Mindfully Ever After

Gratitude NOUN…the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness Be grateful for the helping hands and goodness in your life. Having gratitude in your heart raises your spiritual vibration and invites positive things into your life. Gratitude is a magical word. To live in the state of Gratitude is to awaken each day with a heart full of thankfulness for the strength of spirit to recognize the life’s gifts that have come your way. To live a life of gratefulness is to live a life without complaint and not take blessings for granted. Complaint comes a little too easily to most people. To live in gratitude takes mindful awareness of your thoughts, words and deeds. Once you get in the habit of offering even the tiniest glimpse of gratitude in place of sorrow, despair, and complaint, you will feel a lift in your spirit and a shift in your energy. By raising your vibration with encouraging thoughts and words of gratitude, you will attract and invite more positive things into your life. Some people feel an immediate shift, while for others, it may take longer based on their belief system and willingness to surrender. To get out of your own way of self sabotage takes awareness, patience, optimism and faith. Gratitude doesn’t always come easy. When one is in the midst of the dark energy of chaos and sadness, to make the shift of complaint to being grateful is challenging. It is through finding the strength to change your lens of perception that you are able to take control of your life and be more aware of opportunities that come your way. At one time or another, take comfort that overwhelming feelings of loss and the search for inner strength comes to us all. When gratitude is a struggle for you, start with the basics: “I am grateful for another day of life.” “I am grateful to see the smile of my love and feel the touch of his arms.” “I am grateful for the unconditional love she gives to me.” Before long, you’ll sense a feeling of lightness within, regardless of what pressures or problems are happening in your life. Force yourself to speak of gratitude whether you feel it or not. Once gratitude fills your heart, lightness fills your body. Start every day with words of gratitude. To help you get started: 1. Join a Gratitude Meetup group in your area. Meetup groups can be found on the Internet of like minded people who will help keep you on track, often by keeping a Gratitude Journal. 2. Keep a Gratitude Journal. If you can’t find a Meetup group near you, keep a Gratitude Journal for your own satisfaction. You can find ready-made journals, make your own, or just keep a notebook. The important thing is to write every day! 3. Mark on your calendar your gratitude level today from 1to 10. Throughout the day, consciously offer gratitude in place of complaint. This takes practice! As soon as you find yourself complaining or offering judgment, replace it with gratitude, no matter how minor you think that it is. 4. Practice being grateful in place of being aggravated. For example, if you’re stuck in construction, you could say “I’m grateful I have enough gas. I’m grateful there isn’t an accident. I’m grateful to have someplace to go. I am grateful the roads are being repaired.” To take it further, be grateful for the jobs being provided the workmen, etc. 5. Keep a daily tally sheet with two columns: one with the number of times you complained, passed judgment, or made a negative comment. In the second column, keep track of the number of times you expressed thankfulness, offered a kind word or lent a helping hand. When you are mindful of the number of times you complained, at the end of the day, your level of gratefulness is raised. Once the complaints, criticism and wisecracks are put to bed for once and for all, a chain reaction begins: When you acknowledge the goodness and blessings in your life, you create emotions that automatically ignite positive energies. These energies then release the feel-good chemical, dopamine, to your brain, known to increases your happiness hormones and connect you closer to your Higher Self. My friend belongs to a group where one miserable female member is constantly complaining about her job, her family; her house; her health, etc. You name it, she complains about it. At their last meeting, one of the male members bluntly blurted, “You know, research shows that people who are grateful are happier.” Silence followed. She did not realize how uncomfortable she was making everyone with her negativity. Be mindful of complaint and how it affects the atmosphere of the room and the energy of the people around you. The time to be grateful is NOW. Once you are truly mindful of how much effort and energy is spent in complaint and negativity, you can make the change to devote more time into creating a better and more desirable future. When I had a heart attack with 100% blockage, which my doctor referred to as the ‘widow maker,’ I had a profound Near Death Experience. Seven years later and counting, I give gratitude every morning to see another day, knowing that I am here thanks to Divine Intervention. Today, hold your partner’s face in your hands, look into his, or her, eyes and say “I am grateful to have you in my life.”