A Passionate Life: June 4, 2012

Creating the right ripples

Wow, what a month. I was sick from the end of April till the end of May! Finally, with the aid of some good medication, I am feeling much better. My life was not any less passionate during my down time; it was just a bit more subdued as I enjoyed the little things, like the perfect cup of coffee, the softness of my favourite pillow, blissful naps, cuddles from my children, and movie time with my family. I gifted myself ample 'me time,' gave my body the rest it needed, and now I am back!

In our book Life, we talk about building a Gratitude Bank—giving thanks, on a daily basis, for all the positive things in our lives. And like money in a bank, gratitude builds and appreciates over time. The more we notice the good things in our lives now, the more we will find positive things to be grateful for, and the more wonderful and wondrous things we will find entering our lives! Gratitude creates positive, blissful ripples into the world, and we will find those effects returning ten fold!

Grace reminds us:

“Remember when I asked you to consider each and every thought you have as a prayer, or a personal wish, that gets sent out into the world and is always answered? If we could all rationalize and accept that concept, we would realize the importance of choosing our thoughts and words very carefully! Positivity begets positivity; negativity begets negativity. When we constantly send out the same types of signals into the world, they begin to coalesce, to join together, and with their combined weight they generate a powerful gravitational force that attracts like to like back into our experience. In other words, depending on what our overall focus is—whether we are feeling and thinking positive thoughts and emotions, or whether we are focused on negative ones—we will essentially have our sentiments, our prayers, answered.

“Gratitude works the same way, except that it adds a kind of double whammy, so to speak, since what we are grateful for, we have already manifested or brought into our experience. Our past thoughts and desires have already brought wonderful experiences into our lives. We already have things, right here and now, that are making us feel good. Like I mentioned earlier, the thoughts we had yesterday create our today, and the thoughts we have today create our tomorrow. Appreciate that—because of some feel good thoughts that we had yesterday, we’ve already created some wonderful experiences that are now present in our lives today.”

 
Try to take a moment at the end of each day, and come up with at least five things you are grateful for. They can be grandiose, or they can be deliciously simple. What made you feel good today? What made you happy, or calm, peaceful or joyful? If you like, you can start a journal; write down your gratitude list, watch as it expands over time.

I am grateful for my writing, my friends, my family, you—our readers, and this—our time together.
Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my life. xo
In gratitude,
Marissa