Last night I returned home from teaching the “Connecting with your Spirituality” class with an incredible lightness and appreciation for what I am doing. I am filled with gratitude for where my life is heading, and the lives I touch through what I now do.
Life has not always felt like this, and often times, felt the opposite: “Why is this happening to me?,” “When will I get…?,” “Things don’t go my way,” etc. My thoughts were more of the negative pattern, thus, that is how I looked at life sometimes.
Over the last several years, I have developed a daily practice of meditation, prayer, affirmations, and gratitude. Each is important on it’s own, and combined, has proven to be very powerful in changing my perspective of life.
I waffled for many years in my priority of this daily practice, putting it last on the list over and over, until one day, I had a spiritual teacher who said, “If you want to stay in this program, you need to take it seriously.”
These were some of the most important words anyone has ever spoken to me, and what started my commitment to a daily practice.
When I think of my teacher, Matthew, I feel incredible gratitude for how he has helped shape my life, and my perspective of life. And from this gratitude comes more gratitude, gratitude for the little pieces of life that I often had overlooked, like the taste of warm bread and butter, the laugh of a child, or the deep blue of the sky after a storm clears.
There’s no end to the gifts life gives us each day, but our minds bring us into the chatter of problems, stress, the to do list, and daily obligations. So much so we forget how incredible life is everyday.
One of the assignments I gave the Spirituality class was to write down 5 gratitudes a day in a journal, of which I took on as well.
Writing them down makes them reality, and brings the power of gifts more to the forefront of the mind.
As I wrote them down each day, I noticed my awareness of it grew – the more I thanked, the more I noticed there was more to be thankful for! Just like the more you love, the more you love…
When we take the time to notice the gifts of each day, our lives take on new meaning, and a much more positive outlook. It doesn’t need to be saved for when we are on vacation, when our kids go off to school, when we retire, or when we’re healthy.
Life is a gift when we can see it differently, and this takes practice and awareness.
Take 5 minutes a day, in the morning or the evening before going to bed, and write in your gratitude journal: 5 things you are grateful for in this moment, or from the day, and watch how your life shifts from it not feeling enough, to joy and wonder of each day, even the hard parts!
Categories: Heart Centered Living