Struggling with Gratitude.....

Gratitude? Does anyone else struggle with being constantly grateful? Or finding things to be constantly grateful for? Well, this is me. All the time. If you are like me then you will peak and trough with gratitude. Sometimes on a daily basis but usually I go weeks being grateful for everything, and then boom! struggle..... and the negativity creeps in.

I have found that on the days I am struggling if I keep it simple I can just about do it. By keeping it simple I mean being grateful for the everyday things, for example, the air I breath, my car, the weather, the sun, the earth, etc., I can just about get through it. It works for me. But there are days where I'm not interested in being grateful at all, because I don't feel grateful. When things aren't going my way or I've had a stream of things go against me, then I'm not grateful. In fact looking at any thing that references gratitude irritates me at that particular time. This, in my opinion, is healthy. That small bit of negativity that creeps in and maybe takes over for a day or two (.....or three!) helps me to re-focus on what I really want and then I find myself realigning my goals and focus accordingly. It's like the Universe is telling me to take another look at my life, and what I want from it, and start again. However, it easy to have that Eureka! moment when you are looking back in hindsight.

What do you do to try and curb negativity and stay grateful? I would be very interested to hear your stories!

John

Gratitude - Summarising Your Day

Finding the best part of your day to be grateful for is another good habit to form on the road to making gratitude a habit. In Rhonda Byrne's The Magic, she talks about having a Magic Rock. At the end of every day, just before you get in to bed, you hold your rock in your hand and think back over everything that happened that day. The goal of this exercise is to find the one thing that you are most grateful each day, and offer up thinks for it while holding your rock. Every time you see the rock or pick the rock up you will remember all the good things that you are grateful for and therefore offer up even more thanks! Sounds logical and easy, right? Well I'm going to give you a few tips. Firstly, don't wait until the last minute before knocking out the light to go asleep to do this - because you will find it increasingly difficult to keep your eyes open. Many times I woke up and my Magic Rock was in my bed, or on the floor, or being pawed around by the cat. In my experience, I recommend setting a time to do this every day - roughly an hour or so before bedtime will do. Secondly, offer gratitude up for everything good that happened that day, and then pick the one that most stands out for extra credit. You are covering all angles here - better to err on the side of caution!


I do like the idea behind this and it helps to focus you and keep your frequency set to "gratitude".
The important thing to remember is not to beat yourself up if you forget to do it! If you have been giving thanks all day - don't sweat it - the Universe knows your intentions!


I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this.

The Habit Of Gratitude

Gratitude - It's a Good Habit!

When we say "Thank You!" we are preforming an act of grattitude. From the time we were young, we have always been told to say these magic words every time someone gives us something, does something for us, or helps us in one way or another. These two little words pack such a punch that, if we used them more often and for everthing, our lives could be magically transformed.


Gratitute is directly linked to the Universe through the Law of Attraction.  The theory of the Law of Attraction is very simple.  Whatever thoughts and feelings you are sending out to the universe will be directly returned to you,  from the universe! Therefore turning gratitude in to a habit could be very fulfilling and rewarding. So, how do you make it happen?  Having a glass-half-full attitude helps.


In Rhonda Byrne's The Magic the first exercise you encounter is "Count your Blessings". This might sound like a simple task but expanding your gratitude to include the why can be a bit challenging. The trick is to start with the simple things: life, health, job, blue skies, pets, clothes, etc - and then elaborate as to why you are grateful for them. Having a journal helps with this and she recommends doing it every day. This helps with making gratitude a habit.


I have stuggled with this in the past, both with why I'm grateful for something and keeping a gratitude journal and writing in it every day, but I find that the more determined I am to suceed and make gratitude a bigger part of my life the easier I find it to be grateful and journal it.  Of course I peak and trough and that's OK: the important part is that if you fall off the wagon, you just get straight back on!


Day one of The Magic was completed successfully and I'm looking forward to the next 27! I'm hoping that I can keep up the momentum.  I would love to hear your thoughts on your experience with gratitude.