Power in Gratitude

First: update on the 'Say it Out Loud' challenge: it's going really well! I have managed to tell someone every day since I began, and I feel great about it. I called my sister just to say "I love you" and she said it made her day just to hear it. That small act of reaching out reflected back and felt great. It's been much the same with everyone I've shown my love to. So, if you didn't take up the challenge last time, I recommend taking it now. I think I'm going to expand it into a daily practice.

Ok, now that's been done, on to my new topic, the power of gratitude. There's a reason that giving thanks is a part of every major religion, and there's a reason it makes your life better: it changes your attitude. It's all there in the word itself: gratitude. When you feel grateful for something, you think about it differently, cherish it, respect it, use it appropriately, and you behave differently towards it. Giving thanks, genuine, sincere thanks, brings loving reverent energy into your life. If there's one thing that can give you an instant attitude adjustment and mood boost, it's realizing how many wonderful things you have going for you and being grateful. And if you haven't figured it out by now, the nicest, most important thing you can do for yourself, is to stop the negative thought loops in your existence and replace them with positive ones.

This isn't about lying to yourself or "making lemonade" it's about choosing to focus on what's going right more than you focus of what's going wrong; it's about taking responsibility for your life and your feelings and either accepting things that are out of your control, or taking action to change them. Practicing gratitude is an excellent way to re-frame negativity. Don't like your roommate? Thank them for challenging your patience. Don't like your body? Thank it for all the things it CAN do: read this blog, let you enjoy the world through your senses, give you a home base for all your brainy endeavors, whatever.

Letting go of conflict with your world is in your power. It isn't about throwing up your hand in defeat, it's about engaging with the world AS IT IS, and making things better MOMENT BY MOMENT. There is a place for conflict, but it shouldn't be the focus of your whole life. Gratitude is one step you can take to change both your world and yourself for the better.

Try this: close your eyes, and picture something that makes you really happy, maybe a person, a place, a pet, a memory. Think about it really hard. Feel all the good things that come up. Send it gratitude. Now, think of someone you know who you aren't so close with, and send them gratitude, love, good wishes for health, etc. Then, think of someone or something that is causing you pain, frustration, someone you don't get along with. Try sending them love, thank them for the challenges they represent for you, thank them for giving you a place to grow.

If you do this with intention, it just might change how you see that person, that conflict, and that negativity. Giving thanks for your challenges is just as important as giving thanks for the things that bring you joy.

Thank you, reader. You're enriching my life!