ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

 OUR TRUTH - ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

  "I am so blessed , I am so blessed, I am so grateful for all that I have."   

                                                                          - Karen Drucker

These words are the lyrics to Karen Drucker's song (see the whole song in the video above). The words of this song set the tone for my day, each and every morning.  I focus on what is truly important - how blessed I am and grateful for all that I have.

2014 is my year of Gratitude.  Checking in, halfway into our year - I've shed so many skins, loosened so many layers and let go of all things that I have no control over. The weather, the news, traffic, other people, death, aging....  

What I can control - what I have 100% autonomy is my ATTITUDE.  I choose how I will respond or react to any situation that crosses my path.  My research, over the years, shows me that the only attitude that really works and gives me what I want (health, happiness, abundance) is GRATITUDE.   Here are more things that my gratitude research reveals or 3 things that I know to be true about gratitude:

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 get down on my knees and get gr8full - 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 - have aHAHA moments and appreciate this life I have.

Before I go to bed, I get quiet and do a Pussy Ritual.  

I put my hands on my core - my sweet spot (the sacred space with 8000 sensory nerve endings designed for pure pleasure ) - I meet up and I feel theall 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 attitude of gratitude.   I work it out by putting words 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 the words we say.  It's a feeling - deep inside - of 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 glass 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 a walk with .  It's breathing in the sunrise as the clouds dance and change colors.  It's touching my cat's fur and feeling her purr in response as we dance, fingers to fur.

Using my senses to experience gratitude heightens the experience.  It keeps me in that delicious vibration of aBUNdance as more comes my way.  It brings me delightful and pleasurable experiences.

Truth:    WHAT I FOCUS ON, I GET MORE OF

As my understanding of myself shifts - my perspective chahahanges.  As my attention resides with what is good in my life, I find myself noticing more all the little things I take for granted.   

I focus on my breath and being healthy.  My world expands so I find the right teachers and arenas to make small adjustments for optimal alignment and balance.

I focus on my family - all the Wee Ones - I get to see them all in one weekend - six nieces and two nephews, three sisters and two brothers.

I focus on my ability to laugh, at myself, and with myself.  
I focus on the joy of being outside in nature every day.  
I focus on the freedom to be and do, in my pleasure.

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.  I am so grateful for this PRESENT.