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Gratitude Beyond Thanksgiving Day!
By
Camille Olivia Strate |
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Anyone who's ever read a book on personal development has, at least once, come across the message that the first step in creating more of anything is to be grateful for what one already has. In other words, practicing gratitude creates more to be grateful for. An amazingly simple concept; one that is easily "tested".
Here's what I mean: if you've never tried it, just start out your day, before you even get out of bed, by noticing something you have to be grateful for. Anything at all. Your bed. Your warm blanket. Indoor plumbing. A toothbrush and toothpaste. Whatever. Just take a moment to give thanks for something. Now you can get out of bed and begin your day. You will notice, in a very short time, that if you practice this simple little exercise, you'll spend more time THROUGHOUT your day noticing more 'stuff' to be grateful for. It's pretty cool.
Of course, it's no surprise that someone is writing about gratitude, it being the "season" and all. But the interesting thing is that even before the holiday arrived, I had begun noticing that I was worrying over things that I normally wouldn't worry over. In fact, I'm not what you'd call a "worry-wart" at all. For the most part, I trust that everything is exactly as it should be and I'm right where I belong NOW. So, to have these little nagging thoughts come to fore was a bit out of the ordinary for me, and it certainly got my attention. What in the world was going on???
Being the devout student (of personal development) that I am, I decided to take a look at the tiny little details of my day. What was I doing (or rather, NOT doing) that was different? Why were all these nasty little thoughts permeating my psyche? What had happened to make me suddenly (or so it seemed) lose my trust in myself and Spirit?
It didn't take long to see that I had gotten pretty slack on my practice of gratitude. I'd forgotten how important it is to start my day with gratitude and also take time throughout the day to stop and say thank you for all the "little things" that mean so much. I'd begun to take many things for granted. And even that realization was a shock. I'm so NOT that way!
Once I realized all these things, I broke out some basics and began anew. I started doing this little exercise where I list 100 things I have to be grateful for each day. (It's very good to do this in the morning, but sometimes I do 50 in the morning and the other 50 at the end of the day. Whatever floats your boat!) Within 2 days all sorts of new "teachers" began to arrive.
The first was an email from a website that I'd visited a while back. It included a link to a video on gratitude. That, in turn, led me to the website of the originator of the video. That website is www.gratefulness.org. A VERY lovely site filled with all sorts of things to do, read and share. I spent quite a bit of time there and left the site feeling like the queen of Sheba.
The next "teacher" arrived by way of an acquaintance. She's not really a friend of mine, but someone I run into every now and then. She drives a very nice car, lives in a very nice house and seems to have all the material possessions a person could ever want or need. Yet, somehow, this woman is ALWAYS unhappy, depressed and in a state of despair. The weirdest thing about her presence in my world is that she almost always shows up when she's "on the edge". And each time she does, I brace myself for the next tragedy I know she's about to unload on me (or anyone else who'll listen). This time around, it was so clear why she showed up. It was my own need for reminding me what I had to be grateful for. And I can tell you, I have MUCH to be grateful for!
In short, the moment I made the commitment to uncover the cause of my worrying, all sorts of things, people and tools started popping up. Back to the ol' "when the student is ready, the teacher arrives" thing! And, in the end, I became even more acutely aware of how important it is to start each day, travel through that day, and end the day with gratitude. You'll be utterly amazed how much you have to be grateful for if you will just pay attention. It's a miracle just to be here on this beautiful planet. And when I think about all that I have, from running water to food in my fridge, my family and friends, the comforts of modern conveniences, etc., I find that there is absolutely no room for anything but gratitude. All the rest is just nonsense that can be tossed out like trash.
So, the next time you find yourself feeling a bit sorry for yourself or worrying over what you don't have, take a moment....just one little moment...and look around. You'll find a wealth of things to be grateful for if you'll only look. Gratitude begets gratitude. And it doesn't cost a thing!
Author's Bio
Camille Olivia Strate is an author, entrepreneur and critter keeper in search of the perfect pasture. Among her many passions is sharing her knowledge of animals with people, in an effort to make their relationships more harmonious. Another of her passions is sharing the principles of law of attraction, helping others to find their path and follow it. She believes strongly in 'paying it forward' and the philosophy 'do what you love and the money will follow'. www.liveyourbliss.info.
Visit my blog at http://www.joyizachoice.blogspot.com
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