We’ve all heard the saying, “Count your blessings.” Sometimes the most common and well-meaning phrases are repeated so often we forget what it is the words are actually trying to convey. I find when we allow words or phrases to become commonplace in our language, the original intention of the thoughts are shifted onto the heap of impetuous jargon.
I have heard for years and years how important it is to express and show gratitude for everything in our lives. This includes the bad stuff, which is exceptionally difficult to wrap my head around, to be honest. Everything that we receive is there for a reason, so I’m told. Whatever the ‘it’ is, and regardless of whether we have conscious awareness of it, gratitude for our blessings, lessons, and everything in between brings with it opportunities for growth.
Interestingly enough, when we show gratitude and appreciation for what appears to be a sudden stroke of luck, good timing, or a seemingly unexpected nice surprise, we get more of it. But I think it is important to focus on the words of gratitude we express, and not revert back to the use of empty words; you know, saying or thinking without meaning or feeling. When we grasp the true feeling of appreciation or gratitude for something, (I mean really feel joyful or, at the very least, a little feeling of gee, that is pretty great and I sure do appreciate it), the energy of our feelings and thoughts comes back to us exponentially.
Whenever you say, “Thank you, I am really grateful”, do your thoughts match your words? Or is your sentence met with the same feeling as if you said, “I think I shall move this book over to this side of the table.” Gratitude is a game-changer. I want to invite you to accept a little challenge (and I’d sure be grateful if you accepted)! For today, think about anything and everything you are grateful for, no matter how small or insignificant you might think it is. That’s the entire point of the exercise; getting in tune with the tons of things we have in our lives that truly deserve our gratitude!
The amazing thing is, as we continue to FEEL the gratitude, more awesome things, situations, and people begin to show up in our experiences. I can tell you first-hand that I experience this a lot. I don’t understand everything about it or why it works; then again, I don’t understand how electricity works, but I know for sure that it does!
Here’s another thing I would like to mention. Sometimes we have difficultly in feeling happiness and gratitude for someone else’s goodness. That does not necessarily make us the worst person in the Universe; after all, it is a human characteristic to fall into the trap of, “Oh, that’s great for them, but what about me?” Why yes, what about you? What about you indeed! If we can get to a point of truly and gratefully feeling happiness for the good fortune of others, it does not negate that which we can experience as well. It’s as if we feel there is a tradeoff of sorts. This person got this and that and I didn’t. You have this and I don’t have that.
Our gratitude for the good fortune of others is just as important as it is for ourselves. For in the feeling and thoughts of happiness for others, we are still feeling and expressing the same energy. In other words, by the very act of feeling gratitude for ourselves or for others, we draw more of it back to ourselves. The energy is identical.
I enter a lot of contests. It’s great fun and I am truly grateful when I win a prize. About a year ago I won a bottle of a moisturizer that I normally would find too expensive to purchase. About two weeks later, I won a similar product from the same company. The woman who sends out the prizes wrote me a note and said, “You sure are a lucky person; we pick names randomly and yours was picked twice in the past two weeks.” “How are you so lucky?” I wrote back to this woman and said, “I think it is because I am truly grateful for getting a product I would love to use, but can’t readily afford.” “So it’s because I’m grateful.” She never wrote back. I sensed she thought I was full of it or something.
Points to ponder; oh, by the way, I am really grateful to you for reading this post!! And that is how I FEEL! 🙂 What about you, are your feelings a match to your words of gratitude?
The Chicago Files 