Thank You – Living in Gratitude
In 1993 I took First Degree Reiki Training and I began to change my life. Learning and adopting the following integration of belief with behavior was my first step on the journey to happiness, health and fabulousness:
Just for today, I will not anger
Just for today, I will not worry
I live my life in honesty and integrity
I honor my teachers and those who have come before me
I give thanks for my many blessings.
Although I had this on my office wall for a number of years, they were just words that I read and that brought me some comfort. After taking First Degree Reiki they came alive for me and I adopted this praxis into my life. The first step for me was to consciously become aware of the good things in my life and give thanks for them daily. Sound too simple to be true? Really, I changed my life to one of health and fabulouness beginning with this one simple step. Instead of focusing on the negative things in my life:
‘I was unemployed; I did not want to go back into my previous career path; I was in a lousy marriage; Mr. Right turned into Mr. Wrong for me; my eldest daughter was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and allergies; we had lost a wonderful home on a lake in the country; I had fallen out with my parents who didn’t like my lifestyle; my ex-boss owed me money; I was living in a new town and had no friends, and the pounds were packing on…blah, blah, blah.’
I turned things around and started counting my blessings; ‘thank you’ became my mantra. I made a concerted effort to focus on the good things in my life and to stop talking and thinking about the things that were not going right. I changed from being a ‘down’ person because I stopped myself whenever I found I was talking about the things in my life that made me miserable and instead I focused on the good stuff.
One of the first things I did, and I encourage you to try it, is:
Get a journal and write down ‘100 Things I Appreciate’. Start by writing ‘thank you for’—then fill in the blanks. It goes quite quickly at first: thank you for my children, thank you for my health, etc. After a while it takes some effort, especially if this is new to you. Take the things that seem to be negative and find the goodness in them. For example I changed “unemployed” to having time to find a new job/career, I started to look at the positive parts of the marriage and focus on the good things in my relationship (seriously, no one is all bad!) I embraced my daughter’s uniqueness: Sarah’s food allergies made me aware of nutrition and I had taken natural cooking lessons, so I began to teach others; I began to cherish my new home, I celebrated being able to find and meet new friends; I found new friends (and I continue to find them) who become “chosen family” and as my confidence grew and my self-worth increased I made more new friends. I even found the courage to contact my old boss and get the money I was owed! (For more ideas click here)
Honestly, the Law of Polarity decrees that there’s something good in all bad; everything has an opposite. We cannot move from one place to another without change. Focus on what is right and not on what is wrong. Accordingly, if there is something really wrong in your life then there must be something really right. Most people simply do not understand this.
Try this exercise:
- Take five minutes each day for the next month to write in your journal about what is going right in your life—do not write anything that is ‘negative’ just write about the good stuff. You’ll be amazed at how good you feel.
Take a little time each day to focus on the good stuff. Stop yourself whenever you find yourself talking or thinking about the bad stuff. It really works—you’ll see a change. For more ideas click here and here And if you would like to learn more exercises to change your life into one of gratitude take Reiki training or book some one-on-one life facilitation with me and keep reading our free Newsletters--and pass them along to your friends too. Like minded people around you will help you to stay ‘grateful’. Remember:
‘If the only prayer that you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.’ Meister Eckhardt