This Gratitude Practice Changes Lives

It’s that time of year again–Thanksgiving–which partly inspired this post. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is a reminder to celebrate that which we are most thankful for. On this special day I encourage my family to go around the table and share what we are most grateful for before we dig into the food. 

This simple act of realizing wonderful aspects of our lives brings some of us to tears of joy, especially me–of course. But such a powerful practice doesn’t have to be reserved for only this holiday. It can be infused into everyday in order to create a life we love.

This gratitude practice can change your life. It changed mine. And the lives of those I work with. And as I attract even more beautiful souls into my life, it turns out they are using it too! 

Is gratitude that powerful? Yes. So powerful that it can elevate life to a whole new level? Yes.

Counting our blessings allows us to feel good and attract even more goodness into our lives.

I write this post to spread the Love and to share this goodness with you. Practices like these make us feel even more love. They make us feel happy to be alive. I wish for you to wake up everyday and feel grateful to be alive! I hope this post inspires you to put gratitude into play everyday.

I practice gratitude everyday in many ways:

• When I open my eyes and I’m still under the sheets I say thank you for another day.
• I take a moment before meals to thank Mother Earth for the food and I thank all the hands that grew it, touched it or prepared it.
• When I teach, I always close the space with guiding students to think of something they are grateful for.
• If I have time in the morning, I write down what I’m grateful for.
• Sometimes in the car I’ll speak it aloud or when I find a great parking spot!
• Recently I have been sharing it with friends. 

Gratitude is one of the main pillars of module one of The Initiation Course™ and it really has had a significant effect on everyone’s life who has taken the course–including mine. In the first week of the course, I suggest to everyone to begin this

Simple and Easy Gratitude Practice:

• Everyday, create intentional time, preferably in the morning, to write down 10 things you are grateful for and why. The why part really solidifies how this person, place, thing, or situation brings light and joy into your life. It also trains the mind to focus on the “positive” aspects of life.
• Then read them out loud because the spoken word is very powerful.
• At the end say thank you with all your heart, close your eyes and feel that feeling of gratitude spread throughout your body allowing you to attract more goodness into your life.

This week I had a follow up session with a woman who took The Initiation Course™ and she shared how much the gratitude practice helped change her life. But she noticed that once life improved, she had a tendency to stop. And then life became challenging in some ways again. 

As with any practice, if we stop, we no longer reap the benefits. It’s like quitting the gym and expecting our bodies to stay in shape. This is why we must continue our self-care practices even when life is amazing. Part of well being is about maintenance and prevention. 

Time was this woman’s limiting factor. I reassured her that even if she doesn’t have time to write down 10 things she is thankful for everyday, she can say them out loud in the car when driving. Or even in her mind when walking down the street going from one place to the next. If 10 seems impossible, try five. If five is still too much, then just recalling one thing everyday will get us on the path to an even better life.

In order to attract more wonderful things into our lives, we must be grateful for everything–especially all the things we take for granted. Everything in our lives is a blessing–even the bed we sleep in every night.

I think back to my time on Utopia. What a challenging time that was! I didn’t have a bed to sleep on for over 60 days! Or a hot shower. Or healthy food to eat. Or warm clothes–and it was cold. So trust me I know first hand how many things we take for granted that are actually luxuries!  

Sometimes it takes traumatic experiences to wake us up to the reality that this life is a gift! And we have the power to create any life we wish. This process begins with being grateful for what we have now. And a sure way to keep ourselves stuck in misery is to complain about everything we don’t have. Instead, we can choose to see the glass as half full. What we focus on expands.

We can even share our gratitude practice with the people we love. This also holds us accountable when we share with others what we are most grateful for every morning.

I’ve recently connected to a soul sister–a love and friendship at first sight kind of connection. The next morning I received this text message, 

“So we’ve started a morning practice of sharing what we are grateful for, as soon as we wake up. It's been the most powerful practice to share with my sisters, and the best way to open our hearts and go out into the world in gratitude. And I wanted to get you in on the action. Because well, I love you and you're our sister.”

And then she shared her morning gratitude with me, 

“Today I am grateful for sleep, for listening to my body and allowing it to rest when it needs. 

I am grateful for music that instantly takes me back to a place and time that I loved so much. 

I am grateful for the amazing men I have gotten to love and be loved by. For memories and magic. 

I am grateful for my little womb apartment in the center of Williamsburg. 

For my work being busy this week and the ability to leave the city and go home to my friends and family for the holidays. 

I am so grateful for the humans that are sharing their loving kindness with the world everyday. 

For my tribe being drawn together like magnets. 

I love you and I'm so grateful for you and this morning practice.” 

In that moment I felt so happy and grateful to be a part of so much love. Another beautiful thing about gratitude is that it’s contagious! And of course I couldn’t help but share my gratitude list with her.

Another great way to spread the joy of gratitude is to tell people–for no reason–why you are grateful for them. Hand write a letter or write on their Facebook wall. 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes. The results can be instantaneous! Begin by sharing with us what you are most grateful for in the comments section below. 

I’ll begin: 

With all my heart I am grateful for my daily self-care practice because it allows me to feel really great and by being the best I can be I inspire others on the path too. 

With all my heart thank you for the work that I do and that I am able to do what I love–elevating love in the world and inspiring people on a healthier, happier, more conscious path to create a harmonious life with ourselves, each other and the Earth, creating even more peace on Earth. 

I am so grateful for my family, for all of their love and support through my transitions. I am grateful for my mother–how she massages me and her love and affection really makes me feel loved. 

I am grateful for attracting more loving goddess sisters into my life and for all the love we share and for how much we understand each other and the unconditionally love we have for each other. 

I am grateful for the warm comfortable bed I have to sleep in every night in a safe, loving space, in my own space because I always get a good night’s sleep, rejuvenating my mind, body and spirit. 

With all my heart thank you for my health in mind, body, and spirit because it allows me to serve humanity and feel great everyday. 

With all my heart thank you for clean water to drink and healthy, consciously sourced food to eat because they nourish and optimize my mind, body and spirit. 

I’m so grateful and feel so blessed for all the love in my life because it makes me happy and my heart smile. 

I am grateful for you. Thank you for reading this and being here, because of you I continue to share. I love you. Thank you.” 

And we would love to hear your gratitude list below. Sending love to all this holiday. Many blessings and have a beautiful day!