ReMindEd   •   February 11, 2017

Today’s blog will be short. So that I, and hopefully you, will have more time to put the following into your today: the practice of gratitude.

Gratitude is the concept of realising, on purpose, what you have in your life that you can be thankful for, and then being thankful. Therefore, gratitude needs to look like something. It’s not just an attitude change, or an internal acknowledgement. It’s something that can be practiced every day. And the idea is, the more we practice gratitude as something we do, we then become more grateful, purposeful, happy and content. It then changes us. It becomes part of who we are and what we do.

As part of an exercise a wise friend took me through recently, I was asked to make a list of all the things I was thankful for. I was then asked to draw a line on the page and write a list of all the things I was thankful despite. 

I was surprised, how even the worst things that had happened could be looked at differently so I could see the good that came from them.

And I love the distinction between being thankful for versus being thankful despite. 

It is possible, even necessary, to turn anything around and find within it, something of value.

I was amazed at how the first list grew as I made the second list, and how there were twice as many things in my first list.

It reminds me of the idea, we have two eyes and two ears and one mouth, so see and listen twice as much as we speak.

I wonder what would change if we noticed and thought about our blessings twice as many times as we focused on the not-so-greats.

I encourage you to try it. Make the lists. Write it down. Be purposeful in noticing your blessings, which we too easily take for granted simply because they don’t yell as loudly for our attention.

The voice we listen to the most will have the most permission to speak.

If only we understood the power of our conscious intention. That is my favourite lesson to teach people. And today’s blog is a start towards doing just that. Try it, and see for yourself…after all, the grass is only greener on the othe side if that is the side we water.

#alwaysforfreedom

Together towards brave,

Sal

Ps. We now stock beautiful gratitude journals at our mind health clinic in Coolum Beach from @awesomeinc @gratitudegirls.  Come and check out the range!