start monday with gratitude

We’ve all done it. We’re all guilty of wanting.

Spend today thinking of everything that you currently want to have or be.

Why do you want them?

What’s your reason for wanting them?

Write everything down.

Think of something you’ve wanted for a relatively long time, something that you’ve been working towards. Choose something that doesn’t feel frivolous, but something that you know would make a difference to your life and, perhaps, also the lives of those you love.

It could be a better home for your family, a safer car, being able to only eat organic food.

Looking back to when you first wanted this positive addition or change in your life, have you been tracking your success in making your way towards it?

When you first said, for example, “I want a better home in a better neighbourhood so my kids can go outside without me worrying about them”, did you break down what steps you’d need to achieve to get that home or did you just put it out to the Universe, hoping that the Universe would deliver?

Have you, at any stage, celebrated your progress or is celebration something you plan to do only if and when you achieve this goal?

If we don’t break a want down into smaller steps and watch our progress, celebrating every step along the way, it’ll be so much harder to truly celebrate achieving that at the end of, what could be, a very long road. Because by the time you achieve what you wanted, it will have taken so much time and effort that you’ll feel flat, you may have forgotten along the way what you’re working towards, or you’ll have already moved on to your next want.

So today, I invite you to think of something you’ve wanted for a relatively long time, something that would make a positive difference. And I want you to break your journey down, from the beginning to today, into steps.

Then I invite you to celebrate and express gratitude for achieving each and every one of those steps.

When you do, that will give you a greater sense of accomplishment and you’ll greater appreciate, today, how far you’ve already come. You’ll greater appreciate how much better your life is today than it was at the start.

And now that you can see just how much you’ve already achieved and just how far you’ve come, can you whole-heartedly, today, simply celebrate where you are today without looking to the future with want?

Go back to the list you made on Monday and choose just one thing. Choose your biggest desire from that list.

Now, let’s suppose you are never destined to achieve this, that whatever this desire is will never come into your reality.

Take some time today imagining what your life would look like without this. Think only in the positive.

What positives will arise by not achieving or receiving this desire?

Be imaginative. Be creative.

For example, what if you wanted to attract a lot more money because you think life will be less stressful and you could buy more for your family.

What positives could derive from not achieving this?

Well, you can remain in the same smaller house that you currently live in where, let’s say, there is only one living room which ensures that you all, as a family, get to spend quality family together, your kids don’t get anymore fancy technological toys and gadgets which keep them hidden in their room for hours and stop them going outside in the fresh air etc etc.

Really invest time in being creative and finding the positives, appreciating what you already have.

Can you now see just how much you have in your life already?

You just needed to pay more attention to what you have than what you wanted.

Express gratitude for all you already have.

When we focus our attention to wanting, we’re living for tomorrow, a tomorrow that never actually comes. Whereas mindfulness teaches to live in the present moment, expressing gratitude for what we have already.

Today I invite you to take stock of everything you already have in your life. See just how abundant your life truly is.

There is no time limit on this exercise, simply keep doing it until you truly and wholeheartedly appreciate every blessing in your life and your focus returns to the present, no longer dreaming of the future and everything you would want.

Look back to something you wanted and received or achieved.

When you first wanted it, no doubt you were excited about it, were willing to doing anything to achieve or receive it. Then, after a long time of trying, after putting in a lot of effort, you did achieve or receive it, did it really live up to your initial expectations?

Usually when we first start out on our journey towards something we want, we're full of excitement and anticipation.

But as the hard work, as the long journey takes it toll and takes it time, our excitement begins to wane.

And, whilst we may gain a sense of fulfilment and achievement when we achieve or receive what we first wanted, the excitement associated with it has waned, we’re nowhere near as excited about achieving/receiving it as we were at the very start of the journey.

Step back in time to the start of this journey and remember how you felt and then consider how differently you felt when you did achieve/receive it.

Write down everything you felt, give yourself a mark out of 10 for your level of excitement and energy and the start of the journey compared to the mark you give yourself at the end.

Take your list from Monday and re-write it.

This time we’re going to take want and change it to need. And I invite you to re-write everything in that list, one at a time, with the prefix “I need…”

So if, on your list you wrote down, “a faster car”, I invite you today to write “I need a faster car”.

Then go through your list, one by one, and strike out anything that you want but which you actually don’t need. In other words, having that won’t significantly change your life in a truly meaningful way.

For example, what benefit in reality does a faster car bring into your life? You can drive faster and, no doubt, you’ll feel more powerful, perhaps more confident; your ego will receive a boost. But is that a game-changer in your life? Is that really something you cannot survive without? If it’s not, then how have you survived to date?

Look again at Monday’s list and pull out anything that you wrote down that is not something tangible.

So, for example, did you write something like “happiness” or “wealth” or “success”? How would you know when you reach happiness, for example?

Desires like happiness, wealth, success are immeasurable. Therefore, as time goes by, more likely than not your idea of happiness, wealth, success etc will change, your goalposts will move. And, as a result, you will never achieve happiness, wealth, success.

Often, also, we write down such wants because we’re comparing ourselves to others we deem to be better, to have achieved what we think we want. However, desires such as happiness, wealth and success will look different to different people. If you had no-one to compare yourself to would you really be striving towards these desires or could you already feel happy, wealthy, and successful?

Take this new list that you have created today and create positive gratitude statements around them. For example, with regards happiness you could say, “I am grateful that I am happy”.

Repeat those positive gratitude statements everyday and watch as your attitude towards happiness, wealth, and success etc changes over time.