Gratitude can be likened to a true smile. It is virtually impossible to have negative thoughts when you have a smile on your face! It lightens your heart and simply feels good.
The practice of gratitude is life empowering. It can change the way you feel about yourself and life’s events. With the attitude of gratitude you can change the state of your consciousness. You move out of reactionary emotions and take charge of your personal energy. It is much like this: Picture yourself in the center of a big balloon. When you are experiencing gratitude your balloon is full and expanded you feel alive, healthy and you are a healing presence. When you are having negative thoughts and feelings your balloon deflates and you feel drained, out of sorts, heavy and without vitality. Your energy has leaked away and you have given your personal power to someone or something.
The quality of your life is a result of what you focus on. The practice of focusing on all that you "have" amplifies and enriches the experience of everyday living. The word "practice" as defined by Webster's dictionary means, "systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency". Like anything else, gratitude requires practice and discipline. There are many ways you can incorporate the practice of gratitude into our life. You can begin with simple practices that develop gratitude.
Gratitude is a choice. It is a choice to see things differently. When choosing to be grateful you are focusing on all the things that are good or right in your life as opposed to the things that are not.
Focus acts like a magnet; you attract those things on which you focus. By focusing on the things you are grateful for, you give those aspects of your life more power. Your world begins to feel more full and alive.
How do you get to a place of gratitude? Gratitude requires that you open your heart. Try this exercise: Close your eyes and gently bring your attention to the center of your chest. This is called the heart center. Focus on the rising and falling of your chest as you breathe in and out. Think about the things in your life that bring you happiness and joy such as special people, your home, your garden, the birdsong, whatever it is that warms your heart. If you cannot think of anything specific then visualize a beautiful field of flowers or a smiling child. As you focus on these things you may begin to feel warm and calm. You are now in a state of gratitude.
In learning the practice of gratitude, you do not need something to be grateful for, only the desire to feel grateful. You can learn gratitude by thinking of things for which you are thankful and eventually we move into awareness that just being and experiencing life is enough. Then you are projecting gratitude and love from an open heart each moment.
Centering in Gratitude
Let's learn some ways to practice gratitude. Begin by setting aside quiet moments of reflection. This is a time to quiet the mind of all its "to do" lists and endless chatter. View it as a search mission. Examine your day and seek out all the things for which you are grateful. Move beyond the material blessings and look at your relationships, the splendor in nature, the way in which music moves your soul. Move even deeper, and you will find that even your challenges have made you stronger.
Use a journal to express your deepest thoughts and moments of gratitude. Writing truly brings things to the surface and allows you the privacy and intimacy of a quiet, non-judgmental listener. This will be a place you can turn to when you feel troubled or agitated and by reading the words you have written, you will be able to re-open your heart.
Another way is to take a walk and focus your attention on the trees, the colors, and the textures. Notice the birds, listen to the sounds of their song, and the sound of the breeze blowing through the trees. Feel the ground beneath you. Are you more peaceful and calm? By observing with conscious awareness you move into gratitude. The mere act of conscious and intentional observation and appreciation is an expression of gratitude.
Create affirmations that will help remind you to focus on gratitude. An example would be:
* I turn my thoughts to all the gifts my life brings me.
* I appreciate and am grateful for my health, my family, and my friends the earth and its creatures, and the beauty in each day.
* My life is filled with abundance and I am blessed
Another way to express gratitude to yourself and others might be to write a thank you note to someone for sharing in your life. Appreciating other people brings you and them joy.
Spend some time focusing on your attitude. Observe your feelings as they make themselves known to you. Are you feeling drained, irritable, or just plain frustrated? Imagine how you might be able to change the moment by using an attitude of patience and open heartedness toward yourself and others. Then try gratitude.
Gratitude brings us to the place of giving and receiving. Gratitude acknowledges our receiving of abundance, and, in and of itself becomes an act of giving back to the Universe. Abundance then becomes a natural byproduct of gratitude. How is that possible? How does it suddenly appear? Quite simply ... it was always there! We just had not been able to see it. Gratitude is becoming consciously aware of all that is there for us in life, and then acknowledging the gift. This aligns us with the Universal principle that giving is the same as receiving. In graciously receiving the gifts that life provides us, we give back the gift of gratitude. Show and express your gratitude and you will see that your life is a beautiful string of miracles!!
