Gratitude – not just for holidays

Once the election was over, and the political rhetoric ceased, I rejoined conversations on Facebook without fearing what I would see on my news feed. I was delighted to notice that many people had undertaken a thirty-day gratitude challenge in the month of November. I have enjoyed the positive boost of energy I have received in reading these posts. Was it possible for the gratitude posts to last all year long?

Daily Gratitude Practice

I have recently discovered the immense power of daily gratitude awareness. Back in September, I made a commitment to write every morning ten things for which I am grateful. This list is composed in my iPad journal but is sent to one of my best friends. He has helped me by serving as my “accountability partner” while I established the habit of writing as a discipline. Somehow it gives me a little extra boost to make the gratitude list happen if I know that my friend is waiting for the list to appear in his inbox.

My reason for making this commitment to gratitude was part of a plan to change my personal emotional vibration to a more positive charge. Furthermore, medical science continues to prove over and over again that the power of positive thinking and raising one’s happiness quotient has a direct correlation to improved health, faster healing and an overall higher quality of life.

Law of Attraction is Key

Writings on the “Law of Attraction” state that if you wish to attract good things into your life, you must first create a state equal to what you wish to attract. In other words, I couldn’t expect to see improvement in my life by complaining about the things I don’t have or that haven’t yet happened. By choosing to focus upon the things in my life that were already going well – by adopting an “attitude of gratitude” – I was shifting my mindset to one that had the potential to draw good health, blessings, and abundant prosperity into my experience.

I had tried this experiment before, but I had never made such a commitment as I made on my birthday this year. In the past, I had shifted my thinking for a time, but when I did not see results as quickly as I thought that they should be coming, I became negative, cynical and depressed and gave up. In contrast, this time was going to be different. I was in a new city with new possibilities and in a situation that was akin to a blank canvas – all that was needed was my dreams and my drive to make things happen.

Accountability Partners

So, on September 13th, I set out on a journey to change my life. I wrote my first set of gratitudes and sent them to my friend. I committed to a program of wellness and personal growth that involved exercise, meditation, education, creative output, and play. It didn’t take long to realize that I was enjoying the process very much! I woke up each day, excited about the work that was before me. Ideas flowed, fast and furious, and I allowed myself to follow them in an organic fashion.

My partner, Kelly, who could clearly see a change in me, cheered me on enthusiastically. I found a new therapist and tackled issues from my childhood that had seemed too daunting in the past. Summoning my courage, I approached a friend of a friend who was a life coach. I asked if she might be willing to barter her services for massage work. She agreed, and another avenue of possibilities opened for me! Each day saw an improvement in my mental outlook, my spiritual connection to Source, and my physical energy level. I lost weight easily and got back into my favorite pair of jeans. I reconnected with old friends and gained support for the journey. Jumping into new ventures (like this blog), I stretched my boundaries. It helped me to reach out to others who might be traveling similar paths. I felt nearly invincible.

Until the day I hit my first bump in the road.

Old Demons

I ran smack into one of my old demons: lack mentality and fear about money. It was an ugly scene because as I felt myself spiraling down from the heights, I also felt like a failure. I felt like all the work I had done for weeks was gone, wasted. It was a bad day – a bad two days, actually. But halfway through the second day, I realized that I had not written my gratitude list that morning, and forced myself through the exercise. I was grumpy and sad and filled with self-recrimination and downright shame – what did I have to feel thankful for?

My cat rubbed up against my leg and looked up at me. Well, there’s one thing, my cat. The sun was starting to set over the hills that I could see from my dining room table. It was beautiful. There was number two. The ice around my heart started to melt. The gratitude started to flow: my home, plenty of food, marketable skills, a healthy body, a loving partner. My connection to joy and well-being started to return. By the next morning, I was ready to get back to work to make up the ground that I was sure that I had lost.

Faster Recovery

The funny thing was, I realized that I hadn’t really lost any ground at all. I had gained a valuable piece of information that actually strengthened my commitment to the journey. Bad days happen. Bumps in the road happen. Sometimes the bumps are small, like running up against old demons like I had. Sometimes the bumps are huge, like when a loved one gets sick or dies. When we lose our job or our home. When our bodies are not able to do the things we used to do.

The longer that I stick with my practice of choosing happiness through gratitude, the more resilient I am when the bad days happen. Consequently, I was able to pick myself back up and continue on my chosen journey because the desire to return to joy and connection to Source was stronger than the feeling of being dragged down into the darkness.

And I had made that change happen through a simple commitment to take the time to be grateful each day. That commitment had changed me at a fundamental level in a few short weeks. Not years, folks – just a few weeks.

Keep Thanksgiving Going

So, if you have been writing gratitudes for the month of Thanksgiving, I challenge you to up your game. Admit it – it may have been difficult for a few of those days, but overall, it has made you feel terrific. If you’ve only been writing one thing each day, why not try five? How much more could you do if you wrote ten things? What if you had a friend that was willing to simply receive these lists without judgment? What if you traded lists with your spouse or partner? Can you feel how many possibilities open when you consider expanding this simple practice?

If you haven’t been writing gratitudes this month, why not give it a try? You don’t have to post it on Facebook. It’s really just a contract between the self you are now and the more joyful person you dream of being. Writing them down gives us the opportunity to create time and space for the ritual of acknowledging how fortunate we are and to give thanks from the heart. Doors within yourself and in your life WILL start to open. Make this small commitment to shift your perception of your world and your life, one gratitude at a time.

Clear your Space – Recharge your Self – Direct your Life

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Christina Laberge

Owner at Wellspring Energyworks

Liturgical Fabric Artist, Composer, Reiki Master Teacher, Space Clearing Consultant, Energetic Better Living Coach - Christina Laberge is living abundantly in the Boston area with her wife, Kelly, her two cats (Tam-Tam and Rosie) and one very cranky parrot (Daisy). She loves choral music, creating fabric art, travel, and riding on the back of a very large Harley motorcycle.

Latest posts by Christina Laberge (see all)

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