Today I pulled an oracle card to remind me of what is important for the day. What came up was ‘Gratitude’ – ‘be grateful for all that you have’.
I have to be honest, there are times when this card comes up and my reaction is immediately one like “oh great… this again”.
It sounds terrible I know.
Really, I know.
Several years ago, when I began shifting some of my old attitudes and beliefs in my life, I printed out a gratitude journal and every day for a month solid, wrote down what I was grateful for before I went to bed at night. I remember vividly, the second day of journaling, I forgot to do my entry the night before and I wasn’t home. So I found an old receipt in the car, where I was, and wrote out my 5 gratitude points on the receipt.
Those 30 days changed my life.
The way gratitude works is no different than any other emotion that we have. If you feel gratitude, you attract it into your experience. There is an energy attached to everything we think and then translate into a feeling or emotion. The feeling of gratitude draws in more experiences for you to feel gratitude toward.
For example…
I am grateful for my family that lives close by. My amazing mother took my daughter Felicity for the day yesterday so that I could meet with clients, do some errands and even have time to go to a yoga class that my dear friend was hosting. I felt gratitude toward my mom. I felt gratitude for my grandmother who visited with our oldest daughter, Adelynn after school. I felt gratitude for my client who spent 90 minutes of her time working with me, engaging with me, listening to me as I listened to her. I felt gratitude when I found $1 bill on the sidewalk in the parking garage. Gratitude for the books I found for $3 each in a series I love. I felt gratitude for my beautiful friend and her new yoga endeavor, for her taking the time to hold a class, for her wisdom and gentleness. I felt gratitude when I drove home at sunset last night… for how pretty the village I live in is. I felt gratitude for my neighbors… when I drove into my little grove several of them waved to me as I passed by in my car. I felt gratitude when I came home and kissed my husband, sitting relaxed in his chair. Gratitude for a laid back evening with the man I love… for a peaceful house, and for the knowing that our daughters are loved and cared for where they were for the night. I felt gratitude for the dreams I remembered in my sleep, for the kitten laying in between my legs as I slept in… for the ability to sleep in! I felt gratitude for the coffee pot this morning, for the heart shaped mug I chose to drink out of, for the chocolate granola that I love to eat for breakfast. I feel gratitude for the beautiful little office I’m sitting in, surrounded by encouraging words, pictures, colors and inspiration that makes me want to write. Gratitude for the keyboard and the computer that bring my words to life. I feel gratitude for the tickets I won to a festival today on the radio a few weeks ago, for my beautiful grandma that we will visit this afternoon and for the events that will unfold over the next few hours.
Imagine that this energy that I have translated, this feeling of deep appreciation for so many simple things, is now swirling and surrounding me. You draw in to you what you are feeling and right now, I feel gratitude, love and appreciation for the events of the past 24 hours.
The Universe responds to this emotion and now it is activated.
Instead of feeling entitled or just dismissing things… there is a live and very awake energy that surrounds me as I feel all of the wonderful things, events, experiences that have brought me that precious feeling of gratitude.
It’s very easy to slip into forgetting. It’s easy to not see what is coming to us and for us all the time and to sometimes take things for granted. But at any time… we can dial in, look around, acknowledge the smallest of things, (which aren’t even small really!) like lights on in the house, or a comfy bed, or good coffee… and then move that beautiful gracious energy forward.
Then watch as the Universe continues to bend over backwards to meet your grateful energy and bring you even more to be grateful for.
Gratitude is truly a magical emotion. Experiment with it. I promise it will not disappoint you.
Natural Peace Living 