Statistically speaking, more heart attacks occur between 8 and 9 am on Monday morning…the beginning of the work week.   And, although Saturday is statistically the day most car accidents occur (I’ll give you one guess why) Monday is not far behind.   And, while I don’t have statistics on the day of the week more arguments with a spouse, child, co-worker or employer occur, I have heard it said that Monday is the winning day for that as well.

Why Monday?  Because most people are unhappy that it’s Monday morning.  They don’t look forward to it. They’ve been having fun all weekend and now it’s time to set the alarm, get up early, fight the traffic and begin the school or work week.  It’s also the day many resume diets and workout routines, face an overflowing inbox and “to-do” list left over from the previous week, put on the serious face and tackle situations that we’ve been avoiding.  Not exactly experiences that illicit a celebratory response.  And, the amount of resistance we have to any of it will be equal to our unhappiness.

It is our resistance to the experience that causes such disharmony. This resistance to “what is” fuels unhappiness, anger, frustration and places us way out of alignment with the flow of good into our lives.

But what if it were different? What if Monday were the day you looked forward to because you knew that the first thing you were going to experience was overflowing love and joy?  What if you stopped resisting?  What if you started the week consciously in alignment to the flow of all good? How would that change your experience of Monday?  How would that set up the rest of your week?

Let’s try this experiment together. Let’s call Monday “Gratitude Mondays.”  Let’s begin a little TGIM (Thank God It’s Monday) experiment.

How?  With these 5 simple steps.

1. We will set our intention to begin the week with a heart overflowing with gratitude.

2.  The moment we wake up on Monday morning, before getting out of bed, we will find one thing to be grateful for. Just one thing for now (this could be anything from the bird’s song outside our window to the fact that we actually woke up and get another chance at life.)

3. Then, as we get up and brush our teeth, we think of another thing to be grateful for. And we will continue thinking of something for which we are grateful with every routine Monday morning task like taking the dog for a walk, or pouring a cup of coffee, or taking a shower, or getting dressed, or making breakfast for the children or getting into the car, etc. Think how wonderful it is to have indoor plumbing, and/or nice clothes to wear, and/or a trusty companion pooch, and/or the aroma of freshly ground coffee, and/or children to raise, and/ or a radio in your car with an abundance of stations from which to choose to listen to, or a CD player that allows you to listen to some groovin’ or uplifting music.  You get the idea.  Make it a game.  How many things can you find to be grateful for?
The way to avoid thinking about what is missing in our lives, and what we don’t want is to focus on the gratitude we feel for what we do have.

4. You might notice that what begins to happen is that one gratitude thought leads to another, and to another, and so on.  Keep this going for as long as you want.

5. More importantly you want to allow yourself to really feel it.  Let the gratitude begin to open your heart, expand and fill your mind and body with the joy of being alive to experience all of these blessings and more!

6. Notice how you feel and notice how your Monday goes.

Like everything else, this will take practice. But it’s the kind of practice that’s so enjoyable and makes such a huge difference in your life, that you will look forward to it.  You may find that you want to begin your Tuesday like this, and Wednesday like this, and so on.  By all means, go right ahead.  And if there are things in your life that you desire to change, you will begin to feel empowered to make the changes harmoniously.  Why? Because you are now aligned with the Source from which all good flows.  Opportunities for positive change will present themselves, and you will be empowered to recognize the opportunities and take advantage of them.

Now, in order to experience the benefits of this practice, you need to remember to do it.  Thought habit patterns are deeply ingrained. We all need a gentle nudge to remember to think differently than is our habit until we develop a new habit pattern. For this reason, if you’d like, I will send out a gentle reminder to you about Gratitude Monday on Sunday evening.  If you  visit my gratitude page on Facebook and just hit the “Like” button, I will send out a reminder the night before.

Many blessings to you!