Posts Tagged ‘gratitude’
In this series on The Power of Celebration I am sharing six keys to increasing the amount of joy and fulfilment you have in your life. Here are the fifth and sixth keys…
Key #5 – Appreciate The World
Many people today despise the world they live in. They focus on the wars, famines, earthquakes, crime figures and political scandals which are so often the main news stories. But the world does have a lot of positive aspects and we should never forget that fact. Instead, we should take time to deliberately appreciate all the beauty and wonders of the world in which we live each day of our lives.
Step outside and look at your neighborhood. If you see houses, shops and bus stops then be thankful that you live in a community which has a whole host of convenient service and product providers and that your neighbours enjoy the warmth and comfort of modern housing. If you see fields, mountains and clouds then be thankful that you live in a place of visual beauty in which you can appreciate the miracle of nature from your own doorstep.
Wherever you are and whatever your situation, give thanks for the good that is around you. It is there in abundance, but we often notice it only when we take the time to look for it.
Key #6 – Live Today To The Full
The final key to celebrating life is to acknowledge that your time here on the earth plane is not infinite. We are all here but for a limited time, and none of us know how many months, years or decades we have left. This being the case, it makes sense that we should enjoy what we have to the full.
Make a point of reminding yourself every day that life is a gift. The fact that you are here, alive and well and breathing in and out is as good a reason to celebrate as any other you will ever be able to think of, for it is the most precious thing on earth.
Celebrate your alive-ness by living each day as if it were your last. Express love and kindness to everyone you meet. Give of yourself. Take time to smell the roses and enjoy the singing of the birds in the trees. Learn a little more about yourself and the universe. Keep problems and difficulties in their proper perspective and generally enjoy yourself.
Continuing our discussion of The Power of Celebration, we now turn our attention to the third and fourth keys to increasing the sense of joy in your life…
Key #3 – Give Of Yourself
This key arises naturally out of the last one. When we stop and realize just how much we have and how blessed we have been in life, it is natural for us to want to share our joy and prosperity with those less fortunate than ourselves.
If you want to give money to charities and individuals, then do so, but do not think that money is all you have to give. You could give a ride to someone without transport. You could give a food hamper to a family you know who are struggling financially. You could give a toy to the local hospital or orphanage. You could give some time to anyone you know who is lonely and needs a friend.
When you think about it, there are an infinite number of ways in which you can contribute to the lives of other people. There are an infinite number of ways in which you can give more love, light, peace and joy to those around you. All you have to do is think for a few moments about the people you know and then decide how you would like to give of yourself to help these people celebrate and create good things in their own lives.
In giving, we receive. We may not receive like-for-like, but at the very least we experience the joy of being able to help others, and if we truly have a spirit of giving then no other reward is ever really necessary.
Key #4 – Appreciate Your Loved Ones
All too often, we get so wrapped up in helping obviously needy people that we fail to express our appreciation to those who are closest to us. The fourth key to celebrating life is therefore to deliberately appreciate your loved ones.
Think of the people you love and who love you, and think of how rich and satisfying your life is because of these people. They could be friends, parents, siblings, cousins, children or grandchildren. No matter who they are, express thanks for these people and then express appreciation to these people for bringing such joy and love into your life.
How you express your appreciation to these people will obviously depend on the people themselves. You may give gifts to some, share a thoughtful word with another, give practical help to yet another and so on. All that matters is that you let your loved ones know how much they mean to you.
To celebrate life on a daily basis is to unleash a tremendous power in your life – a power which makes every day unique and special and which enables you to habitually live your life to the full. Even better, celebrating life isn’t difficult when you know how. Over the next few posts I will share six keys which will enable you to experience an enormous amount of joy every day for the rest of your physical life…
Key #1 – Live In The “Now”
Because all us who seek to Create Good Things are people who value personal growth, it is often very easy for us to focus solely on the future and exclude the habit of living in the present moment.
We think of the future which we are in the process of creating, of the dreams and ambitions which we are aiming to achieve, and in the process we do not often stop to look at where we are right now.
The first key to celebrate life is therefore to temporarily forget the future. Forget your dreams and ambitions. At the same time, forget your past. Just concentrate on experiencing the moment.
Key #2 – Count Your Blessings
Although it is perfectly natural that we should all want to grow more, achieve more, be, do and have more, it is very important that we regularly appreciate the abundance that we already have.
Look at your life and notice how you have already grown over the last few months or years. Look at your loved ones and thank the universe that you have people in your life who mean more to you than life itself. Appreciate the roof over your head, the food in your cupboards and the clothes on your back. Appreciate the money you have in your wallet or purse and the furnishings you have in your home.
It may be that you don’t think you have much in the way of worldly possessions, but compared to the millions of people who live rough in the streets, you have a lot to be thankful for. Express your gratitude in whatever way you find acceptable.
What you focus on expands. You should therefore get into the habit of focusing only on what you have – not on things that you don’t have. The best way of doing this is to live your life with a grateful heart.
Instead of thinking that you would like more money, more health, more success and more happiness, simply be grateful for the money, health, success and happiness which you already have in your life. You may only have a dollar in your pocket, but if you focus on dollar and appreciate it, you will soon have two dollars. Then four. Then eight. And before you realise what is happening, you will be prospering – automatically and effortlessly.
The same applies to health, success, happiness and anything else you want. Be thankful for what health, success and happiness you already have – no matter how small their quantities may be – and the act of focusing on what you have will automatically lead to them expanding in your life. At the same time, avoid thinking in terms of lack or limitation. If you focus on what you lack, or of the things which limit your life, all you will do is expand that lack and limitation.
Be grateful for all that you have and you will have more. Be resentful of what you lack and you will lack more. This applies to relationships as well as everything else. If you focus on negative traits in your partner or in friends or family members, these negative traits will expand and annoy you even more. Instead, focus on all that is good about your partner, or your friends and family members, and watch how their good points expand.
The next time you find yourself focusing on what you do not have, or on what you do not want in your life, correct the situation by immediately focusing on what you do have and what you do want. It will take a little time before this becomes an automatic way of thinking for you, but when it does, you will find that manifesting what you want is far easier than you ever imagined.
The Secret Science of Wealth Creation is a matrix of seven simple but extremely powerful metaphysical principles. Here is the second principle:
Wealth Creation Principle #2 – Be Grateful
Believe us when we tell you that this principle has enormous power to change your financial situation around virtually immediately. It is a principle which has been used for millennia, and which no-one who wishes to reach his full potential can afford to ignore. It is the principle which tells you to:
Be grateful for your abundance.
Now many people will say that it is ludicrous to give thanks for something which hasn’t yet manifested on the material plane. From a flesh and blood point of view we would agree. But look at things from the spiritual point of view and you will soon discover that giving thanks is what enables the manifestation to take place.
Let us explain:
You may have already learned that one of the keys to making things happen is to believe that they have already happened. What better way is there to express this belief than to give thanks for what you have asked for? By giving thanks in advance you are proclaiming that you already have what you want, and this way of thinking unleashes tremendous spiritual power.
Consider the multiplication miracles which Jesus of Nazareth performed during his lifetime and you will see this principle being used to excellent effect.
‘Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, thanked God for them and gave them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted. When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the leftover pieces of fish and bread so that nothing is wasted.” So they gathered up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left from the five barley loaves.’ (John 6:11-13)
This is how Jesus fed over five thousand people with just a few loaves and a few fish – he expressed his gratitude. The gratitude was two-fold. He was giving thanks for what he already had – the few loaves and fish – but he was also giving thanks for the miracle of multiplication which he was about to perform. In his minds eye, the miracle had already taken place, so giving thanks was natural.
To unleash the power of this principle in your own life, you too need to get into the habit of expressing two-fold gratitude. Give thanks for what you already have, and then give thanks that a whole lot more is coming your way. In doing this you are preparing the way for a torrent of wealth and abundance to enter your life.
We suggest that you begin this habit by taking your wallet or purse and opening it. Look at the money inside – even if it is just a few coins – and then express your gratitude to the God-Power within you for providing you with this money. When you have done this, express your gratitude for the fact that even more wealth is winging its way towards you at this very moment – a veritable flood of wealth which can never be stopped.
This is an extremely simple principle to put into place, but it is absolutely and vitally important. The more you express gratitude for what you have and for what is to come, the faster wealth will manifest in your life. Ignore this principle and your lack of gratitude will actually hold back the flood of prosperity which is waiting to arrive in your life. So be grateful!
