Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude is a powerful transformative practice.  It creates all sorts of abundance and hahahappiness in my life.  It also shifts my energy in subtle, and OMazing ways.  

Psychologists Robert Emmons of U.C. Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami found that practicing gratitude can actually improve our emotional and physical well-being.

Their ongoing Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness found that people who keep weekly gratitude journals had fewer physical symptoms, exercised more, had a better outlook on life and were more likely to reach their goals.

Truth:    WHAT WE FOCUS ON, WE GET MORE OF
It’s true.  I have been practicing gratitude since I first heard Oprah share her practice of writing down 5 things every day.  This daily practice has helped me shift my focus to what is really good in my life. 

In the beginning, I started small.  Grateful for my breath.  Grateful for my legs that walk me to the bathroom.  Grateful for my bowels that release and empty.  Grateful for this new day and whatever gifts it brings.

It helped me shift my perspective. I used to notice the clouds first before seeing the vast blue sky.

I notice that when I take a few moments to remember and record my gratitude, it gives me the opportunity to digest and appreciate my life.

Gratitude creates changes at the emotional and mental levels, and also changes my body at a cellular level.  

Truth:  GRATITUDE IS A MULTI SENSORY EXPERIENCE
Gratitude is more than just something I write down or say.  It’s something I feel.  It’s a sensation of joy and awe that I get deep within whey I see the sunrise and paint her colors across the sky.  It’s a feeling of happiness that washes through me when the wind blows and a fresh breeze cools the sweat on my brow.  It’s the fabulous smell of a fresh peeled orange in the morning that makes my nose wrinkle with delight.  It’s the pleasure I get from wrapping soft cotton modal fabric onto my.  It’s how my heart softens as I touch my cat’s fur and hear her purr.

Using my senses to experience gratitude heightens the experience.  It fills my reservoir of delightful and delicious experiences I can draw upon in my memory bank.

Gratitude opens the gates of tenderness - and lets my heart feel even deeper.  Each day that I practice gratitude, I feel connected to the Earth, to people I meet, and to the flow of life.

Truth:  GRATITUDE IS A MUSCLE
Gratitude - saying thank you on the INside and out - to each and every thing that comes my way, no matter what it looks like when I receive it.  

When I get lost in my thoughts or lose my focus, I stop and breathe and go into gratitude - counting my blessings and thanking the Universe for all the chaHAhallenges and opportunities in my life to love.  

The Universe works in mysterious ways and what I see is not always what is.   Being in gratitude allows me to chaHAhange my perspective - see things differently or just be in appreciation for my life right now.

I flex and strengthen this muscle daily.  I stretch the muscle by writing in my journal.  I work it out by putting my gratitude on paper and writing thank you notes or doing a Act of Random Kindness (ARK).   I expand my muscle by knocking on a neighbor's door to sit and chat or calling a friend and just listening.  I cultivate gratitude by sitting in the grass and taking in the nature that surrounds me - hugging a tree and being One with my surroundings.

Here are 3 ways to build this GRATITUDE muscle:

1. Practice even when you don't feel like it. 

"One of the mistakes people often make in our culture is thinking you have to feel grateful to practice gratitude," says psychologist Miriam Greenspan, author of Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair.  

Whatever we can find to focus on as a prayer of gratitude – I’m still breathing, I have a roof over my head, I have friends I can reach out to, the sun is shining – shifts our body’s experience to the light, where LOVE resides.

A Gratitude Practice rewires our brain to look for good things.  The body remembers the sensation of searching for blessings and the feeling of joy and peace it brings.  Doing the same practice day after day hardwires the experience into long term muscle memory.  It becomes something you choose to do to start your day in a positive way

2. Thank you. 

Bless everything and everyone you see.  No matter what it seems like on the surface.  The simple practice of saying these two words – under my breath or out loud – has a way of chahahanging a situation and bringing LOVE into the picture.   These two simple words – saying them, thinking them, feeling them – raises our Abundance Consciousness. 

3. Imagine what life would be like WITHOUT a certain blessing in our life.

Imagine not having hands or eyes or the use of our feet.  Sometimes, I take for granted that which most needs to be appreciated.  I forget about the blessings of living in Florida and the wonderful weather we experience.  I forget about the OMazing trees in my neighborhood and the wildlife that inhabits it.

For me, I am blessed to have my parents still living and in my life.  I am blessed to be able to breathe with my own two lungs.   I am blessed to be typing this right now so I can shahahare with you what I know to be true for me.

Gratitude reminds me that we are all One - spiritual beings having a human experience on this Heaven on Earth right here right now.

All is very good, very good, yay – as I pray for Gratitude, my Attitude gains Altitude.