Gratitude Day 9

Welcome To Day #9 of 21 Days of Gratitude

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A Testimonial for Gratitude by Max Wellspring

‘If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.’ — Meister Eckhart

During any given day what do you focus on with your thinking? The average person thinks about 15,000 thoughts per day and anywhere rom 80% to 90% of those thoughts are the same ones day in and day out. What would happen then if we consciously began to focus those thoughts on being thankful, even when life is challenging?

... simply being thankful without attachment to outcome makes you incredibly magnetic and dissolves any resistance to the steady and unrestricted flow of what you want in your life. In fact, one of the most powerful ways of expressing gratitude is to have the faith to be thankful for what you want as if you already had it…with a deep knowing that what you want is already given... That which you want is seeking you. When we are aware of this, thanking (our Higher Power) should be the first thing we do - rather than the last.

In Neale Donald Walsch’s book, Friendship with God, it says that “gratitude can be the fastest form of healing.” Just remembering to be thankful in the moment can shift or pivot the emotions of fear, anger, frustration, depression, or sadness to a lighter feeling state. Even more profound healing can occur when we have the courage to be grateful for even the worst that happens. To no longer see your life circumstances as a problem, to see every person and every situation as a gift and as guidance from (God) is to step through the doorway to deep compassion for yourself and others. With this perspective, it would be impossible to believe that you are separate, alone or a victim. You are powerfully connected... Life becomes an adventure in which everything is a miracle to be celebrated.

Finally, just to know these principles is not enough. Actually living and breathing gratitude ‘walking the talk of it’ takes it from just another intellectual concept and makes it come alive in you. In her book, Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach felt that, without gratitude, all the other benefits of simplicity, order, joy, prosperity, beauty and harmony “would not bloom and flourish.”

The results of a study on gratitude http://www.acfnewsource.org/religion/gratitude_theory.html, indicated that “…daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, was more likely to help others, exercised more regularly and made more progress toward personal goals. According to the findings, people who feel grateful are also more likely to feel loved. The researchers also noted that gratitude encouraged a positive cycle of reciprocal kindness among people since one act of gratitude encourages another.”

So now that we know all of the benefits of gratitude, I invite you to be grateful whenever and wherever you can. Choose to have a good portion of your 15,000 thoughts today be focused on thanksgiving. Bless your life and it will bless you. This is Grace.

By Max Wellspring http://www.thewellspringsolution.com

Today’s action steps:

1) Listen to this guided meditation on Gratitude with Dr. Deepak Chopra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIXIwdhOmSM (2:43 minutes long) 

2) Continue your daily list of 5 things that you are grateful for in your Gratitude Journal.

Choosing Gratitude!

Elyse

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