The secret word of the day is …. GRATITUDE. Why is it a “secret” word? Well, just because I wanted to say it was, and to use the word “secret”. All my life I’ve loved the feeling of the words “secret” and “magical.” Something about them that truly does feel magical.
So, about gratitude….here’s something you can do today to experience more gratitude as you express it. This can help to bring our whole Being into the energy/vibration of gratitude. And even if it ends up being for just a few minutes, it matters! I like to say “it counts”.
Get a piece of paper or journal to write in/on. Write down 10 things that you feel thankful for right now. Or you could say, 10 things to give thanks for. Anything that comes to you, just write it down, and as you do, feel your thankfulness for it. With some things you may notice that you feel more of the feeling of thankfulness than with others. Those are quite powerful because they really bring up more of the energy of gratifude, where you can really get more of a sense of what it FEELS like to experience it in your body. Those “more feeling” ones also can really stir up more of that energy within you, where you may find the the ones that you write down after them also have more feeling to them. Like activating that very energy within you! Yes! That is how I sometimes experience it. Don’t worry if you don’t feel anything deeply or in a strong way, just do it anyway. It counts! (If we do it again and continue to just do it, more feeling will come and more connection to that very real energy of gratitude. So no worries, just relax with it.)
After you’ve written down 10 things you’re thankful for, go back through the list and one by one read them and as you do allow yourself to feel into them whatever is coming for you, and say “thank you” either in your mind or out loud. You may want to place your hand over your heart as you do this part, inviting connection to your heart and to the core of who you are. I have definitely noticed a difference in the feeling-level of some of them when I do this. I’m able to connect more deeply in that way sometimes. Spend as much time with this part as you want to, whatever feels right for you and good to you at that time. Really try to think of this part as “being with” the gratitude you’re feeling. And remember to say Thank You for each one you read. Again, I have to say, the more time you spend staying in this feeling-place of gratitude, the better. So if you have some time, try not to rush.
When I feel complete with that, what I’ve been doing is adding a bit of color over what I’ve written. I still want to be able to see the writing for now, so I write with a fine tip black permanent marker and then just put a wash of some pretty watercolor over it, and I enjoy seeing what color calls to me for that day, what feels good to me right then. The writing doesn’t smear if I’ve used a permanent marker (Sharpie) to write with. As I’m gently brushing a pleasing color of watercolor over it, it adds to the experience for me. It feels really good and like it’s further activating the gratitude. Today I thought to myself that it felt somehow like spreading love as I was enjoying seeing the color wash over it gently.
So this is the way I’ve started doing it and would like to continue doing it as a practice. I’m believing more and more that gratitude can make a huge difference in life, and I’ve begun to really experience the beauty of feeling this. I’ve also found that if I feel inclined to sit a little longer after doing this with my eyes closed, I’m already in a very calm place and experiencing what I woud call a higher frequency of vibration (of love!) and it’s a perfect time to extend it into a little meditation time. You know how sometimes when you try to just sit and calm your mind with your eyes closed, your mind wants to keep going? Yesterday when I tried just to sit like that for 15 minutes, for the first 10 minutes of that time I was aware of my mind feeling like…as if it were saying to me…”We should be doing something! We should be planning!”….. like it didn’t want to calm down, as if “we” were wasting time. Wow, I was experiencing that and I am a pretty calm, low-key kind of person by nature. The reason why I mention this is that, by contrast, today after this gratitude practice I’ve talked about above, when I decided to sit a litte longer with my eyes closed, I was able to flow right into it, with my mind already starting out calm and quiet. So it’s a great time for it if you have the time.
If you’d like to share any thoughts or comments, feel free.