It is a rare occasion that someone will rant and rave about how wonderful their life is, how everything is fabulous, or how grateful they are for all that has happened to them. As a society we tend to focus more on what’s wrong, how life isn’t going our way, or how unfortunate we are.
As spiritually minded people, we can acknowledge that we create our reality from our thoughts, however, how often do we put that understanding into action in life? If we focus our thoughts on what is not going well in our lives (and feeling dissatisfaction and frustration), then how are we going to create loveliness from that?
Well, we cannot. If we are constantly putting our attention on what is not “right” then we will create more of what is not “right.” In our society it is not considered polite to talk about how wonderful life is because there is an idea that we will attract the “evil eye” and bad luck will come our way – or some variation of this thought. Let’s take a moment to break that belief right now, as there is no way it can serve us in a positive way.
It is imperative that we have gratitude for everything that has occurred in our lives, no matter how we judge those events. If you cannot find anything to be grateful for, then I suggest you focus your attention on what you believe about your life and the way you personally judge everything. Your judgment is the true problem here rather than the actual events in your life – they are simply what they are – neither good nor bad.
Everyone has something to be grateful for. Whether it is clothes on your back, food on your plate, family, your job, your car, your health, your divorce, the death of someone who is suffering, friends, or your pet, there is something to be thankful for. Often the things that we judge to be bad are simply events we are not enjoying in the moment – without any regard for the blessing that change can bring in the long run.
I invite you to try this exercise every morning for 5-10 minutes. Close your eyes while you are in a restful position. Focus your attention on a mental picture of everything that you have in your life. Picture those events, people or things in your minds-eye and feel the joy well-up within you as you view them. I often do this until tears come to my eyes and I feel so filled with gratitude and joy that the feeling is overwhelming.
Starting my day in this way sets my attitude towards gratitude – and my actions, words and deeds follow suit. I encourage you to experiment with taking the attitude of gratitude in your life and see the difference it makes. It’s time to stop the judgment and start focusing on choosing to be happy, satisfied and appreciative. Feeling satisfied doesn’t mean you lapse into inertia and no longer create new dreams and adventures in your life. It simply means that you accept what is with happiness – then you take action to initiate new and more exciting creations (rather than focusing on judging what you have to be not-good-enough). Nothing is going to stop life from unfolding, but you can definitely change the way you react to it and have gratitude.
Sheri Rosenthal DPM is a master Toltec teacher and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Toltec Wisdom and Banish Mind Spam!. Having trained with don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements®, she currently takes students on spiritual journeys journeysofthespirit.com works with personal apprentices and enjoys being extremely happy. You can reach her at info@sherirosenthal.com or sherirosenthal.com and withforgiveness.com.