Gratitude
What is gratitude?
The quality of being thankful and to appreciate something or someone. Gratitude alters and changes your perspective. The frequency in which gratitude resonates at is high and because of this it can take you out of a place of low frequency such as depression or anger. To show true gratitude for something or someone puts you in the moment. It takes you out of the past (depression) or out of the future (anxiety) and places you in the right now. Gratitude frees us from the cage of toxic energy and allows us to become happier.
By practicing gratitude you can change the way you react, and your perspective. It has been proven to alter your mind, and this can allow you to rewire your habits. I believe we all sit at different frequencies. These frequencies are based on someone’s experiences and life events. They are all based on self worth. So the lower the worth the lower the range of the frequency. These vibrations are undertones to the psyche that keep you stuck in the same type of thought pattern and cycles. Imagine them like an undercurrent to any thought you have. They keep you repeating the same types of behaviors and actions even if you try something new. By practicing gratitude you are able to rewrite this old programming. This new found appreciation for your life allows you to change that low vibration to something that is more abundant and positive. Like attracts like, so negative and low vibrations will always bring in negative and toxic events and people.
Today I wrote my best friend a gratitude letter. I want to practice doing one gratitude letter a week, not just for a response or recognition, but because I am truly grateful. I took the time out of my day to tell her what she meant to me. That is one way you can practice gratitude yourself, by writing your appreciation for someone in your life. Write down a list of people or things you want to express your appreciation for. After you have that list figure out a time frame you would like to write each one a letter. Sounds to easy, well the thing is showing people appreciation is just that. It could be going out of your way to tell someone your admire them, or it could just be to thank someone for being there to support you.
Showing gratitude causes a ripple effect. It can reverberate out into the world as paying it forward. One act of kindness becomes two which becomes four and so on.
Another way you can practice gratitude is by meditating. Meditation has proven to provide the inner world with solace and peace. By creating an inner sanctuary of gratitude, love, and kindness the outside worlds influence becomes less. You gain resiliency and fortitude in the face of the unknown. While taking a bath I like to meditate. I focus inward most times, but occasionally I meditate on my writing. That letter I wrote my best friend was in a state of peace for me, so that I was able to feel the appreciation for her. It allowed me to speak from my heart. Before my bath I felt uneasy, and quite frazzled. That feeling disappeared as I practiced gratitude. Even now as I write this the anxiousness has calmed. Why? Because I was able to be present with myself. It took out the fear of the future or the comparisons of the past. It brought me to a place where I was able to see all I had and abolish the toxic crap I thought. Gratitude is a place of contentment for the now.
What are some things you are grateful for? How can you show your appreciation for them? When you find those things meditate on it. Perhaps tell the person what they mean. Show gratitude by paying it forward. Be kind and compassionate to yourself and others. What is one thing you can do right now to feel thankful? I am thankful I get a place to write all my feelings, worries and knowledge. I am grateful to myself for starting this journey in Dare to Habit. I appreciate the fact I push myself to write everyday and that I follow through with it. I want you to thank yourself for something you did today, or something you are pursuing. Really feel the words. Re-read them. Own them. Because those words are you. Can you hear it? The love underneath?