Tag Archives: supporting a gratitude practice

Making a Regular Practice of Gratitude

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This is from my talk last Sunday at Unity Center of Peace, “Time to Shine Your Light.”  It is one of the most important ways to shine your light!

Most of you know how transformational gratitude can be.  But let’s review briefly…

  1. Gratitude helps us to acknowledge…and actually live in the midst of…all the everyday miracles that are now in our lives…those that normally would be overlooked, like access to clean drinking water, birds singing, washing machines, eyes with which to see, etc.  The list goes on and on.
  2. Gratitude lays hold of the blessing in every challenge and calls it forth.
  3. Gratitude makes apparent opportunities that you would otherwise overlook.
  4. Gratitude raises our energy so that we are vibrating at a higher level and therefore attracting more and more blessings into our lives.
  5. Gratitude is a healing energy.  It can heal physically, emotionally and spiritually.
  6. Gratitude magnifies our light!  If enough of us practice daily gratitude it will raise the vibration of humanity altogether.

But it will do none of these things if we don’t actually make it a daily practice.

So, to support you in your efforts to practice gratitude on a daily basis, I’ve created a “Post-it Note Pad with a reminder and space for you to write down 5 things you are grateful for.  You can fill it out and post it anywhere you’ll see it throughout the day.  I’m offering it free of charge.  You only need to pay nominal shipping.  Click on box to the right to order this.

Also, check in daily on our Facebook page: The Gratitude Experiment and post your gratitude there.  You’ll also be inspired by other’s postings, while giving you ideas for things you hadn’t yet considered being grateful for.

Take advantage of the transformational power of Gratitude by practicing it daily!

Many blessings.

Gratitude and Shifting Old Patterns

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Once we discover what a positive impact the practice of gratitude can make in our lives, we tend to get excited about the practice which,  in turn, helps us remain motivated to continue…for a time.  Our gratitude practice has perhaps made us feel better, more uplifted and more joyful.  Perhaps we are more in love with the people in our lives, or our health is improving, or our days are more harmonious.  Life is good.

Then, after a few weeks or so, a dastardly thing happens…we begin to forget the very practice that has brought about this transformation and we neglect to practice.  We begin to slip back into our old patterns.  Perhaps we start complaining and focusing what’s wrong in our lives. Or, perhaps we begin to judge what should be and what shouldn’t be.   Soon our life begins to reflect our attitude…and there are suddenly more things to complain about.

Why does this happen?  Why would we drop a practice that has made such a huge difference in our lives?  It happens because we human beings are naturally more comfortable with our old attitudes and our old ways of looking at life.  It fits us like a comfortable old pair of sweats.  And we slip into them without thinking. Then, once they’re on, we can be reluctant to expand the energy to take them off and put on a clean outfit!  Even if our old attitudes make us unhappy, at least we feel normal…we feel like our old selves.  We may even rationalize that a transformational practice like proactive gratitude is nice when we remember to do it, but “we have to face reality.”  We completely forget that we create our reality by the way we look at life.

So how do we prevent this from happening?   If this is basic human nature, how do we make permanent change in our thinking and therefore our lives?  Here are a few tips that can sustain our commitment to  practicing proactive gratitude.

1. Get support.  Surround yourself with people who have a similar goal. If you need to make some new friends, then do it.  There’s lots of beautiful, positive people in the world who value personal growth.  Find them and befriend them.  You can also find groups on social networking sites (such as the gratitude community on Facebook) that share common a commitment. 

2. Set up reminders. You may want to post reminders to practice gratitude and stick them to your bathroom mirror, computer or dashboard.  For those of you who schedule your day in a planner, consider scheduling a block of time to reflect and focus on what you are grateful for that day.

3. Be accountable to someone. You might want to find a “gratitude buddy” with whom you can connect on a regular basis and share your experiences.  Or, you may prefer to work more formally with a life coach who will assure you stay accountable.

4. Reinforce the positive.  Acknowledge yourself for your commitment to practice…particularly when life gets a bit bumpy and it’s a challenge to find something to be grateful for.  Pat yourself on the back.  Congratulate yourself.  Reward yourself with something nice like relaxing with a cup of tea or buying flowers for yourself.

 Transformational practices by their very nature challenge us to follow a path that is, at times, uncomfortable.   Slipping back into familiar, safe patterns is expected.  Be gentle with yourself.  Love yourself through it.  And, by trying the suggestions here, you will rise above, grow in grace and realize your highest potential.