2008 July 18 | Hitting Send

Jul 18

Posted by Antonia at 5:23 pm in Daily Practices

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.

~Meister Eckhart~

Despite many attempts, it was not until about three years ago that I began to live my life with gratitude as an intent. I did not yet understand the power of gratitude as an extremely important aspect of attracting to oneself the abundance and happiness that one desires and deserves. In fact, it was quite a stretch to sit down each day with my Gratitude Journal and write down five things for which I was grateful. But, slowly, over time, I became conscious of the many blessings in my life for which I could be grateful, and, as the list flowed and grew, so did the things in my life for which I could be grateful. Beautiful!

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

~Eric Hoffer~

Gratitude Journals are a wonderful way to begin the practice of mindful gratefulness. It is a life changing practice which I hope to inspire you to try, if you are not already doing so. You can pull out a blank piece of paper to do this, but I personally like to have a journal just for this purpose alone. I chose a lovely journal with a garden picture adorning the cover. Find something that works for you. Sit down and think of the different areas of your life, making note of the things for which you are sincerely grateful. If the emotion is not there, the result will reflect this, so choose that which resonates a true emotional feeling of gratefulness. Make a commitment to yourself that you will do this at least once per day and stick to that commitment. It doesn’t have to take a long time. Even 5 minutes is better than not at all. Put into it the time that you can spare, but make sure you do it every day.

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

~Anthony Robbins~

Eventually my need for a Gratitude Journal was replaced by a consistent attitude of gratefulness which carried through my day. An awareness crept in that good things were happening in my life on a day to day basis, and I found myself giving thanks throughout the day. By trusting that all was working towards the highest good, I reduced my resistance to that which didn’t fit my pictures and tried to see how that which was in front of me could be a greater gift. Of course an acceptance that it was my own thoughts and feelings that had brought about given circumstances helped in surrendering to and trusting in a challenging situation as well.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

~John F. Kennedy~

I found myself challenged this week. I am caring for another’s dog and had to leave the dog home alone for a short time while I went marketing. Upon return I discovered that she had escaped the room in which she was supposed to be contained and had done quite a bit of damage to the house during my short outing. Now, this came on the heels of some other “upsets” and I found myself feeling quite frustrated. After a bit of cleaning up, I jumped on my exercise equipment and allowed myself a good workout. When a friend stopped by shortly thereafter, he felt my less than grounded energy and told me to relax. Yes! Relax! I went outside, looked up at the sky, and began to count my blessings. In this place of gratitude, there was no longer room for my feelings of upset, and I soon found myself contentedly happy again. I had changed my perception, and was once again living in true gratefulness.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~Melodie Beattie~

Developing an attitude of sincere gratitude
for your current blessings unleashes the power
for receiving many more. Every Day Give Thanks.

Please let me know, dear reader, how gratitude has changed your life!
Many Blessings to you!

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