This morning's journey began with frustration. Frustration because some things I'm working towards are not happening, or at least not happening at the speed I want. So my meditation began with a bit of cursing the challenges I face. Why me? Why not me? What good is it to be grateful for my troubles and challenges? That just smacks of my old religious upbringing to be grateful for what little God gives me!
So there I sat with my questions and gave thanks for them. Even if I couldn't feel grateful for the challenges, I was at least grateful for the questions. It didn't take long for the answers to move through me.
Gratitude must come from the inside. When I look outside of myself to what I do or do not have, it is easy to lose that sense of gratitude because gratitude will never come from outside of myself. It is an 'inside job' and that's where the powerful of gratitude lies--within each of us. Not out in the world we experience, but within each one of us is the seed of gratitude.
'Challenges, problems, troubles, difficulties, not-enoughness'--are words we have assigned a negative meaning to and they come with energy that contracts us rather than expands us.
What if I shifted my perspective and thought of them as 'opportunities'? After all, isn't that what they really are--opportunities to take action, make a new decision, re-evaluate, let go, embrace, to say yes please or no thank you to situations in our lives. How would that change my feelings about what happens around me?
An instant internal shift happened and I again slipped into that gentle warmth of gratitude. Thankful for a new understanding; thankful that I asked a better question and received a better answer. Thankful that by simply changing my perception of words I shifted from contraction into the expansive energy of gratitude.
So now I understand that the situations I face are opportunities for me to re-think and re-choose the direction I want to move on this journey that is my life.
That is a powerful understanding to receive!
And it makes all the difference in the world to me. Instead of contracting into frustration and old patterns, gratitude expanded me into new ways of thinking about my reality. How 'real' do I want this situation to be--and what do I want to be real for me instead? Again--a better question yields a better answer.
I am grateful for the opportunities to succeed that are now open before me. I have some re-thinking and re-choosing to do today!
In gratitude,
Bonnie
Showing posts with label caring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caring. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
My Journey of Gratitude - Day 11
I am so grateful for early mornings! My husband is still asleep, the house is quiet and it feels like I have the world all to myself. It's my favorite time of day because every morning I get to choose anew who I am and how I want to live my life. Every morning is a 'do over' when, no matter what happened the day before, THIS day I get to be grateful for once again.
This morning my time in gratitude was met with a fair amount of fear at first. Fear that I was expanding and changing too fast. Like instead of driving my nice, dependable sedan, I had suddenly jumped behind the wheel of an expensive race car and took off at the speed of light.
"Who will you be if you keep going at this pace? What will become of me?" I heard in my mind. My inner child was worried that trouble lay ahead, because as a child whenever I spoke up, asked for what I wanted or did anything 'different', trouble ensured for someone. So early on I learned to keep a low profile, to stay contracted and off the radar.
But here I am now--on everybody's radar! Stepping up and stepping out in gratitude--and telling people about it.
So I took a deep breath and sat with my inner child and her fears, thanking them for being there, feeling gratitude for their presence. And there we sat, the 3 of us in a state of gratitude until the fear dissolved and love flowed in.
An old Billy Joel song began drifting through my mind--just parts of it. "Don't go changing to try and please me. I love you just the way you are." And I drifted deeper into the meaning of those words. I don't have to change anything about myself in order to be loved or in order to have what I want in life. Living in a state of gratitude changes everything without me having to force a change or trying to be perfect, whatever 'perfect' means.
Transformation is a natural outcome from gratitude and a spirit of thankfulness. With a deep sigh my body relaxed into a gentle easiness and lightness.
Today is a play date with 2 of my grandkids, ages 7 and almost 4. We're making pumpkin pies from real pumpkins. As a child I learned to bake from my grandmother. She wanted me to know that not everything comes from a can, and that's a tradition I carry on with my own grandkids. So today we will cut up the pumpkins, bake them and the seeds, then turn them into delicious pies.
Afterwards is our special movie night complete with pizza and root beer floats before being tucked into bed with kisses from their Mimi (that's me!)
My inner child is invited to join the fun.
I am grateful for this day and for my life. Every day is a gift that I treasure.
In gratitude,
Bonnie
This morning my time in gratitude was met with a fair amount of fear at first. Fear that I was expanding and changing too fast. Like instead of driving my nice, dependable sedan, I had suddenly jumped behind the wheel of an expensive race car and took off at the speed of light.
"Who will you be if you keep going at this pace? What will become of me?" I heard in my mind. My inner child was worried that trouble lay ahead, because as a child whenever I spoke up, asked for what I wanted or did anything 'different', trouble ensured for someone. So early on I learned to keep a low profile, to stay contracted and off the radar.
But here I am now--on everybody's radar! Stepping up and stepping out in gratitude--and telling people about it.
So I took a deep breath and sat with my inner child and her fears, thanking them for being there, feeling gratitude for their presence. And there we sat, the 3 of us in a state of gratitude until the fear dissolved and love flowed in.
An old Billy Joel song began drifting through my mind--just parts of it. "Don't go changing to try and please me. I love you just the way you are." And I drifted deeper into the meaning of those words. I don't have to change anything about myself in order to be loved or in order to have what I want in life. Living in a state of gratitude changes everything without me having to force a change or trying to be perfect, whatever 'perfect' means.
Transformation is a natural outcome from gratitude and a spirit of thankfulness. With a deep sigh my body relaxed into a gentle easiness and lightness.
Today is a play date with 2 of my grandkids, ages 7 and almost 4. We're making pumpkin pies from real pumpkins. As a child I learned to bake from my grandmother. She wanted me to know that not everything comes from a can, and that's a tradition I carry on with my own grandkids. So today we will cut up the pumpkins, bake them and the seeds, then turn them into delicious pies.
Afterwards is our special movie night complete with pizza and root beer floats before being tucked into bed with kisses from their Mimi (that's me!)
My inner child is invited to join the fun.
I am grateful for this day and for my life. Every day is a gift that I treasure.
In gratitude,
Bonnie
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Gratitude Experiment--Day 4
Here's what I experienced from my 10 minutes in gratitude this morning.
Being grateful for your life in this moment, no matter what your current circumstances, does not mean that you are content or ok with where you are. By saying thank you for what is now is not the same as being satisfied for what is. You are not saying "I'm grateful for this debt. I'm grateful for this illness." Or whatever is happening in your life now. That is a common misunderstanding--or fear we often have about saying thank you for what is.
By saying thank you for the money that I DO have expands you beyond the fear of not enough. Thank you for the love I DO have in my life opens you to even more.
Everything is energy. What you think, feel and do is energy. And energy either expands or contracts. Gratitude is an expansive energy and when you take the time to be grateful for even one thing in your life--your energy expands and flows in ways you may not notice. But it does.
Gratitude is more than a feeling. It is a state of being. The more time you spend in this state of being, the more it becomes part of your true nature.
Gratitude is the energy of 'even more'. And you can certainly add that in your thank yous.
Thank you for the business I DO have. I am so grateful. And I open to having even more. Thank you.
Being grateful for your life in this moment, no matter what your current circumstances, does not mean that you are content or ok with where you are. By saying thank you for what is now is not the same as being satisfied for what is. You are not saying "I'm grateful for this debt. I'm grateful for this illness." Or whatever is happening in your life now. That is a common misunderstanding--or fear we often have about saying thank you for what is.
By saying thank you for the money that I DO have expands you beyond the fear of not enough. Thank you for the love I DO have in my life opens you to even more.
Everything is energy. What you think, feel and do is energy. And energy either expands or contracts. Gratitude is an expansive energy and when you take the time to be grateful for even one thing in your life--your energy expands and flows in ways you may not notice. But it does.
Gratitude is more than a feeling. It is a state of being. The more time you spend in this state of being, the more it becomes part of your true nature.
Gratitude is the energy of 'even more'. And you can certainly add that in your thank yous.
Thank you for the business I DO have. I am so grateful. And I open to having even more. Thank you.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Today is 9/11
Over the years of doing my heart-work from psychology to coaching to seminars - I am often prompted in what I offer from the experiences of my own life and challenges or joys - and I also watch for what is showing up for those in my tribe (my friends, family, colleague, clients) - and focus on what is coming up for them.
I am watching the 9/11 tribute in Shanksville right now and thinking about the heroism of 'just people', people rising to an unprecedented situation - who found out what was happening on other planes and acted without question - out of the fullness of their hearts.
We all have that brave selves inside, the one that jumps to do what is needed in the moment. If we are looking for a way to change our world - jumping in to help build a school somewhere (by contribution or participation), to participate in Random Acts of Kindness like the ones going on in Seattle today, to deciding to elect people who actually care at least as much about all the people of our country as they do about their own ambitions, to being our own hero and the hero of our children.
This cannot help but be a day of reflection no matter where we live, and when we live from our spirit - we can't go wrong.
Love and Blessings, Katie
I am watching the 9/11 tribute in Shanksville right now and thinking about the heroism of 'just people', people rising to an unprecedented situation - who found out what was happening on other planes and acted without question - out of the fullness of their hearts.
We all have that brave selves inside, the one that jumps to do what is needed in the moment. If we are looking for a way to change our world - jumping in to help build a school somewhere (by contribution or participation), to participate in Random Acts of Kindness like the ones going on in Seattle today, to deciding to elect people who actually care at least as much about all the people of our country as they do about their own ambitions, to being our own hero and the hero of our children.
This cannot help but be a day of reflection no matter where we live, and when we live from our spirit - we can't go wrong.
Love and Blessings, Katie
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