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Do you have a regular gratitude practice? It’s not as common as it should be, but it is a powerful way to raise your vibrational energy to manifest what you want. Here is why you should!
When most people think of giving thanks, they think about Thanksgiving. And yes, that day is about giving thanks and having gratitude for everything in your life. But why limit being thankful for just one day of the year? This is a practice that is incredibly important to implement each day!
Gratitude is one of the highest energy emotions out there. And when you focus on gratitude regularly, you will begin to see major shifts start to happen in your life. If you want a happy and fulfilled life, you have to start with gratitude!
There is a quote that I love from Brother David Steindl-Rast which says:
Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy-because we will always want to have something else or something more.
David Steindl-Rast
We live in a society that is used to complaining…about everything and anything. It seems that nothing is ever quite good enough. And if bad things happen, then complaints really start flying. Negativity is the norm for the majority of people. But so often we forget to have gratitude, even in difficult times. Beauty truly can come from the ashes, as I’ve experienced it over and over again in my own life. And learning to find gratitude in even the most challenging times in life can open you up for an extraordinary life.
How often do we take the things in our life for granted? We want a better car, a better house, better clothes, better….everything. Take the time to be grateful for the things that you do have in your life. The roof over your head, the clothes on your back, the food in the cupboard, family, and friends who love you. Even if something isn’t perfect or exactly the way you’d like it, what is the lesson you can learn from it? How can you find a way to feel gratitude for that thing, person, or experience?
How a gratitude practice can help you manifest your best life
If you want to become a conscious creator and intentionally manifest the life you want then practicing gratitude daily is a must. Many people are completely unaware of just how powerful the energy of their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings is. And so they spend a great deal of their time in the energy of complaining and negativity. But when you are focused on that energy, the universe will serve more of that back to you! Most people allow their thoughts and feelings to run on autopilot.
Becoming aware of your thought patterns is the first key. Many have absolutely no idea of how much they focus on negative thought patterns. And then wonder why they keep getting more things that align with those unconscious thoughts and feelings. When you become more aware of what you are thinking, and begin challenging those thoughts and feelings that aren’t in line with what you wish to create, that’s when the magic starts! Practicing gratitude can help!
How to experience gratitude each day
Each and every night I practice gratitude. I will pick three things in my life (anything from a candle on my coffee table to my family), and I consciously express gratitude for it. I take the time to think about how each item makes my life better. And I enjoy the candle because it is pretty, it smells good, and it gives off a soft, warm light. With my family, I think about how they love me, even when I’m grumpy, and how they are always there for me. This little exercise always brings out feelings of gratitude and has helped my gratitude grow by leaps and bounds. You can be grateful for things that are big or small!
I do often include challenging things in my own gratitude practice. I will ask myself how a negative situation helps me to grow, helps me learn about myself, or show me some area where I need to make changes. It’s about finding the silver lining in every storm cloud and allowing myself to focus on the positive aspects, not the negative.
And don’t forget to practice gratitude for those things that you are creating! Holding the energy of gratitude for something you are manifesting as if it has already happened is powerful!!!
When you make the choice to practice gratitude, you will notice that your stress level will decrease significantly. When all you do is complain about the problems, the negativity increases your stress. But the positive energy that is created by practicing gratitude can override the effects of stress.
Gratitude is a practice
Gratitude really is a practice. When I first began it was more difficult to connect with the emotion of gratitude. If that happens as you begin, you may need to select things, people, or events to focus on that have a greater positive impact on you. For me, I thought about my family and friends and how much they meant to me, believe in me, and support me. That definitely helped me connect to the feeling of gratitude. Each day, however, I found it easier and easier to connect with that emotion. Now it’s really easy for me. It will become easy for you as well!
So try practicing a little gratitude today. Really think about what you are grateful for…..even the difficult things. And always remember that no matter how bad things may be, they could always be worse and you still have a lot to be grateful for!
