The Power Of Gratitude In Changing Your Life

If you are not experiencing the success you have envisioned for your life or if every day is a struggle for you, the practice of gratitude will bring your mind into closer harmony with God and enable you to change your life. The pratice of gratitude will cause your mind to refocus on the things that are going right instead of focusing on your problems and failures. The practice of gratitude will bring you happiness and a more optimistic outlook.

MY DAILY PRACTICE OF GRATITUDE

Each day upon awakening, I express gratitude for being alive, for being able to see, hear, feel, smell, walk, talk, etc. I express gratitude for my dogs, Yogi and Gypsie who are always lying beside me when I awaken. I express gratitude for my daughter, Andrea. I express gratitude for the beautiful Blue Grass Mountains here in Central Virginia that I see from my bedroom window.... for the trees, the colorful fallen leaves and the beautifully landscaped lawns that adorn my neighbors' yards. I express gratitude for the squirrels, the ground hogs, the beautiful birds, the deer that sometimes congregate in my back yard and in my neighbors' yards in the still of the night, and for a multitude of other things that most people take for granted. Upon arising, while taking my shower, I express gratitude for my home and my shower and for the wonderful hot water. As I descend the stairs, I express gratitude that I can walk up and down the stairs multiple times a day and night.

I continue the practice of gratitude throughout my waking hours. Before I close my eyes at night I again practice gratitude.

GRATITUDE and THANKSGIVING DAY

If we could all feel the love and and the joy that we feel during the Thanksgiving Holidays all year round, our lives would be transformed. With gratitude comes joy and appreciation. It's impossible to feel sad, depressed or fearful when you are thinking about the things that you feel good about. The practice of gratitude is like celebrating Thanksiving everyday of the year.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. The holiday, though steeped in tradition, is unlike the Christmas Holidays that often require months of planning, preparation, and huge outlays of money. Thanksgiving is much more simplistic. The focus is on FOOD and being grateful for our lives, our families, our neighbors, our country, our planet, our careers, our possessions, our blessings, etc.

Though Thanksgiving Day is a special day set aside for us to remember and to be grateful for the things that are dear and valuable to us, it is important that we take time out to practice gratitude on a daily basis. Why? Because gratitude is accompanied by joy and appreciation and because the more gratitude, joy, and appreciation we express, the more things we will receive in our lives to be grateful for.

Even in the struggles of life, we need to find things to be grateful for.

MY STORY OF GRATITUDE

After being homeless for over (5) months in 2010 during one of the coldest winters in Virginia, my daughter and I were happy when a man in Monroe County offered to rent us a house to live in after noticing that we were living in a motel. After losing my home, my job, my cars, my everything.... my credit score had plummeted. No one would rent to me. My daughter was recently divorced, disabled and unable to work. We were faced with being homeless for a very long long time.

Though it was great that we finally had a roof over our heads, the home was substandard. The landlord whom we perceived as one willing to help us proved to be a "SLUM" land lord. The home was filthy and basically uninhabitable. It was dark and dank inside. The bathroom was unbearable. In fact, we were unable to take a tub bath or shower for the duration of our stay. We would go to various motels to use the shower after my daughter's health improved. She eventually secured a minimum wage job.

By the way, my daughter earned an MBA in 2004 and has held several high paying jobs. She, like millions of other individuals in America could not find a position commensurate with her career experiences and formal education.

While living in those deplorable conditions, I would meditate daily and thank God for our lives, our health, for each other and our dog Yogi, our new home, our food, our clothing, our neighbors, and yes, our land lord. Though he refused to fix the house and make it more habitable, we were grateful that he rented his house to us when no one else would.

Each morning though, despite my discomfort as previously mentioned, I practiced gratitude.

Throughout my day as I went about doing my chores, working on my website, and walking/hiking with Yogi and Bleu, a dog who was left behind after his family moved away, I gave thanks. In addition to practicing gratitude, I also worked on creating a better life and environment for myself and my daughter by thinking the right thoughts and taking the right actions. I exressed gratitude for things we needed in our lives before they were actually manifested. I thanked God for our new and beautiful home where we would be able to shower as many times a day as we liked. I thanked God that my daughter had a good and better paying job and that I was earning more money from my home business.

After about a year, Andrea landed a management job with much higher pay and I was earning money with my home business. I continued with my daily and constant practice of gratitude and thinking positively, affirming many times a day that we were living in a home of our own with all of our needs met, plus overflow. I affirmed that I saw only abundance. I thought only abundant thoughts. I became ONE with abundance.... and I was always grateful.

In approximately (18) months after moving to Monroe County and living in a sub-standard home, we had saved enough money to obtain a new home back in the city and Andrea secured an even better career opportunity with her company.

Today we are happy living in our new home wth our two dogs, Yogi and Gypsie, a dog who was given to my daughter by a neighbor who moved to a home where she could not have dogs. Bleu ran away and was killed by a car on an interstate road. We have an abundance of food, clothing, health, joy and gratitude.

We were able to totally turn our lives around by the practice of gratitude and by thinking the right thoughts when things were going well and when we were struggling.

Please watch the movie "Learning To Dance In The Rain. (SEE LINK at the top of page)

THE BENEFITS OF PRACTICING GRATITUDE

The practice of gratitude has the benefit of drawing us closer to God, our higher power, creative energy, etc. and results in our receiving even more blessings.

When we are focusing on and practicing gratitude we tend to focus on those things that we do want in our lives rather than those things which we don't want or are out of sync with what we really want.

The practice of Gratitude is accompanied by feelings of immense joy and appreciation. Our lives are reenergized and our outlooks more positive and more optimistic.

GRATITUDE AND THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

The Law of Attraction teaches us that like attracts like....that we receive in our lives that which we are thinking about and focusing on. It follows that we need to make an effort to entertain only those thoughts that are aligned with the positive and good things that we want and deserve. The Law Of Attraction teaches us that our thoughts are energy and that they, like all energy, have a frequency. When we send out positive thoughts charged with heart felt emotion, we receive back things and circumstances in our lives that are equal to those vibrations we sent out.

It then follows that if we would observe Thanksgiving Day each and every day, we would be in a constant state of joy and gratitude, receiving more and more good and wonderful things to be grateful for.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO START YOUR PRACTICE OF GRATITUDE

1) Start a journal.

Recording the things you are grateful for on a daily basis will prompt you to focus on the positives and good things in your life. These thoughts will go out into the universe and attract like thoughts that will be sent back as your life experiences.

2) Each night before going to bed and each morning upon awakening, practice gratitude.

Make it a habit to practice gratitude, expressing thanks for all the good in your life. If you have problems with finding things to be thankful for, just go into the silence mode and intentionally monitor your breathing. Thank God that you are still breathing....You are alive! If you can see, hear, smell, talk, feel....Thank God for those things! You get the idea, learn to thank God for those things that you take for granted.

Today, as a result of my having been homeless and living in a house unfit for humans, I thank God each and every time I get in the shower and when I eat a good meal in my beautiful and clean kitchen. I still experience immense joy every time I take a shower or look around at my home and my wonderful, big back yard.

3) As you go about your day, thank God for all things you encounter or receive. When I sarted writing this article I had problems with my vision. I misplaced my readers two days ago and had looked all over but could not find them. When I began to get frustrated, I took a "time out" and expressed gratitude that I had found them. I visualized finding my glasses. When I opened my eyes, I found that I had dropped my gum and bent down to pick it up. As I reached for the gum, I spied my readers and amost wept with gratitude.

4) Express gratitude that you have received those things you desire before you physically receive them.

My thanking God for my readers before I actually found them served as a catalyst for the God to honor my expecttions. When you express gratitude for those things you desire and feel the joy of having received them, you are sending out a powerful vibration that you are expecting a miracle and he/she is obligated to respond and honor your faith in him/her.

5) Have faith that God is conferring for and making a way for you to receive your desires.

It is our faith that moves God to manifest those things we ask of him/her. Faith says "No matter what is going on around me or my circumstance I know that my miracle is already done and I thank you for.....(you name it)."

In summary, the practice of gratitude is the catalyst that brings you into closer harmony with God and enables you to change your life and receive more things to be grateful for. You can start your gratitude practice right now by recording in your journal those things you are grateful for and by making journal entries on daily basis. Practice gratitude each night before going to sleep and the first thing in morning upon waking up. Thank God throughout the day for those things you take for granted and thank God for your miracle before it is manifest.

So, let us all vow to practice gratitude (365) days a year so that we can witness and experience more blessings and lead more abundant lives.

Please enjoy this video "Learning To Dance in The Rain" based on a book by Vivian Greene and offered as a free download by simpletruths.com for you to share with your family, friends, co-workers, etc. I choose to share with you.

http://play.simpletruths.com/movie/dance-in-the-rain/#.UUbbtNPmkNs.aolmail

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