Gratitude? Hell Ya!

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." -Eckhart Tolle

If you are interested at all in personal & spiritual growth I'm sure you've heard about the importance of practicing gratitude, especially when things are not going well in your life.  Oprah talks about it all the time & even writes in a gratitude journal every night & if Oprah tells me to do something you better believe I'm going to do it.  But unfortunately when things are not going well you can very easily lose perspective & forget about all of the things that are wonderful in your life.  It's an unfortunate fact that as humans the impact of a negative experience is far stronger than the happiness we feel from a positive experience.

I get why it's important to be thankful & grateful for all of the blessings in your life, things could always be worse & no one likes a spoiled, entitled brat.  But as someone who thinks in a very logical & linear fashion I wasn't quite getting it...How exactly will gratitude help my shitty situation?  I recently heard it explained this way & it makes total sense.  Here's the deal…with gratitude your heart & mind are open & you see opportunities & have space for creative solutions...conversely, if you're stuck in your misery you're closed & only see obstacles- ain't nothing good comin' in & you wouldn't even see it if it was right in front of you because you're too caught up in feeling sorry for yourself & your shitty situation.  Opportunities or obstacles?  I'll take opportunities any day.

We humans are a tricky bunch & we also experience something called hedonic adaptation, which means we very easily become accustomed to & take for granted any positive changes in our lives & they just become our new "normal" as we wait for the next new thing that will really make us happy this time.  When you get the thing you think will make you happy you're just going to start thinking about the next thing you want & not appreciate all that you have.  So therefore you will never be happy!  It's a set up for failure & misery.  Gratitude is a new mind set that will change this vicious cycle. 

Isn't the whole point of wanting things that you think they'll make you happy?  Well what about trying something revolutionary?  TRUST that all of your dreams will come true & just be happy NOW! Why delay your happiness?  That's pretty masochistic if you ask me.  There will always be things to worry about in life & do you know that happiness attracts?  The ironic part is if you are happy now, you will attract the things you want. It's a universal law that you attract the same frequency that you put out.  I know it sounds unfair, right?  If you're already happy you'll get more & if you're feeling shitty you'll get more of that.  But hey, it's the universal law & I didn't make it up.  Life is much easier when you work with the entire universe instead of trying to resist it.

Try practicing gratitude & being happy NOW, wherever you are in life, after all it's a journey, not a destination...savor each moment.  Now let’s get this gratitude party started!!  It’s hot, hot, hot here in NY so I think this song is very fitting (& there’s some terribly elegant booty shakin' going on....:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2fnYpwrng

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