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Being Grateful
Here we are coming into the month of Thanksgiving. This is the one day out of the year where we all focus on being grateful.
- We are always told to be grateful for all you have. As children we were told to be grateful for the food on our plate (even if we did not like it) because there were others less fortunate than us.
- We are told to be grateful for our health, family, (even if we do not like them) home, good nutrition, and our country.
- Our religions have told us to be grateful even for situations that we find challenging or painful because these are occasions for our spiritual growth. (Growth we tell ourselves we could live without sometimes)
So we know it is the right thing to do being grateful for what we have, but why do it?
If we do not feel grateful or feel we are just going through the motions being grateful what purpose does it serve?
Being grateful for what you dislike makes you aware of HOW GOOD what you like is. What you like and dislike is opposite ends of the same thing.
Dream your way to your goals
Visualization is the way many successful business people, athletes and professionals get their goals accomplished. Visualization is really more than dreaming though. It is setting your mind on a goal, seeing it play like a movie in your mind, while feeling tasting and smelling the experience. It is believing the goal being accomplished and not questioning how.
Visualization has to be done at least daily if not more frequently. It must be done consistently and without fail until the goal is reached.
Visualization is a way to train your mind to achieve your goals. The brain does not know the difference between true visualization and reality. If done over and over again neurons in the brain make the visualization permanent and reality.
How to visualize your goals
When visualizing see and say the goals such as amounts of money using the language “making at least “_____ dollars. See the amount on a bank statement or cash in hand.
Seeing a vacation trip in your mind see and feel the excitement and relaxation and joy.
Or say you want to visualize your landscaping on your home- see yourself walking down the path, seeing and smelling the scent of the flowers or sitting down on the patio furniture admiring the scene while having a cup of coffee in the morning.
Have fun with the visualization. Enjoy the emotions and feelings and visualize your way to your goals and dreams. How can you truly appreciate what you like if you do not experience what you don’t like?
Let’s sit and simmer on this a bit….
So that irritating but true statement I made earlier about being grateful for situations that are unpleasant, we don’t like, or are painful really help us to receive the good things too.
If you love the times when you have plenty of money but hate the times when you don’t do you realize you are working with the same essence? That essence is having plenty. The dark moments of lack present the opportunity to clearly appreciate and recognize the wonderful moments of plenty.
The cycle of gratitude
Being grateful for what you like and dislike completes the cycle of Gratitude. This cycle can be understood as like and dislike being the opposite ends of the same thing and the same essence. So having gratitude for both is a cycle completion. See it?
Gratitude releases you from recreating the experiences you don’t like. By having gratitude towards the things you dislike you break the cycle of their persistence because you realize the things you dislike make the things you like so good.
You cannot permanently leave a situation you dislike until you appreciate the gifts it brings you. All situations bring a gift no matter how bad they appear.
Gratitude ensures that you always embrace all that is not before you can move on.
Take breath and let this sink in….
How gratitude can change your mindset
The other fact about being grateful is that you are put into a positive peaceful state of mind when you are grateful for what you have. This opens you up to see and be aware of other opportunities and even more good.
You are open to the good around you. You may not have known or seen and making yourself available to this good.
Think of it this way. You are a person who has always been a little tentative and shy in your life and always walk around looking at the ground never looking up.
One day you wake up and feel confident and excited about life and walk around with your head up and see what a beautiful town you live in and how people look at you and say hello. You strike up conversations and meet people who then become friends and business partners .Your social life takes off where you end up having lots of friends and your business booms because of the relationships you develop.
So the gist of this article is that when you are grateful for all the good and all the bad in your life in the case of the bad you break the cycle because you realize the things you dislike make the things you like so MUCH BETTER.
In the case of being grateful for the good, it opens up even more opportunities for good because you are open to it.
A Habit of being grateful
So how do you begin this new habit so you can reap the rewards of abundance in your life?
Begin every day in a quiet prayer being grateful for all the good AND all the bad. Go through your life and your upcoming day listing these things and opportunities.
Feel the good feelings that go with the good in your life and see the bad things as bridges to the other side of good.
Nature seems to have implanted gratitude in all living creatures. It appears to me that culture, which brings luxury and selfishness with it, has a tendency rather to weaken than promote this affection
-Samuel Johnson
Eileen Richardson - Certified Life coach
** Download our free workbook, 10 Ways to Embrace Gratitude Every Day **
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