3 attitudes of Gratitude that can help you find more joy in your life.
Create a Practice
Then like many early adopters of the new age movement I found Louise Hay. I learned that I could heal my life. I employed gratitude slogans to create new pathways through my brain. I acted as if, I was already healed and happy. My practice included writing and doing left and right brain activities. I would walk bringing my right elbow to my left knee, and vice versa while repeating simple slogans like, “Thank You for this Glorious Day”. When sitting I would circle my right pointer finger clockwise, while rotating the one on my left hand counterclockwise, while repeating I am whole and happy exactly as I am. In my mind’s eye, I was strengthening my new pathways the physical brain. Every morning for several years while drinking my coffee, I wrote positive affirmations. I filled countless legal pads with these slogans of hope.
I began to accept myself and even became grateful for my obsessive compulsive tendencies as they proved useful for this exercise of consistency. Once I started to create a practice, I was rote on the follow through. 30 lines a day filled the 30 sheet legal pads, and I continued this practice daily for years. Some days I would have to begin again, mid-day with more positive uplifting words. These note pages became my life line as I dangled over the precipice of my most debilitating “what’s the use” thoughts.
Intentional Phrases
The more I showed up for myself through Gratitude, the more Intentional my phrases became.
I realized that it was crucial for my healing to act as if the change had already occurred. I began to craft statements that were more intentional, and directly related to my current life situation. In my Wind Work® trainings, we learn the art of manifesting form from energy. The energy of our thoughts is the most powerful agent of change. It is crucial to use our energy, thoughts and words as a force of love.
As my practice of Gratitude deepened, so did my ability to reprogram my negative thinking with intentional phrasing for more positive results. When I began the descent into darkness, I would reflect on it’s cycle of permeance, meaning I would be honest with myself, knowing that “this too shall pass”, and I would turn my focus onto what was working in my life. Always looking for the positive in the present.
Gratitude slogans are positive affirmations for change. When we act as if the results we seek have already occurred, we see a path for change. When I was writing Winds of Spirit, I wrote as if it was already an award-winning Hay House book. My computer password was best-selling author.
As I put forth the effort, the actions of gratitude became a habit. Now most days, I am present and happy. When the old symptoms despair blow in, my awakening compass, which is my spiritual guidance, reveals the slippery slope around the next bend. I quickly resort to the old habit of writing and repeating these simple slogans of hope. Still today after 30 plus years of this practice, I resort to finishing my “morning pages” with I am whole and complete exactly as I am. Thank You. Then I take a wind walk doing left right brain cross overs and soon I return to hopeful sanity.
Thirty years ago the status quoa was despair, and now I wake up most days, grateful that my body knows and continues to breathe while I sleep. Gratitude is an Attitude, and I believe a lifesaving game changer.
Make Better Choices: Take Action
If you do not know what direction to head, take a step forward. Then check in with your body. Does this step feel right? Look for clues in your belly and heart. While it is important to trust our instincts, it is important to make choices for change. I can pleased while I visualize myself in smaller pair of jeans, but unless I take different action, nothing changes. Better choices may include group support, healing, dieting, exercise, and sometimes medical advice. In this case “I am grateful that I exercise daily” followed by walking is key to a change of direction.
Reprogramming often requires a deeper dive into our roots to find the answer which can take time. I believe that by creating a practice with intentional phrases, the next step will be always revealed. I see when I am off my path. Then I need to double down on my efforts to find the trail forward. So my acting as if I am grateful, I can find the nooks and crannies that keep me from the glorious light of day. With awareness, the better choice will always reveal itself. The only requirement is a willingness to be willing to change.
