If you listen to the news media, or read it, or talk about what's being reported, it's easy to lose focus on how amazingly abundant and joyous life really is. Recently I asked a group of 30+ business people how they feel when they engage in the "bad economy" talk that has now been going on for more than two years. Their overall response: They feel awful.
It's natural to feel awful when you are inundated with fear and doubt and greed and partial truths, presented in hyped up expressions.
I define the word awful as a feeling that is uninspired, sour, unsettled, sickly. These emotions don't promote service or growth. Over time, if you continue to feed the awfulness, your health will be adversely effected, the quality of your relationships will diminish. While in the mire, I know I can not create or see beauty, or uplift my own spirits, let alone those of others! None of us can. So it becomes imperative for you and your dreams, and your loved ones, and the planet as a whole to create a different way.
A Simple Practice of Gratitude
How do I know you'll benefit from Gratitude? I can't prove that you will. Only you can do that. And I hope you will, and that you'll share with me what you discover in the experience.
Take it one step at a time:
1 - Start by thinking of one thing you're grateful for.
2 - Let the thought expand into your feelings. FEEL your gratitude.
3 - If there's a person, place, sensation... that accompanies your thought, you can visualize, imagine the touch, taste, smell, story that expands it in your awareness even more.
4- Begin a list. Maybe yours will be a journal, or an online log. Write everything you're grateful for here. You'll have evidence that your life is overflowing with love!
5 - Share your gratitude with others. Both with those closest to you, and people you meet randomly throughout your day.
6 - Ask others to share their gratitude with you too. I learn so much about my friends, family, clients, as they tell their stories of appreciation. Plus, expressing gratitude brings all of us into feelings of joy. It's contagious!
Caution: Try not to wait until you are in the frame of mind that you can't think of what you're grateful for. And if you're in that frame already, start with "I am grateful for my breath." (There's nothing like your breath to remind that you are alive! ... and to bring awake the experience of Being Present!)
A Practice of Gratitude can and will:
Elevate your mood.
Amplify praise.
Improve your perspective.
Remind you that we live in an abundant world.
Transcend fear.
Tambra Harck is spiritual mentor, speaker, radio host and author, who guides visionary leaders and entrepreneurs to create new definitions and experiences of soul-level success: Divinely Inspired, Vitally Awake and Experiencing Your Soul Desire... in service, joy and grace. For more than 20 years Tambra's warm and insightful nature makes her a powerful speaker, often creating expanded possibility for clients and audiences. One of Tambra's passionate missions is to facilitate soul-level transformation with visionary leaders to create new definitions and experiences of success in the world today.
Founder and Spiritual Director at Soulful Living by Design; and Emergent Women. Media and speaker info is available at http://TambraHarck.com
Copyright 2009 Tambra Harck