Gratitude is the key to creating a better life…
I started experimenting with gratitude practices many years ago and one of the things I noticed was that I was noticing a change in feelings of happiness and that the more I focused on the positive in my life the more I manifested it. It takes a lot of practice because the mind is conditioned to be more focused on our weaknesses and our negative traits.
In essence the focus is on practicing gratitude every day and in particular during a meditation practice.
It is very simple but when done every day changes things. It is an act of mindfulness; being in the now.
Just think of some aspect of your life that makes you happy. It challenges us to look at something with more focus. It might be as simple as breathing or just being. It might be someone who you love. It might be people around you that give you joy. It might be knowing you have food when you are hungry. It might be the sky above or the home you live in. It might be the feeling of safety and security you have today. Just think of it and send out waves of gratitude for it and to it. Do this for a few moments and just be with it. You can simply finish the practice there or move onto something else. Follow you intuition.
Then consider from where it came from – the universe, consciousness, spirit, God or your guru, the angels, ancestors or guides. If you sit in the atheistic or agnostic realm simply thank the universe. The elements that all things come from. The atoms of which these things are made. If you have spiritual or religious perspective then thank the Source.
Just hold this consciousness of gratitude to that Source that fits with your perspectives. Find joy in that moment of the Source from where all things come – the I Am, All That Is, the Ground of One’s Being.
This is practicing gratitude. Find a space in the morning and evening to do this simple exercise and see what starts to happen in your life…
There is another aspect to this gratitude work and some of you are probably thinking…’well, what happens when life does not have anything to be grateful for?’ We might be thinking about people who live with abusive partners, controlling and coercive people, violence, mental health disorders and trauma, complex grief, depression and anger, intense feelings of fear and intrusive thoughts and memories.
All these aspects of our lived experience are only temporary…nothing lasts forever…just like those things we are grateful for can leave our lives for a short moment or longer maybe. Everything on this material plane is temporary – begins, then ends. Wars end…the abuser leaves our lives…we walk out to create a better life…we discover the light within that gives us the hope to endure and persevere…
But gratitude extends to the ‘bad’ things that happen to us as well…but I call them bad in so far as they may be perceived as bad for a time…when working in trauma, many clients have said to me that their desperate situations brought them to a higher realisation and understanding that because of them they realised how strong and resilient they are…that after trauma there is post-traumatic-growth…we talk about this growth…this is where the gratitude comes in…adversity offers us a depth of understanding about who we are and our life purpose…to overcome adversity and become a model of resilience and love for all living beings…this is gratitude for our adverse and difficult experiences in life…love this idea…it becomes a raft of salvation in an ocean of overwhelm and fear…
This gratitude work is not fluffy and detached from reality…it is key to knowing who we are and why we are here…adversity gives us purpose and meaning and a means to model good human resilience and unconditional love even for the most wretched perpetrators and deluded individuals…
Love this moment…be grateful for everything that comes into your life…use it to shape your self-actualisation…and that through it you become a better version of who you really are…
If you would like to experience a Gratitude Meditation click play below. It is a 12 minute recording that takes you through a gratitude process…you will also find this recording under the relaxation recordings blog article…
If you want to talk more about working through adversity I offer a free consultation…contact me here:
martinhandy@protonmail.com
07864 029868
