6 Simple Steps to Refresh Your Gratitude Practice
The holiday season is knocking on your door. Like last year, it’s brought a lot of unwelcome baggage– a suitcase full of family drama, another full of financial stressors, and that pesky carry-on called perfection that will ensure nothing meets your expectations for a solid two months. If you’re anything like me, sometimes it’s hard to find gratitude during this season, (no one cares about your award-winning gingersnap recipe, Karen). Yikes! When I catch myself feeling ungrateful, I recenter with a practice I call the Gratitude Bank.
GRATITUDE BANK
We all can use a gratitude bank to call upon when our internal reserves run dry. The energetic universal law, “What you focus on, grows,” can be implemented in the area of gratitude. As you consciously notice, at least once a day, what you are grateful for, then that aspect of our life will improve. I have been practicing this for many years now and I find the results life-changing. You can train your Mind Energy and Body Systems to resonate at higher and higher states of grace- simply by focusing on gratitude. As you do this, there can be longer periods of time (within you, and around you) where life feels rich and complete. This is when everything seems to shine brighter as if source has touched it. Feelings of belonging fill your cells and you can see the perfection in every moment.
Oprah speaks often about her “ah-hah” moments. The Gratitude Bank is one of my “ah-hah” moments. Gratitude delivers grace. Grace delivers inner peace and magical surprises that show up to support us. Sometimes the support shows up just in the nick of time! This is a perfect ritual to begin to implement when the energetic consciousness of “thankfulness” is abundant and strong such as during the holiday season.
Step 1:
List what you are currently feeling grateful for such as: a place to live, food, pet, or family. Be specific and realize that we can even feel grateful for a difficult challenge as it can teach us very needed lessons.
If you are having trouble finding something to feel grateful toward, consider that simply living in the United States is a blessing. I often travel to less affluent nations such as Africa and Asia. When I am in these countries, I am painfully aware of the harshness many citizens must endure. So, a valid place to begin this meditation can be to focus on feeling grateful for living in a country of opportunity. Whatever you chose to list as the topic areas you feel thankful for, be as specific as possible.
Step 2:
Feel the energy of gratitude as a sensation and emotion in the body. Focus, one at a time, on where in the body you can feel it and surrender to receive it even stronger. Then move to the next item.
Step 3:
Now list the events, items, and topics you wish to manifest. One at a time, feel the energy of gratitude toward these topic areas as if they have already manifested. Remember to feel them as a sensation and emotion in the body. Focus on where in the body you can feel it and surrender to receive it even stronger.
Step 4:
If you feel the energy or sensation of a negative belief or emotion that might prevent your intentions from manifesting, be aware of that issue. Write the issue, emotion or negative belief down so later you can receive support to transform that lower vibrational consciousness (LVC). After writing it down, let it go-completely.
Then go back to noticing where in your body you can receive the positive sensations/emotions of it having already manifested. Remember, what you focus on grows! So please focus on where you can receive the sensations of energy that holds high vibrational consciousness and let them grow through surrender, acceptance and seeing the perfection in the moment.
Your intentions of what you want to manifest will come in the “right” and perfect time as you allow yourself to be grateful for what you can do, while trusting the rest is coming-perfectly timed!
Step 5:
Send yourself unconditional love and gratitude for who you are now and who you are becoming. And if you feel motivated, call a friend/family member or tell a pet, how much they mean to you.
Step 6:
Lastly, align so everyday you deposit some energy into your gratitude bank! Before I go to bed at night I make sure I do a review of my day and take in what I am grateful. I also do a review of what mistakes or “unskilled” moments I lived so that I may discover the lessons from the mistakes and thus be grateful for them as well.
I hope this Gratitude Bank helps your heart feel full this holiday season. May the challenges in front of you illuminate your next step on your healing journey. Blessings.
