start monday with gratitude

Just because you’ve been diligently practising gratitude every day for quite some time now, doesn’t mean your vibrational energy is always high and in tune with that of gratitude. There will be times when you feel upset, when things get to you, when you complain. If you never again experienced such times, you wouldn’t be having a human experience.

The key with practising gratitude is that you are faster to spot when you’re in a lower and more negative place and you can use gratitude to raise you to a higher level.

So, bearing in mind your humanness, think back to a time recently when something annoyed you, when you complained about something small but irritating.

It may seem small now but, no doubt, at the time it would have felt like a big deal. At the time, or shortly after, were you able to see the positives, understand the lesson, appreciate that you grew as a result? Or did it simply remain an annoyance, something worthy of complaint?

If you weren’t able to see the positives or the lessons at the time, can you look back now and see them?

At the time, or shortly after, did you spot that your emotion and energy had fallen to a lower vibration, and you consciously used gratitude to raise your vibration back to a higher frequency? Or were you unaware of your vibration falling and the annoyance or complaint remained with you for longer than, perhaps, it should or could have?

If you weren’t able to use gratitude at the time to raise your vibration back up, do you think you can make a note of this in your memory for the next time an annoyance or desire to complain comes along?

Think of something you have in your life that you could easily take for granted.

It might be the warmth and security of your home. It might be a wide choice and variety of food available at your supermarket. It might be your access to healthcare, to doctors and medical professionals.

Think of one thing that you have in your life which you could very easily take for granted.

Now consider someone in your town or community who doesn’t have access to that one thing you could easily take for granted. Perhaps you even know, personally, of someone.

How much more challenging is their life as a result?

Imagine what it must be like, for example, to not know where you can sleep each night or to not have somewhere safe to sleep. Does that give you a renewed sense of gratitude for that something which you could easily take for granted?

Think of something you have in your life that you could easily take for granted.

Something that you have easy access to but which another person living in a different country doesn’t have access to.

You might think about your freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, or freedom of movement. You might think of your access to clean drinking water or nourishing and whole foods.

Think of one thing that you have in your life which you could very easily take for granted.

And then consider how different your life is to someone living in a country where there don’t have access to this.

Imagine what it would be like to lose your freedom of choice, for example, to live under a dictatorship where you cannot choose what is best for you. Does that give you a renewed sense of gratitude for that something which you could easily take for granted?

Today I’m going to ask you to do something I have, personally, not done for years.

Today I’m going to ask you to watch the world news.

It’s no secret that bad news sells and that the media is full of negativity, hence the reason why watching the news is something I stopped doing many years ago as I don’t want to attract unnecessary negativity into my life.

Today I ask you to watch the world news, see what’s happening in the world today.

However, before doing so, I invite you to imagine yourself wrapped up in a bubble of beautiful light, a bubble that you can see out of, but which stops anything negative entering your energy. That way you can protect your energy from any negativity you see and hear on the news.

As you’re watching the news and witnessing negative events happening throughout the world, express gratitude for your life and where you live, that your life is full, plentiful, joyous, and something to be truly grateful for.

Do you feel grateful for your life? The negativities that others around the world experience, are you grateful that your life is free from these?

I invite you to, again, today watch the world news. Again, before doing so, wrap yourself up and protect your energy in a beautiful bubble of light.

As you’re watching the news and witnessing negative events happening throughout the world, express gratitude for the better and brighter days that are coming to those who are currently being challenged in the world.

Don’t simply express gratitude, believe what you are saying in your heart.

When we start practising gratitude our focus is on ourselves and our life. As we practise gratitude more and it starts to develop into a habit, our expression for gratitude extends to those near and dear to us. As we continue to practise gratitude our focus becomes more widespread to include our community and people we don’t know in our community, our region, our country. And eventually our focus considers the world as a whole, a word filled with all types of living beings be they fellow-humans, animals, or plants.

Think of something you acquired or achieved some time ago with some effort or work, something that has made your life easier or better. Think of something that has had the biggest impact in your life to date or for a while.

Perhaps it was working overtime and saving up for a car so you didn’t have to hang around waiting for public transport in the rain. Or perhaps it was living without treats or little luxuries for a while so you could pay off a debt that was hanging over you and now, as a result, you sleep better at night.

Think of something impactful which, when you achieved or received it, you were deeply grateful and gratitude came easily.

Check in with your level of gratitude for that same thing now, now that some time has passed.

Is your level of gratitude as deep as it was when you first achieved or received it? Does your life, every day, still feel as rich as when you first achieved or received it?

Usually, whilst we still may be grateful for what we received or achieved, our level of gratitude wanes a little as time goes by. And as our level of gratitude wanes, we take that thing that we achieved or received more for granted.

This is your opportunity to renew you degree of gratitude for that thing that you achieved or received as a result of effort and work. Remember how your life was without it and how rich, full and plentiful your life is today with it.

Not everything we have or need to do in life brings us joy.

For example, you may not love your job but because of your job you can pay your bills, live comfortably, and have food on the table every evening.

Think of something in your life or something you have to do in your life that doesn’t quite light you up. It’s a must-do or must-have rather than a wanna-do or wanna-have.

How can you change how you feel about it? How can you become excited about something that doesn’t light you up?

Well, you want to find ways that it makes your life better, easier, more enjoyable, richer.

Write down as many ways as you can think that this thing that doesn’t light you up, makes your life richer.

Looking back over this list can you see how much more plentiful your life is with this thing in it than without it?