The practice of gratitude can do so much more for us than simply making us feel good and raising our vibration so that we will attract more good into our life.  The practice of daily proactive gratitude can also help us identify, and keep in the forefront of our minds, what is sacred in our lives.  Gratitude activates the sacredness of “ordinary things” and “ordinary moments.” When it is our intention to seek out and find things and experiences for which to be grateful — when that is our primary focus — it helps us identify the sacred and connect with it!

Let’s take a “day in the life” of Sam to see how this works.  Sam has a habit of focusing on what’s wrong and what’s missing in his life.  It’s 6:30 AM Monday morning and Sam’s alarm goes off at.   His first thought is, “Oh God it’s Monday!  I wish I could sleep in, but I’ve got to get up, get dressed and get to work.  Ugh.”  And he just sort of goes through the motions like he has blinders on, so he doesn’t notice anything other than…the pants he wanted to wear today are dirty. He grumbles.  Then when he gets downstairs to grab something quick to eat he sees he’s out of his favorite cereal. “Must have been the kids.”  Then when he gets into his car he realizes the gas tank is on “E”.  His wife didn’t fill up the gas tank after she drove to the lake yesterday! “Errr!”  Then, of course he’s seeing that there are more and more cars on the road every day, and he’ll be stuck in traffic for awhile.  So he stops to get a coffee at Starbucks and is immediately frustrated when he sees the extra-long line.  By the time he gets into the office he’s seething with negativity.  No wonder no one says “good morning” to him when he walked in.  Finally when he arrives at his desk he finds a huge report laying there that he’s been asked to analyze before the end of the week.

His whole week is shot before it really begins.  Where are the sacred places and moments in that person’s life?  Where’s the joy in his life?  Maybe he can find some on the weekend, but probably not since he has developed a habit of seeing only what’s missing and what’s wrong.  Not a life worth living really, is it?

Now let’s say this same person has indeed developed a practice of proactive gratitude. Let’s look at his Monday morning from that perspective. 6:30 AM…his alarm goes off.  His first thought is, “Oh Thank God I had such a good sleep, I think I only woke up once in the night.” Then he looks over at his wife sleeping next to him and he’s immediately grateful he’s sharing his life with someone. Then he thinks about his two kids who are just waking up to go to school and he’s grateful they are safely in their beds and are healthy. Even before he gets out of bed he realizes how blessed his life is.  Then when he goes to his closet and notices his favorite pants are dirty he continues to look around and notices a pair he hasn’t worn in a long time because he just hasn’t seen them.  He feels good when he puts those on and they still fit.  In fact, they look pretty good. Then, when he goes downstairs and discovers his favorite cereal is gone, he’s grateful to discover some English muffins in the refrigerator. He hasn’t had an English muffin in a long time and is grateful to rediscover how much he enjoys it.  Next, when Sam get’s into his car and discovers he’s out of gas, he thinks about his wife using the car to go to the lake and feels happy knowing she had such a great time with the kids there…which also allowed him alone time where he could watch back-to-back football games uninterrupted. This just fills his heart with more love and gratitude as he fills the tank.

Then on his way to work he’s feeling so grateful to live in such a beautiful part of the country where there is beauty on both sides of the road the entire way to work.  As he is forced to slow down because of all the traffic, he just has more time to enjoy each individual tree and be grateful for it. He soon feels the sacredness of life all around him.  Then when he stops at Starbucks and gets in the long line, he strikes up a casual conversation with the guy in front of him. And because his positive attitude is so infectious the other guy’s mood begins to brighten.  As they talk they find that they work in the same industry, have clients in common, and end up trading contact info which may turn into increased business for both of them.

Sam’s now humming with this high vibration as he walks through the office doors. People can’t help but notice and as he greets them with a big smile and a “good morning!” He’s just shared his positive energy with everyone there which in turn, affects their day, which in turn ultimately has a positive effect on the business…which keeps him employed.  Finally as he sits down at his desk and sees the gigantic report — he’s tempted to get discouraged and feel overwhelmed, but he remembers to take a moment before he reacts.

What is also sacred is that moment between what happens to us, and how we react to it.  It could be just a split second, but if we take that time and remember it can be a sacred moment…it can be the moment we allow the Divine to enter our thinking and our feeling, and ask that wisdom to inform how we respond to what is happening to us.  That, in and of itself, can transform our lives.

So, Sam does this and gradually sees that in this report he’ll find useful information there which will somehow bless him and others, all the while his skills and expertise will be exercised for the good of all concerned.  And he begins to tackle it with gusto.  And he’s filled with gratitude generally about being employed, knowing that some of his friends are not.

Sam’s day, and entire week is certain to reveal more and more blessings as he moves through it, because his high vibration is attracting more and more good.

Two different experiences right?  Same circumstances…same events…but what a different experience!  All of this is possible because he has trained himself to seek out and find the blessing in all situations.  He’s trained himself to begin each day by looking for something to be grateful for.  He has trained himself to see possibility.  Which life would you want to live?

Most would say the second one!  And you can have that life right now, just by making the decision to practice daily proactive gratitude…by making the decision to look for the blessings and see the sacredness in “ordinary” things…every day of your life.