“Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to slow time down with weight of full attention. In this space of time and sphere, I am attentive, aware, accepting the whole of the moment, weighing it down with me all here.” – Ann Voskamp
Gratitude.
I have consistently kept a gratitude journal for a few years now. Every night, I list 15 – 20 things I am grateful for, as a thank you letter to God.
I first learned about gratitude from Oprah – if you know anything about me, you know that she has been a tremendous influence on my life. Gratitude was a gift to me. I learned from Oprah and later, Brene Brown, that Gratitude is a shortcut to joy.
By choosing to focus on the things we are grateful for, we change our mental and emotional states and access joy.
I have noticed the dramatic increases in my joy since I began a gratitude practice.
A few years ago, I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. She talks about giving thanks as being fully present in time, looking for God in the moment…
By giving thanks, finding God in the moment, that moment is consecrated… made sacred… Giving thanks consecrates time…
So, complaining, being cynical and ungrateful desecrates time.
Think about it.
How do you feel in a complain-y mood? It feels like a downward spiral, suddenly you find more and more things wrong… Soon, you feel downright rotten and heavy… Some people feel much better after complaining but they are transferring the negative energy to another…
It is okay to express concern about things, to share about personal challenges… but to constantly complain about something you can’t change or are unwilling to change is another matter…
Choose gratitude – the quickest way to feel joy and transform your mood, a beautiful way to consecrate the experiences and relationships of your life.
Slow down.
Make every moment sacred. Look for something to be grateful for in everything – the encounters, the conflict, the mundane… You can find joy in them. You can find God in them. That is the true meaning of Gratitude.
So what am I grateful for? I am grateful for you! Thank you for your companionship on this quest to live my ideals. Thank you.
What are you grateful for?
Happy Thanksgiving!
Yvonne Whitelaw writes for Yvonnewhitelaw.com where she blogs about her quest to grow into her ideals in her “Live Your Ideals Project”. By sharing her lessons along the way (every Monday and Thursday), she hopes to serve and inspire a tribe of wholehearted warriors like you, to “live your ideals, live your calling and change the world.”