Some people make
New Year’s resolutions. I make Thanksgiving
resolutions. Every year, I resolve to resume my practice of
keeping a gratitude journal.
And every year, about three weeks later, I lose the
journal. Not that this stops me. I just write my
entries in some other journal, or a notebook. You may
consider this weird, but for me, the act of writing things down
seems to be the important part. It’s almost as if the
writing action alone does something to the synapses in my brain
that helps me process and store the information.
Like everybody else, though, I get those warm fuzzies more at the
end of November than at any other time of the year. As it
turns out, I’m hardly alone with my seasonal preoccupation with
gratitude.
At Thanksgiving, people all over the country sit around tables
filled with turkey, brussels sprouts, candied yams with
marshmallow topping, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, and take turns
sharing with their loved ones the things they feel grateful
for. A wonderful tradition indeed – but what about the
rest of the year?
Lately, with our growing understanding of the Law of Attraction
and especially The Secret, we’ve become so much more aware of
the importance of gratitude and appreciation, not just on
Thanksgiving, but every day.
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We know that expressing appreciation lifts our spirits and raises
our vibrations. And with that, it seems to change everything
around us – we start to draw to us things that we want, people
that are friendlier, meetings and plans that go more
smoothly. In short, things work.
Still, sometimes it can be quite a challenge to feel
grateful. Deadlines have a way of getting in the way as does
frustration with red tape. Annoying colleagues and bosses do
too, as do incompetent or aggressive drivers, infused with road
rage.
Ultimately, there are simply too many things on everybody’s
plate. It has gotten so bad that some people’s idea of a
really great time is a good night’s sleep.
I dare you to try an experiment. On a day when you’ve
gotten up on the wrong side of your bed, and things have gone from
bad to worse, take a few minutes to reflect. What is there
in your life, right now, for which you are grateful – or could
be, if you made an effort, a really hard effort if necessary?
Yes, it’s hard to find things to be grateful for when things are
scary and not going well. But the happier you can make
yourself feel, outward circumstances notwithstanding, the more
likely you will be to get a new job, especially a new job is one
that will work well for you.
Sometimes I think of it as some kind of grateful pill that makes
everything better. Of course, that’s when I remember to
take it. Here’s where the challenge comes in, though: how
to make sure I remember?
We don’t seem to have too much trouble with taking prescription
drugs or other kinds of medication every day. How do we
manage to remember that? Before I started taking the pill
for the first time, I was very worried that I’d forget.
And you know what? Over those 10 years I took it, I forgot
it maybe twice.
What helped me then was the same thing that will work here as
well: creating a routine. Probably the easiest way to
do that is by keeping a daily gratitude journal, with emphasis on
daily. Just keep it on your bedside table and write into it
every night. That’s how I remembered the pill. That,
and a little flower sticker on my bathroom mirror.
The important part is this: every time you see it and write
in it, it will realign your thinking. And once you do that,
your vibes improve, and the Law of Attraction will, once again,
begin to attract the things that are in line with what you really
want.
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Copyright
by Elisabeth Kuhn.
For more resources
for body, mind, spirit, and especially prosperity, visit
Elisabeth's blog at myfavoriteselfhelpstuff.com
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