Tag Archives: self-worth

Gratitude and Luck

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Have you ever had periods in your life where everything just seemed to be going right?  I’ve had that recently.  One day I had so many blessings all in one day that I caught myself thinking, “Wow, I’m really on a lucky streak.” I felt very grateful…and then I started to feel nervous. “What’s wrong with feeling lucky?” You may ask. The problem is that when we feel lucky, we’re unconsciously disempowering ourselves.  There’s always the other side of luck…which is that the “lucky streak” can end. 

There is a subtle, but important distinction between feeling lucky and feeling blessed. If we believe in luck, we’re really believing a God who, on a whim, decides to throw a few bones our way, and then the next day doesn’t really care for us.  Either that or, we believe we’re mearly victims of a fickle fate. Either way, we’re powerless. When we realize we’re blessed, we know that we’re beloved…we’re subconsciously accepting our true worth.

Our gratitude work needs to be based in a firm understanding that we are truly worthy of a joyous, harmonious and successful life. There must be an acceptance that we are worthy of all the good we are experiencing…and more. This isn’t always easy, but it’s essential if we want to claim our rightful place as co-creators with the Divine, and keep the floodgates open for more and more good to manifest in our lives. Gratitude then helps solidify our acceptance. 

So, the next time you’re tempted to feel lucky when your life is going great, take a deep breath and say to yourself, “I am worthy of this good because of who I am…a beloved expression of the Universe.  We are all blessed, and I am accepting my blessed life now!”

Gratitude Experiment: Day 45

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One of greatest benefits of practicing proactive gratitude is that you begin to realize that you live in a friendly universe that has created a magnificent world for you to enjoy.  You start to feel…deep down in your bones…that there is a force (call it Creative Intelligence, the Infinite, God, or whatever) that loves you so much that It has given you…and continues to give you…more good than you can possibly imagine. 

This is the place we want to get to in our practice of proactive gratitude.  We want to “know it in our bones.”   The Universe responds to our self-contemplation and intention.  When you feel that your life is blessed, and you are loved, then naturally you begin to feel worthy.  “Wow, I must be a pretty special person, I must be so beloved to have all these wonderful blessings given to me every day.  Hey, I must actually be worth it!” This is how we “sneak up on our worthiness” as Michael Beckwith indicates. 

This is a much more effective way to begin to accept our true worth then repeating positive affirmations to yourself all day…much more.  Positive affirmations are great, don’t get me wrong.  They have a place in our spiritual practice. But practicing proactive gratitude actually shifts the energy around our beliefs in our worthiness.

And it is that feeling of worthiness that allows the Universe to pour more blessings into your life. 

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I am grateful for the lessons in my life which are appearing much more gently and peacefully than ever before.

I am grateful for a warm mug of Earl Grey tea…with milk and honey!

I am grateful for the new cherry blossoms beginning to appear in the tree at school (it’s trusting in the potential of Spring.)

I am grateful for my wonderful bank and all of the happy, helpful people that work there…truly dedicated to helping their customers.

I am grateful for my Rav4.  It’s comfortable and starts every time I get in and turn it on. Amazing.

Gratitude Experiment: How Does It Work?

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One of the ways in which gratitude increases more experiences of good for us is that it very gently opens us up to receive. How? After a few days or weeks of being on the lookout for the good that is already in our lives…and praising that good…it begins to occur to us that we live in a friendly universe filled with blessings.  And, more importantly, that we are meant to enjoy all those blessings…that it is, in fact, personal. In this way we begin to slowly open to the idea that we’re worthy of a loving, joyous and prosperous life.

It’s as if our true worthiness were sneaking up on us. And sometimes it needs to because, not feeling worthy…and therefore not accepting good…can be a tough thing for some of us to shift.  We can’t force the shift.  Sneaky is good in the case :-)

Daily proactive gratitude is quite effective at opening us up to receive more good.  So stay with it, post your gratitudes daily, and witness as you open up to receive more good.