Over the last couple of years gratitude has become a major part of my life. Giving thanks for the small things as well as the big things in life has done wonders for me personally.
My little story
This evening I started to head to the store. Two miles out a tree had fallen on the main road and knocked out some power lines as well. A line of cars was greeted by two firefighters telling everyone the road was closed and they needed to turn around. As one truck in front of me pulled away into a U-turn one firefighter was shaking his head like the guy was complaining about what he had to say. There wasn’t much that could be done. So I thanked them for letting me know that I could not go through and headed back up the road to take the long way which would end up taking 20+ miles more to get to the store I wanted to go to instead of 4 miles. As I drove up the windy mountain, the sun was setting and the clouds were just perfect for a great sunset. I pulled off the road towards the top and took some pictures and was just thankful that I had the time to pull off and take it in. The sunset is pictured below. What should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking 4 hours, but I looked at the positive and was thankful. What could have made others upset made me appreciate everything that much more. I had a great night!
Gratitude all year round
I am not a big fan of holidays. I think they have been commercialized to a point of no return. Thanksgiving being one of them. I like to think of giving thanks as something you should do all year round, not just think about it one time out of the year. This may seem like a no brainer for some, but there are plenty of people out there that don’t give thanks for the things they have on a daily basis for they are too distracted by their daily routine. It is so easy to look at what went wrong in the day than to think of all the things that went right.
Miracles
When you think of all the things that go right it is rather miraculous. Starting with your body. You wake up, you can see, you can get out of bed, drink some water. In just the first 20 minutes there are probably thousands of things to be thankful for that we take for granted. And that is just the things we can see and feel. There are background miracles going on every day as well. The Universe (God, spirit, creator) is pulling for you every step of the way. Whether you are paying attention or not your path is guided by your own soul, angels, guides, ancestors, other people, animals, insects, the earth, the sun, the planets, minerals, etc.. If you are paying attention to these helpers you likely will be thanking them for it, for being there when times are tough, for keeping you on the lesson you need to learn to get to the next phase of your life.
Macro and Micro
You can be thankful for things as big as your living space, cars, food, and the people around you or you can be thankful for things as small as cells and atoms. Billions of cells in your body are working for you. Thank them for being there. Make sure you show them gratitude by taking care of them by exercising, eating healthy, listening to what your body needs. Your body is a temple allowing you to experience this wonderful and unique existence. You are important and divine. You are a part of the Universe and as it expands you are contributing to its expansion. Love yourself!
Replacing worry with gratitude
My daughter occasionally will tell me she is worrying about something, or that she is scared of something. I tell her to change those thoughts into good thoughts by thinking of all the things she is thankful for and think of all the people in her life she loves. There is a range of thoughts and feelings you can have. There are like ten major ones. At the top there is love. Love conquers all right? Towards the top there is gratitude, appreciation, compassion, empathy. The bottom half is ruled by fear. Love is opposite of fear. Down there with fear is hate, anger, and sadness. Throughout this scale each feeling has a vibration. I will talk about vibration in a later post but in order to raise your own vibration and attract that which you want you must change your thought patterns to be in the top of the list, ultimately loving everything. But gratitude is a huge part of getting your vibration to a higher level. When you get in the habit of being grateful there is less room for the lower vibrational feelings.
Environment
You are faced with choices every day. There are subtle things you can do to help you be in a more grateful state of mind. If you are surrounded by negativity it is going to be hard to be grateful. What you choose to do for entertainment, the people you choose to hang out with, and what you choose to do for a living all have a great effect on your overall happiness and ability to live in a state of gratitude. Be passionate about what you do for work. If you do something you hate doing everyday you should do something else. If there are people around you that bring you down don’t be around them or talk about it with them. If you are watching depressing news, or a tv show that doesn’t make you feel good, turn it off. I personally don’t watch the news and don’t watch TV either. I am not brought down by the fear based media. I tend to always have music on in the background while working or driving. The type I listen to usually has an upbeat nature. Listen to something that makes you feel good, another way to raise your vibration! Being present is also important to overall happiness. If you are focused on right now instead of the past or the future, there will be less overall stress. Be thankful for the present moment, enjoy it, pay attention to how you feel and make the choice to change it for the better and if you feel like it do a little dance.. 
Overall being grateful for everything in life has given me increased happiness and I beleive that is true success. I don’t need much to live a happy life. My life can be very simple but be so rewarding at the same time.
Live better, be happy, and love all that is!
Namaste!
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