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The Power of Gratitude

the power of gratitude Nov 10, 2018

First, let me say that I am truly grateful that you are reading this article!  I am honored that you are here and I promise to make your investment of time worthwhile and plan to bring you a good return on your investment. I hope you will find my perspective uplifting, but also informative and engaging; encouraging a natural proclivity toward gratitude pondering during your everyday life.

I have so much to be grateful for that I find this practice comes easily and I can get lost reveling in gratitude! I value relationships so dearly and count myself extremely fortunate in my relationship with my husband and our daughters, my parents, sister and brothers, In-laws and all our extended family. I also know that this act of consciously counting my blessings brings profound benefit not only to my own life but to those I live or work with and others, as well.  This uplift in attitude spreads in an organic fashion, with a ripple effect, here, there and everywhere.

What are the benefits of gratitude?

According to Psychology Today, these are 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude opens the door to more relationships
Gratitude improves physical health
Gratitude improves psychological health
Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression
Grateful people sleep better
Gratitude improves self-esteem
Gratitude increases mental strength

So, why is this true? And do you know that the opposite is true also?  When we are bogged down and mired in self-pity, focusing on unhappy events and stressed beyond belief, we find it impossible to focus on gratitude. We seem to magnify our problems; by railing at the inequities, we seemingly invite even more misery into our lives. You know the old saying, “misery loves company.”  According to Dr. David Hawkins in his deeply inspired book, Power vs. Force, all of this is true because of “attractor fields”. He defines these as profoundly powerful energy patterns that organize human behavior.  The simple version of this can be stated as “like attracts like.”

Dr. Hawkins research has been pivotal to the development of Emotion Code therapy and the Body Code System, created by Dr. Bradley Nelson. I am loving all that I am learning and am delighted to share. These attractor fields impact our entire energy field, which encompasses our body and about 12 feet of space surrounding us.  In my last article, Emotion Code Therapy, I explained how releasing trapped negative emotions, resonating at lower energetic frequencies, can help bring up your personal body energy, allowing us to live happier lives with less physical, mental and emotional pain.

You Have the Power

In this same way, by consciously choosing to focus on gratitude and love we can also bring up our energy.  We can write down our personal blessings or just count some benefits of our earthly existence silently or share with others, all of it works wonders.  In addition, this activity, in turn, attracts more circumstances into our lives that is a like energy pattern, bringing more of that for which we are grateful!  Honestly, I get giddy just thinking about it!

Making the Choice

We each, at any given moment, have the power to choose a positive energy spiral or a negative energy cycle, one takes us up higher, the other takes us further down.  The choice is not always easy to make when we are in the pull of negative circumstances. However, just knowing that it is possible to choose differently, even in the midst of frustration, can be empowering. I wish to share with you a tool to make that conscious choice simpler to make and easier to accomplish.

This graphic excerpted from the book will help you to identify where you are resonating and allow you to see that your life will be better whenever you can rise above a calibration of 200.  So, just note the yellow as a caution area to move out of and the higher frequencies as those you wish to pursue.

Now, understanding that which we focus on we set in motion to attract more of the same — like attracts like – the more time that you are grateful, the more that you will find coming into your life that is positive.  Conversely, the more negative emotions you have remains also true, like attracts like causing more unfortunate circumstances to be attracted into your life when you are angry and unhappy and living in fear. Make an effort to find your way to acceptance, or at least neutrality, then you can calmly work to change the situation; find courage rather than allowing anger to control your attitude. We can all work on finding the silver lining!  

Also, remember that love is the opposite of fear!   Peace, joy, gratitude and love are on the higher energy resonance, just below enlightenment.

Use Intuition as a tool

Negative emotions weaken the body and positive emotions strengthen the body, so you can use this to help yourself to determine whether you are feeling low or good. If you are unclear on where you are currently resonating, find a quiet place and put your hand on your heart and simply ask your body how it is feeling. This is so informative and once you know where you are, you can then work to move from the negative to the positive using the gratitude practice. This amazing mindful practice will allow you to consciously choose higher frequencies simply by contemplating on them. When you get quiet and focused, ask the question, and then start counting your personal blessings or gratitude list, thus you can start to replace the lower emotional states with the higher ones, enabling you to become happier, healthier and soon have even more for which to be grateful!  

Share a Thanksgiving Game

Last week I was substitute-teaching Elementary Music and Physical Education and I shared an Alphabet Thanksgiving game from Parents Magazine with the kids. It was so fun for each of us to come up with something we were grateful for with a new letter each time!  A is for Animals, B is for Best friends, C is for Cars … Dinner-time, Excellence, Family, Grandparents, Happiness, Ice cream, Jokes,  Kites, Learning, Making Things (I think Mothers), Nature, Opportunities (or Oxygen!) Popcorn, Questions, Reading, Songs, Treats, Umbrellas, Vacation, Wishes, Xylophone, Your special place and Z is for Zoo!  I know you can think of so many more, different, personal ones.

Lastly, Thank You!

Thank you for reading my heartfelt post! Let us all set our intentions to practice gratitude daily, and to also grow our gratitude energetically and share generously; with more reserves of gratitude, we will all start to spread grace, harmony and peace. I wish to begin this process by sending out intentional “Love Balms” in high-frequency waves to all of you and all of creation.

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-gratitude