If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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!
From Gratitude Journal to Gratefulness has 11 Comments
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July 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Dear Antonia, You’ve done it again! This is timely for me and I’m going to recommit to a practice of gratitude journaling! So you’ve inspired your mom! Thank you! I will of course let you know what transpires, which I already know will be fabulous! Love, Mom xoxo
July 18th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
YAY! Thanks, mom! That makes me so happy!
You are going to Love it! Quite life-changing!
I look forward to hearing about the results!
Love you
Antonia
July 18th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Antonia, have i told you I think your super duper!
Thank you so much for sharing that.
Gratitude is a wonderful thing…
It reminds us of ALL the GOOD things we have.
We can get into a rut of complaining,but, it’s not pretty.
Thanking the universe is so much more productive then
bitching about everything.
Although when it comes to politics, that’s a different story.
~Muah Bella~
July 18th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I love how your recent postings have been such great reminders about how to get the best out of life. I have, for literally decades now, referred to gratitude as my religion. First of all, as you point out in your post, it‘s a very valuable and effective *practice*. But since you ask how it has changed my life – well, I sincerely believe that every good thing I have ever attained, whether it be a feeling, a “thing”, a skill, a blessing, has all stemmed from whatever gratitude I had been able to focus on prior to the attainment. I literally credit everything good in my life – beautiful home, great husband, adorable pets, great friends, body parts that work, etc – to the gratitude I had prior to having *these* good things. And I firmly believe that whatever gratitude I have now, sets me up for more to be grateful for in the future. Maybe that‘s just a long, round about way of saying that the more grateful we ARE, the more we “get” to be grateful for.
Or so I believe based on personal experience.
fgm
July 19th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Antonia,
Your writing is a beautiful gift. I always get inspired by your postings. I have forgotten to be grateful of all the good in my life and how lucky I am. It is so easy for me to instead focus only on the things that I don’t have. I’m going to start a gratitude journal tomorrow and see how it goes.
Artistgirl
July 19th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Thank you, FGM! Yes! Yes! Yes! It is our gratitude that leads to more for which to be grateful! It’s so Beautiful! What an awesome way to create for ourselves!
Love you
Antonia
July 19th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Thank you so much, Artistgirl! I appreciate your visit and compliment!
Yes, it is so easy to get caught up in “lack”, forgetting how truly blessed we really are. That’s fantastic that you are ready to shift into gratitude! It will change your life!
Many Blessings
Antonia
July 19th, 2008 at 9:16 am
LOL Liz! You certainly have a point where politics are concerned!
Thank you so much! You’re super awesome yourself!
But, yes, the complaints aren’t pretty and keep us stuck in lack.
Living in gratitude has such a lovely flow, bringing more joy, and knowledge that we’re on the right track.
Love and Blessings
Antonia
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 am
I came across this blog the other day and you got some great info here – thanks.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Thank you for your visit, Import from China! Much appreciated!
Blessings to you,
Antonia
March 27th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
[...] Grateful. If you are not yet making a Gratitude List, I would Highly recommend that you begin. This is a Fantastic way to change your thinking. The [...]