Use Gratitude with Caution

A few months ago, it seemed life was throwing me issue after issue.  Financial challenges, issues with my husband, having to move out of the house we'd been renting for ten years.  It was difficult to understand what was happening.

That's when I was forced by the Universe to go back to basics.  Good, old-fashioned prayer and making a list of what I was grateful for.  And, I couldn't simply repeat my gratitude list each day - it had to be five new things for which I was grateful.

It turns out that simply being grateful creates amazing things in life.  It's no wonder that Jesus started each of his prayers by saying "Thank You".  And from a space of very little, life can turn around.  To be clear, gratitude is not about getting what your ego thinks it needs to stay one step ahead of the Jones', so to speak.  You need to come from a place of real gratefulness.

The true insight comes from just starting where you are, even if you don't feel it.  At a minimum, you can be grateful for your vision or mobility or that you have a place to lay your head at night.  Pretty soon, if you make a practice of gratitude, you'll notice the blessings increasing - friends who love you no matter what, birds singing in the trees, a warm blanket on a cold night.

The challenges are still there, however, what is showing up makes me realize I'm in a much better place.  I have a budget I can stick to, I have two daughters who will step in to help and support me, no matter what, and I have paid off my Lexus in full (very sweet feeling!)

Gratitude brings transformation.  If you want to grow into who you are meant to be, start making a list every day of things you are grateful for - no  repeating - and notice what happens in your life.   Be careful tho' because I can guarantee you will see a shift.

And when the shift starts to happen, don't worry that you're not able to handle it.  Just be grateful for all of it and trust that the frustrations and the struggles and the achievements are leading you to a mastery of using gratitude toward an inevitable life of ever-increasing good.

Go ahead, I dare you!

Affirmation from the Personal Affirmations by Eugene D. Holden, RScP, SOM 2013.

I am grateful for this morning, this day, and this moment.  I am grateful that all of my needs are met now.  I am grateful for my friends and family.  I am grateful for this thing called life.