Even though in the past 6 months I feel like I have become more cognizant of the power of gratitude, I STILL need a constant reminder not to get bogged down in the minutiae of the day and remember to find SOMETHING to be grateful for. For me personally, it goes hand-in-hand with meditation. Whenever I’m meditating on the reg, I automatically end my session with gratitude, and write it down in a journal.
I read something interesting recently and WISH I could find the source, but the basis of the article was that instead of prayer, we should meditate on gratitude, because many times when we are praying, we are asking for something, but when we’re meditating on gratitude, we’re giving thanks. It is so simple, it made immediate sense to me. I’m not saying we should never talk to God or Buddha or whomever you talk to. For my personal journey, when I meditate, I feel like my focus IS on that communication. Am I rambling through a letter to God in my head while I meditate? No, but I just feel like His presence surrounds me. Yesterday morning I had an experience while meditating where I just felt a state of grace, if you will. It was almost a physically warm feeling, and it was a beautiful way to start my day.
One quick aside – a few months back a created a meditation/yoga space in my house. It’s in a bedroom in our basement, and is quiet and away from the chaos. This morning, for some reason, I decided not to use it, but just tried to meditate in our living room, seated on a blanket on the floor with a few dim lights on. It was a disaster. For one thing, the living room where I was ATTEMPTING to meditate was a mess. There were 87 little dirty socks laying around (where my kids drop them when they take them off), books strewn about, the coffee table was a mess, etc. etc., and that mess was too distracting for me – I could NOT focus. I realized that in order to get the most benefit out of a good session, I REALLY need to use my meditation/yoga space.
Huffington Post has this great infographic on the benefits of gratitude:
Here’s what I’d like to do – make every Friday a Check Your Gratitude Day. I’ll list a couple of things for which I’m grateful that week, and would love if you, dear readers, would share something for which you’re grateful as well. It doesn’t have to be something huge or profound. It can be anything. I realize that some weeks are shit and it’s harder to find those gratitude moments, but this is a reminder to MYSELF to continue looking for them. Here goes:
- Driving home from work, past the lake, on an overcast day – the surface of the water was a deep greenish blue, and the glassy surface was beautiful.
- Climbing into a bed freshly made with clean sheets at the end of the day.
- Mid week lunch with friends I have had since grade school. Amazing ladies, each one of them, and I am so thankful to still have them in my life.
- Sunshine on a day when it was supposed to rain from morning ’til night.
See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now it’s your turn. Drop a comment and let me know what you’re grateful about this week. If you want to read a little more about gratitude, check out Zen Habits article:
Why Living a Life of Gratitude Can Make You Happy
Have a super fly weekend, all.
Peace out.
Shannan
enoughstudio 