The reality was far from that. In fact, for almost 18 months the only work I could find was picking up trash and cigarette butts for a lawn mowing crew.

In the end, I lost almost everything. In the process, I learned one of the most important lessons in life – the energy I put out returns to me. Being ungrateful for all I thought I did not have caused me not to appreciate all that I did have. I took everything for granted, always focused on getting something better or bigger. I was so focused on how what I had was not enough, I could not see the warning signs that it was all about to be taken from me. So the lesson I needed most, at that time, came in the form of overwhelming loss.

You can bet I was grateful for the executive positive – once it was gone. For the house, when it was gone. For the garden, once it was gone.

Today I am grateful for having gone through that painful lesson. It was through great loss that I learned how much we truly gain from being grateful for what we already have. This makes the list of what we don’t have seem so less important.

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Gratitude: The Quickest Way to Boost your Mood

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When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you find no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself – Tecumseh, Shawnee Native American Leader

One of the quickest ways to welcome more happiness and optimism into your life is to practice gratitude. Gratitude is a feeling we experience by noticing, and being thankful for, the blessings in our life. It can greatly transform our overall feelings of well-being. People who regularly practice gratitude experience better physical and mental health. We cannot experience negative emotion if we are feeling thankful. Gratitude is accompanied by feelings of peace and joy; it has the potential to change our thoughts from lack to abundance.

Anyone can adopt a practice of gratitude. At first it may feel uncomfortable, even insincere, but overtime it becomes easier and much more natural. What we focus on expands, and when we choose to notice our blessings we find more things to be thankful for. You can instantly experience more gratitude in this moment by appreciating the simple things that so many of us take for granted. Appreciate the fresh water that you drink, the warmth of the sun, the air that you breathe. Notice small acts of kindness, like someone holding the door for you, or buying your morning coffee. Practice looking people in the eye and genuinely saying “thank you”. Be specific in your praise. Something as simple as saying to a waitress “thank you for your great service” will help boost their mood as well as your own. Take note of how the feeling of gratitude affects your body. Where do you feel gratitude? What thoughts strongly evoke feelings of gratitude? Practice these thoughts often.

Beginning and ending your day with a gratitude practice will evoke feelings of peace and joy. In the morning, before you get out of bed, take time to be grateful for the day ahead. Be thankful for the fun day at work, or the interesting conversation with a friend. Saying thank you in advance helps to set a positive tone for the day. So often people dread getting out of bed because they are worried about the things that might go wrong throughout the day; instead, practice being grateful for things going smoothly. At the end of each day, when you are lying in bed, think of the best thing that happened that day and say “thank you”. Often times people use the time before bed to reflect on what went wrong throughout their day; what someone said to offend them, how they were disrespected, lied too, etc. Or people spend the time mentally preparing a to-do list for tomorrow. Using this time to reflect on what you are grateful for will help you fall asleep in a positive state of mind.

Gratitude is a way of approaching life. It is a choice we make to focus on the good in each day. Post a list of blessings in your room, and choose to look at it often. Carry a list of blessings in your purse or pocket and look at it when you are feeling down. When we are thankful for what we have, we make room for more good things to come into our experience.

I Saw A Shooting Star

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Fotolia_59785106_Subscription_Monthly_MI usually get up early in the morning to take our dogs outside for their morning constitution, and one morning this week I saw a shooting star! It shocked and delighted me! It had been many years since I had seen one. But more importantly, it reminded me that magical things could happen at any moment…when you least expect them!

The feeling it generated in me was awesome, and every time that I think of the experience since then, I get that same delightful feeling. The feeling you got as a child when you got your first puppy, or that toy you REALLY wanted. The feeling on Christmas morning when you went out into the living room and there were all those wondrous and beautifully wrapped packages. The first time you were old enough to realize how special it was to have a birthday cake made just for you.

You may have noticed that the world is shifting into a new reality where thoughts become things rather quickly. We have known for at least 2,000 years the how your thoughts affect your life. Well baby, multiply that times a thousand and that’s what’s happening now! So start expecting magical things to happen.

You can start by remembering and writing down each morning something from your past that seemed magical. We have all had those moments. You know that feeling, childlike delightful surprise. So take a brief moment each morning and remember one of those times in your life and write it down in your own little “Book of Miracles.” If you want to have one for every morning, you will start to think about it during the day for the next mornings note.

You may find images that remind you of something…like a vacation that turned out to be more fun that you had imagined. I remember one vacation to Hawaii with a group of friends that included a trip around the island by boat to snorkel. On the way back, we sat in the front of the boat and they served us Mai Ties. We started laughing, and then the water splashed us and we laughed even harder…more splashing, more laughing! I didn’t ever remember laughing that hard for that long! It felt SO GOOD to be so carefree, in such a beautiful place with such great friends. So I will put a photo of us on that boat ride in my “Book of Miracles.”

You might remember the first time you heard some music that sent you through the roof…get an image of that album cover…easy to do on iTunes…and put it in your Book. Better yet, download the music and put it on your phone so you can listen to it again.

You might remember the scent of a certain flower or fruit. Get a picture of that and find a page for it in your Book.

How about the first time you looked in the face of your newborn child. That’s a great one!

Build your Book for 30 days, and then look at it often. Flip it open randomly and the page you open to will be your “miracle reminder” for the day.

Your delight with life will start to manifest. Who knows, perhaps you will even see your own shooting star! I’m on the lookout myself!

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