Tag Archives: Haiti

Gratitude Experiment: Day 43

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Continuing on the theme from the last post on practicing proactive gratitude with respect to  relationships and “difficult” people…

Often when we have an encounter with a “difficult” person, it brings up our anger, fear, resentment, sense of righteous indignation, and other strong emotions.  Strong “negative” emotions are always a signal to us…a signal that there’s something within us that’s unhealed. And, the encounter helps to bring it to the surface…and right in our face. 

For example, I find myself getting upset with people who behave like uncaring bureaucrats. Like some customer service personnel or government employees who apparently hate their jobs, and don’t really care about the customer’s needs. They’re simply answering the phones and following a script of responses to questions.   This just gets my blood boiling.  I think to myself, “why on earth would this person take a job where they have to deal with the public on any level?”

Okay, now I can (and have) felt very justified in my anger and end up slamming down the phone and screaming into it after I’ve hung up.  A lot of good this does, eh?  How about instead, I look at one of two things in myself…

A.) Where am I uncaring and unloving to others? Where do I brush people off and wish they’d just go away?   If I can see this in myself, I can bring it to the light for healing.  In this case the customer service person serves as a mirror to me.  He or she has held up a mirror so I can see how I do this and heal it.  Then perhaps I won’t need to attract that kind of person into my life anymore (and in fact, I have been encountering some amazingly friendly and helpful customer service people lately!)   So…I can be grateful for this person. They have, unknowingly, helped me heal!

or, B) This customer service person is showing me something in myself that feels not worthy of being treated well.  I can then ask myself, “What is it in me that feels unworthy of being treated with respect? Where in my childhood have I been ignored, dismissed and made to feel small and unimportant?”  Ahhh, there it is.  Then I can ask my higher self for guidance into that experience, or root of feeling unworthy. Now that I am aware of this, I can heal it.  Once it’s healed I no longer need to attract this kind of person into my life anymore.  And, a lot of other stuff will clear up as well!  So, can I be grateful for this customer service representative?  You betcha!  What a gift he or she has been to me.

Try this little experiement the next time you encounter someone who tries your patience and brings up your anger, fear, etc.  Let me know how it goes for you!

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My gratitudes for yesterday…

Ah, I’m grateful for the beautiful sunset last night.  They way the last bit of sun shone through the clouds and reflected such brilliant pinks and oranges.

I’m grateful for the fun time I had with my kids yesterday…just having an ice cream and helping them with their homework.

I am grateful for all the survivors that have been pulled from the rubble in Haiti…even a week later!

I am grateful for the compassion and opening of so many hearts, and the awareness of the need for healing in that part of the world.

Gratitude Experiment: Day 41

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I am so grateful for the baby girl who was rescued yesterday…pulled out of the rubble from a collapsed building in Haiti after 68 hours!  And she’s totally fine and reunited with her uncle. What a miracle!

I am grateful for the dinner guest tonight who took us outside to look at the stars.  This astronomy buff helped open our eyes to the miraculous Milky Way.  The constellations and galaxies that are always there every night….but I rarely take the time to notice.

I am grateful for the little rainbows that dance along my bathroom walls in the morning.  I am grateful for the realization that it’s pure Source light refracted in a window which displays its white light in a variety of beautiful colors.  It’s similar to how pure Source expresses as us…a variety of beautiful color and dimension.

As I witness a thing of beauty and allow the feeling of gratitude well up inside me I can feel my consciousness expanding and my world becomes more vibrantly alive. It am getting closer to understanding what a gift life is.  This is the transformative power of gratitude. 

After practicing proactive gratitude for awhile, your world will never be the same.  You will never look at things the same way.  You will seldom overlook the miracles that occur all around us, all the time.  The miracles that most don’t see.  This is how a baby sees the world.  It’s how we all saw the world at one time.  We learn to overlook it. We learn to become immune to the miraculous world around us.  And we can unlearn.

That’s the transformative power of gratitude.

Gratitude Experiment: Day 40

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With the recent horrific event in Haiti, it can be difficult to find something to be grateful for.  It seems so random. It seems so cruel that people who are already suffering so much from poverty and other natural disasters, should have to suffer this too.  It makes us all so sad.

First, what I believe to be true is that no one goes before his or her time.  When the agreed upon time is up, it’s then time to move on to the next experience the soul has asked for.  Now that doesn’t make it any easier for the loved ones left behind, I know.  But, I also believe that there are lessons to be learned, soul growth to accelerate, and blessings to be found in everything.  Again, not easy, but with loving support from others, lives are mended and some people have found real blessings in tragedy.

And, here’s something very real to be grateful for…this kind of event opens all our hearts and awakens our compassion.  We are given a huge wake up call to remember how connected we all are.  “This could have been my family. That could have been me, ” We might say.  Or, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”  We are all connected in this one world community.  A mother on Twitter yesterday said that the son she was in the process of adopting was there in Haiti.  The world is getting smaller and we are seeing more and more how connected we really are. This is a good thing. It’s something that could save us as a planet. It’s something to be deeply, truly grateful for.

And, this love and compassion we are feeling moves some to give of their money and resources to help relief efforts. It moves some to go there and help out physically. It moves a lot of us to send our prayers.  it’s all good. It’s all needed. And I am grateful for it.

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Gratitudes from yesterday,

I am grateful for the opportunity to run in the forest with my dog, taking new trails and trusting Divine Intelligence to lead me back safely.

I am grateful for remembering (from oh, so long ago) how to figure out equivalent fractions, so I can help my children with their homework.

I am grateful for the love and compassion of so many people and how the awakening of this energy lifts us all.

I am grateful for the hard work of people who are finishing up our attic.

I am grateful my family is safe and healthy.