What I Know TO BE TRUE about GRATITUDE

Truth:    WHAT I FOCUS ON, I GET MORE OF

Shifting my understanding of myself, changing from a half-empty to an AbunDANCE kind of perspective, in all aspects of my life. The haHAhardest part of that is my self talk. How I view myself. The words I use when talking to me.   I used to be very haHAhard on myself, focusing more on what I haven't yet accomplished rather than what miracles I have created in my life.  I'd get stuck in what could have been rather than what IS.  Making peace with the past became easy as I learned to laugh at myself.  But for THEN, I would not be here NOW, sharing myself with you, dear Reader. And THEN had a lot of juicy stuff as I am relishing the adventures that have brought me to the HERE and NOW.

It took the lens of GRATITUDE to see all the yummy and exhilarating life lessons that have created me, Goddess Diana, the human bean that I am becoming. Looking at THEN and seeing how it has shaped NOW. And finding the gifts of THEN in the NOW. 

I am so grateful for THEN. I am so blessed for where it has brought me NOW.

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.   This was not allways my way.  I would go from experience to experience without taking the time to digest and savor.  Now, I stop and breathe and process all the juiciness that is in my life.   Expressing gratitude when I first wake up for the legs that let me stand, for my heart that beats, for the arms and hands that let me move and feel.  Singing gratitude for what my eyes see and my mouth tastes.

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.

Before I go to bed, I get quiet and do a Pussy Ritual.  I put my hands on my core (the space where 8000 sensory nerve endings and I think of all the pleasure in my life and I give thanks - 12 times.  12 things that I acknowledge that brought me pleasure and I am truly greatFULL for.  12 things that I love about myself and how I be in my world.   12 people that touched my life today.

I flex and strengthen this muscle.   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 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 talking to the squirrels and being One with my surroundings.

Truth:  GRATITUDE IS A MULTI SENSORY EXPERIENCE

Gratitude is more than just something we say.  For it to multiply in our lives, we have to feel it, deep inside, so it bubbles over on the outside and can be felt - this reverence and irreverence for life.    

It's feeling GREATfull for the smell of a fresh peeled orange in the morning or squirting lemon in my morning cup of water.  It's feeling pleasure for the cotton modal fabric I adorn my body with and the lotus flower that sits on my tush when I put my yoga pants on.  It's tasting the dew on a leaf outside my door as I prepare for my morning walk.  It's breathing in the sunrise as the clouds dance and change colors.  It's touching my cat's fur and feeling him purr in appreciation for our loving exchange.   

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

All is good in my life as I pray for this gratitude that keeps my altitude high.