Steps Towards Gratitude

I think that it is easy to pick out those times when one naturally feels grateful but what comes to mind for me today are those times and situations where perhaps gratitude may not be a natural response.  I’m thinking specifically of times in my life that have been challenges.  It’s at those times when I may have felt anything BUT grateful that has allowed me to stretch and to end up seeing those life challenges truly as gifts from the Universe.

This may not happen for you overnight, although I do believe it can happen just as easily in an instant.  In our culture and perhaps in the world at large, we’re not encouraged to see possibility but rather the Chicken Little syndrome – sky is falling mentality - is prevalent!  It’s much easier to awfulize whatever situation we may find ourselves in and that’s encouraged by mainstream culture.  All one needs to do is look at the TV news—when was the last time the lead story was about a glorious event that occurred in someone’s life?  One can only hear such negativity for so long before becoming one with the message—garbage in, garbage out!

But if you have decided that you want your life to be about gratitude, one of the first things you can do is wean yourself from those things and people in your life who don’t encourage that.  You can start small – if you watch TV, decrease your watching by an hour a day.  And in that hour you can do something that makes your heart sing—be it a walk outdoors, taking pictures, painting, reading or maybe just sitting and being quiet.  In order to connect to our inner knowing, slowing down and listening is important.  And it is in those quiet moments when you can see that gratitude is just a thought away.

Yes, we can choose gratitude just as easily as you pick what type of tea you may want to drink or what color of socks you’re going to put on.  When you make the choice of being grateful, you may begin to see, as an example, that while you may not be in your dream job you can be grateful for being given the opportunity to be able to discern what it is you really want to be doing.  Or if you’re not experiencing perfect health, you can be grateful for the time to slow down and listen to what your body is telling you.  Or if you’re experiencing money challenges, you can be grateful for what you do have, the love of your family and or friends, your health, etc.

Being grateful may not necessarily change your challenge immediately, although that can happen.  But with a continued awareness and practice of giving thanks, one day you may become aware that while your life may not look exactly as you’d like, you are indeed grateful.

This entry was posted on 21. November 2010 at 12:58 and is filed under Affirmation, Choices, Authentic, Appreciated, Longing, Patience, Gratitude, Simplicity, Soul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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