Gratitude…
We have so much to be thankful for, yet so many overlook this, and I can be one of those people!
There is an art of giving gratitude and a real art of receiving. I believe we must desire a strong connection with The Universe to really experience this art.
Gratitude is a pretty tall order and a big word. Think about it, gratitude, grateful, thank you and so much more ways to say and feel all of this, but what does it really mean?
I hear of a lot of people keeping gratitude journals, yet I see them take themselves down a rabbit hole of getting beaten down and having a lack of appreciativeness, better known as the Hag in the Attic controlling and dominating that damn headspace. Yep, no room for the heart to pump!
When I am out of gratitude, I am walking in lack. You know the cliché: glass half-full, well mine is parched, dried to the bone when I remove the gratitude outfit.
I am a seeker of the most comfortable yoga pants and trust me, I have many, and they have become my wardrobe. I want to wear gratitude like this along with love, faith, hope, and trust. I desire my spiritual growth to go from lower case s to an upper case S; Spirituality! Just like my amazing yoga pants. Yes indeed.
I have experienced giving gratitude, journaling about gratitude, and even have been taught polite manners to say “thank you”. However, let’s get down to the real gratitude. RECEIVING! Yes receiving gratitude. Being able to receive, not repel like bug spray, and open your heart to full-blown gratitude!
When gratitude isn’t present, I judge, anxiety kicks in, and I miss the whole picture of my gift. My gift from others and from myself. Then the traveling begins… down the negative rabbit hole and miss the beautiful side of others and myself. Chop right off the good ole chopping block. No receiving and a lot of baggage weighing me down. Can you relate?
I believe we cannot receive gratitude without love. (My beliefs here)
Several years ago I fell asleep at a red light a major intersection during the day. No, I wasn’t tired, but I fell asleep. No, I didn’t hurt anyone either, thank God. I totally was in lack mode: ungrateful, bitchy, and I definitely didn’t love much of anything. This moment, this particular incident woke me up to the realization something needed to change and quick. And yes, I said something needed to change, and that something was me and my mindset. I longed to be in my heart.
The next morning I began my journey to healing me, and implementing gratitude since this didn’t require and heart and brain transplant, a trip to the mall, just plain ole simplicity of gratitude and this is all I had: I woke up, opened my eyes and said thank you for the drywall over my head. This is all I had in me at that moment for that day. I was parched and empty but it was a beginning to feel alive with just this gratitude. Baby steps.
A slow healing process, which I may say is still in process because I am still alive (healing never comes to an end, it isn’t a destination) gratitude, positive affirmations, writing/blogging and so much more has helped me. And trust me, I am not perfect. I just had an incident of losing grateful sites, I am just now stronger and have a village of support to bring me back aligned with my heart. I have my tools of life in place to assist.
It is a place where my judgment diminishes; faith becomes stronger, with love and a lot of calmness.
This feels like my favorite pair of yoga pants.
Peace,
Kim
Wonderful, Kim…simply wonderful. To be grateful, and have that heart-centered gratitude, means we show appreciation for what we have, what is given to us, our surroundings, the people in our lives, etc. Sometimes we (and by ‘we’ I mean me as well) tend to forget to give thanks for things in our life. We’re so busy striving for more that we fail to appreciate what we have. Thanks for the reminder, Jim.
Love this…gratitude is something to practice everyday but more importantly, it gives room for all of the good. I love the idea that gratitude can remove the anxiety, hurt feelings and more — yes, even as adults. This is something I’m actively teaching my daughter too…gratitude daily to realize how full her life is and how blessed she is.
Love this so much and needed to hear this message
Great share Kim! Let the gratitude flow. Gratitude amplifies abundance!
Yes it does! And thank you!
I need to work on this daily. I’m always so caught up in what I have NOT done that what I have (and have accomplished) gets lost. That’s when I feel like I will never catch up or succeed.
Yes, living in the lack and not enough can be a self-defeating place.
It sounds as if it’s something you need to make a conscious effort to practice and is more than just having a positive outlook in life…it’s finding gratitude in the little things and getting yourself in the mindset to be open to it.
I REALLY needed to hear this message this week Kim, thanks so much for sharing x
What a lovely positive post to read today and something we all need to be reminded about! Thank you 🙂
Someone came up to me this weekend while I was sharing my business at the Body Soul & Spirit Expo in Calgary and said, “You’re more intuitive than you know, you know!” And from there, the conversation moved to gratitude and joy. Sometimes we think gratitude means saying thank you to others. However, gratitude has to begin at home, with you.
Loved your thought of being in gratitude resembling your favourite yoga pants.
what a great post! gratitude is something that can be overlooked but needs to be involved more in life.