Start of with what you CAN control, and that's your internal world. Your thoughts reactions patterns and habits. Develop a daily habit of being thankful can be challenging. When hard times come, you'll need the emotional intelligence to know hard times have come to pass, not to stay. But what if I don't feel grateful? Hey, when you don't FEEL grateful is exactly the time you don't want to be overdrawn on your Gratitude account. You're not going to have an easy time feeling grateful when you ask lousy questions like the one above.
Direct what you want with questions. How about these for refocusing yourself and the greater things you have to be thankful for. What is one of your favorite memories? What's the nicest thing someone's ever done for you? IF you could relive any moment of your life, what would it be? Whats the time you always think about and it still to this day makes you laugh? Who is the person you could MISS talking to for a while, and then pick right back up with where you left off the last time with them?
The emotion of gratitude comes from the exercise of giving thanks....more specifically the exercise of THANKSGIVING. This Holiday isn't just a day, its a life lesson. Sitting down the write thank you cards has been and I think always will be a chore, an exercise and something on my "to do" list. I HAVE noticed however that the mental and emotional state I begin the thank you card in IS VERY DIFFERENT from the emotional and mental state I am in when I seal the envelope with the finished card in it. You see I start writing and then by the end of the card I am no longer thinking about writing, I am experiencing the emotion of Gratitude.
Thinking about what someone else has given me or done for me and importantly the emotions attached to them really does transform my being. If you visit somewhere only once, the memory of that place can fade. When you have the chance to return, revisit the place becomes more a part of who you are. This also is true of gratitude, make sometime each day to say OUTLOUD on on paper "I am thankful for...." do this until it stretches you. We can all say one thing we're thankful for, but learning to lengthen your list will also lengthen the emotional bandwidth of positive emotions you will feel on a daily basis too.
Me? Right now, I am thankful for being able to write this. With all of the negative news and moods that seem to surround me all day, I really VALUE my sense of light, my sense of good, and being positive in the world in which I live, family, friends AND neighbors. Being positive ISN'T automatic for me, its just a choice I've made. AND.....to make that choice each day, has come because of certain habits of what I do within the first 20 minutes of waking up each day. 95% of the time I wake up and its still dark, light has not place in my morning world, it is something I have to create. Feeling good about what I do have is a permission slip I need to sign for myself. So this Thanksgiving I invite you to join me, in being thankful.
Your friendly neighborhood energy guy.
Peter Johnson
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