Tag Archives: healing

Healing Through Gratitude

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vibrant healthThere have been so many studies documenting the healing power of gratitude.  A regular practice of gratitude has been proven to lower blood pressure, reduce heart attacks, reduce, stress, increase better sleep and better digestion.  The list goes on.  In fact, there is not a single part of us that cannot be positively impacted by a proactive gratitude practice.

Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, healed herself of tuberculosis (a killer in the1880’s) in large part through a practice of sending her body thoughts of love and gratitude.  In addition to a positive affirmation she learned, she had a realization about the healing power of gratitude she described this way…

“Life has to be guided by intelligence in making all forms.  The same law works in my own body.  Life is simply a form of energy, and has to be guided and directed in man’s body by his intelligence.” How do we communicate intelligence? By thinking and talking, of course. Then it flashed upon me that I might talk to the life in every part of my body and have it do just what I wanted.  I began to teach my body and got marvelous results.”

She then began to go through all the organs and parts of her body and “spoke words of strength and power.”  She sent each organ love and expressed gratitude for them.  She would envision them functioning perfectly.  She says, “I told them they were no longer in bondage to the carnal mind; that they were not corruptible flesh, but center of life and energy omnipresent.”   Keep in mind it’s language from 1880’s.  But you get that she’s talking about raising her consciousness from the purely human-physical dimension and affirming the Absolute Truth from the Spiritual Realm – and not just words, but words filled with tons of feeling…tons of love and appreciation.

That’s key. Words, by themselves, really don’t have the power to change anything. It’s words coupled with feeling that has power.  We want our words to invoke a feeling-tone…a feeling-tone of love and tremendous gratitude.  That feeling-tone generates a vibration.  And it’s that vibration that lifts the physical body so healing can happen.

Would you like an experience of that right now? If so, follow along with my meditation here. (I will be posting the guided audio meditation soon, but for now you can read the following, get a sense of it, then close your eyes and allow the wisdom within you to guide you.)

Close your eyes and begin to take some slow, deep, cleaning breaths.  When you are relaxed and centered, bring your attention to an area of your body that may be giving your trouble, or that doesn’t feel 100% right now.  Now, bring to mind something, or someone you absolutely love.  Focus on the feeling of love, and allow that feeling to grow within you.  Now, consciously send that area of your body this abundant love.  Feel vibrant, glorious love infusing this area.  See it as a vibrant center of omnipresent life, glowing with radiant energy. Feel the beauty of the Divine radiating there.  Now, think about how this organ or part of your body has served you in your life. If it’s not functioning well now, think of a time it did function well. Feel gratitude welling up within you for all the days that part of your body functioned well — for all the times it worked in harmony with the trillions of other cells that work together in harmony with each other in your body every minute.  Express your joyous gratitude for this part of your body…and for your entire body.  It has served you so well in your life.  Much more than you realize right now.  Allow that joyous gratitude to grow and radiate throughout your entire body.  Now, feel that part of your body responding to your love and gratitude.  The cells within that area are waking up and allowing the innate wholeness that has always been there, to come back online.  They are waking up and blossoming like a flower feeling the loving, radiant warmth and light of the sun.  Enjoy bathing in this feeling for a few minutes.

Now, take a deep breath and bring your awareness back to the room.

Try this exercise daily for the next few weeks and see if it makes a difference in your health.  The science supports that indeed it will.  Let me know how it goes.

And check back here soon for a link to the audio of the above meditation.

 

Gratitude Exeriment: Day 46

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The practice of Proactive Gratitude is surely discipline that requires us being vigilant…vigilant in our thoughts and reactions to events and people in our lives. It is so easy to react to frustrating occurrences by getting angry, particularly if we’re sure it’s someone else’s fault.  We feel justified in our anger.  It’s easy to react to current physical “facts” like seeing a lack of money in our bank account and many bills to pay. It’s easy to get fearful and upset.  It’s easy to react to loss or rejection by friends, lovers or potential employers by getting depressed.  These are all natural human reactions and our friends will agree with us that we should feel this way.  It also keeps us stuck in the problem and stuck in “victim-consciousness”.   But, what do victims attract?  More abuse.

The good news is that we have a choice.  It may not be as easy a choice, but it’s the choice that will empower us.   The moment we begin to feel ourselves reacting…we can at the moment stop, take a few deep breaths and allow our minds to shift into another perspective.  We can then see these “facts” or events from a higher perspective.  We can open ourselves to the possibility that there may be something greater behind the current circumstance.  There may, in fact, be a blessing in it.  Then we can move to a place of TRUST that there is a blessing in this experience and it is making itself known to us.  

Current circumstances are temporary. The question is…will we continue to experience these same circumstances over and over?  We certainly will if we only look at how “awful” the situation is and bemoan it.  If we never look for the blessing within the challenge, or see it from a higher perspective.  We are doomed to repeat it.

It’s when we have the courage to take that time, open our heart and our minds and trust that something wonderful is on it’s way…that this situation could be just the thing that will propel our growth into a new plateau of joy and success.

We’ve all heard stories of people who’ve worked at a company for years and relied on the steady paycheck, then suddenly the rug is pulled from underneath them and they’re layed off.  Those who focus on how horrible it is, and spend their energy blaming others are doomed to repeat it, or experience anger and frustration their whole life.  Then there are those with whom…this same event occurs…and they’ve chosen to see it as a blessing. They’re grateful for it happening because they can now pursue something they’ve always wanted to do.

The same for so many relationships that end.  It feels so painful and it’s so easy to blame the other, but those who do are doomed to repeat painful relationship after painful relationship. Those who are grateful for the loss very often soon find someone else…someone so much better suited to them.   Or, they simply and truly love the solitude.

But this takes work.  It takes practice. Practice makes perfect. As my friend Pete says, “How does one get to Carnegie Hall – PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. This is a process that takes work, repetition, dedication, and a desire to create good in one’s life to share with others: To co-create with God! ”

But the rewards are nothing less than transformational.  The rewards for putting in the effort to search out the blessing in challenging situation, will change your vibration so that you will begin to attract more joyful, more prosperous, and more loving experiences.

I have a situation in my life right now that I am occasionally tempted to get overwhelmed with fear about.  Something that helps me stay focused on the higher picture and assures me that all is working out beautifully and that this will, indeed be such a tremendous blessing to me in the end, is to repeat the following…

“There is a Divine solution to this situation and it is appearing now, harmoniously and for the highest good for all concerned.”

More on this important topic tomorrow.

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My Gratitudes:

I’m grateful for finding a woman who does the best ever theraputic massage.  I’ve never experienced anything like this before.  I can turn my head in every direction with ease. Bless you Nancy Lee!

I am grateful for the perfect Divine solution to my situation. I know something wonderful is on it’s way.  This is a complete blessing for me.

I  am grateful my daughter made up with a girl she was fighting with for a long time.  I am grateful the love was felt more than the anger.  Love triumphed!

I am grateful for the time, energy and insight necessary to maintain this Gratitude Experiment site.

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.