start monday with gratitude

week 52

Welcome to Week 52, lovely soul, the final week of this year-long Start Monday with Gratitude experience.

Below you'll find the video and video transcript introducing you to this week's quote and musings.

Scroll further and you'll discover this week's daily exercises, high vibe tune, and downloadable wallpapers.

video transcript

When people develop a gratitude practice, they, naturally, give thanks and show gratitude for the many blessings, large and small, that shower their lives every single day.

However, that’s only half the picture.

If we’re to grow, learn, develop so we can move forward in life and achieve something better than what we currently experience, we need to cultivate a gratitude practice that gives thanks for everything in our lives. Everything.

That means expressing gratitude for the challenges and obstacles that stand in our way with the same degree of gratitude and enthusiasm as we express for the many blessings in our life.

And that can be really difficult.

Because when we are faced with a challenge, a disappointment, an obstacle; when we’re feeling hurt, let down, confused, those near and dear to us open their hearts and lend their support. They sympathise and empathise with us. Very few would tell you what a great thing it is that your long-term relationship has come to an end, or that you’ve lost your job, or that you’ve fallen seriously ill. If they did, do you think you’d look on them as a friend or someone who loves you?

Of course not.

Your friendship would, most likely, come to an abrupt end, or you would stop confiding in that person because they don’t offer you the tenderness you feel you need in those moments.

And yet, such people are our greatest teachers. For they show us that we should be grateful for everything in our life. They show us that it’s the pains, the hurts, the challenges and obstacles, that actually enable us to grow, learn and develop, much more.

And in so doing, they encourage us to take greater strides forward towards something bigger and better than the relationship which didn’t serve you, the job that didn’t let you grow and become great, the imbalance in your body that is begging you to change your lifestyle.

A true and full gratitude practice gives thanks for everything in your life. It doesn’t cherry-pick just the good stuff, the things that make a gratitude practice easy to adhere to every single day.

No, a true and full gratitude practice gives thanks for the challenging stuff with as much feeling and gratitude as it does for the happy blessings.

Because in expressing gratitude for the challenges, for the obstacles, for the hurts and the pains, you cultivate an attitude that sees the silver lining, the positive swing, in every experience and every situation. In so doing, you appreciate the importance of growing from the challenges, learning from the obstacles, and experiencing the emotions of pain and hurt every bit as much as giving thanks for the blessings.

daily gratitude practice

I don’t think there could be a better quote to end this year-long experience on than this one by Brian Tracy. Because this quote reminds us that expressing gratitude for the good things, the sunshine moments in our life is only living a semi-grateful life.

Only when we express gratitude for the seemingly darker things in life, can we truly live a life fuelled with gratitude, a life that is whole and full. This isn’t a new concept. It is something that we have touched on throughout this year-long experience.

However, I feel it’s an important one to leave you with so you will always remember that gratitude isn’t just about being grateful for the best of times, it’s about being grateful about all the times.

So, this week, let’s focus on the other times in our life that we should also express gratitude for.

Today I invite you to think of 10 challenges that have crossed your path. They can be small; they can be large.

When you have those 10 challenges, look to find ways in which you grew as a result of those challenges and express your gratitude for how much you grew as a result.

Today I invite you to focus on 10 obstacles that came onto you path.

When you have those 10 obstacles, look for lessons you learned as a result of overcoming those obstacles and express gratitude for those lessons.

Today I invite you to focus on 10 hurts and pains you have experienced in life. They could be hurts caused by other people, pain in your body, a painful situation or experience.

When you have those 10 pains and hurts, look to find ways in which those pains and hurts changed you, what they taught you and what you learned.

Express gratitude for each pain and hurt you experienced and what it taught you.

The universal Law of Attraction teaches us that we each create our own reality, that whatever you focus on in life, whatever you believe will happen, is exactly what happens.

In the previous exercises this week, we looked at challenges, obstacles, and pains and hurts that have arisen in our life and for which we can now find reasons to be grateful. From your list of challenges, obstacles, and pains and hurts, pick 10 that seemed to happen as a result of someone else or out of your control.

Change your perspective of them; that they didn’t happen to you but that you brought them into your own reality – in other words you made them happen.

From this perspective can you understand why you would have made these challenges, obstacles, pains and hurts happen to you? Was your focus, attention, thoughts, energy, for example, directed towards negativity rather than being in a place of gratitude and positivity? Did your subconscious place these on your path because that part of you knew you have something to learn so you could change and become better?

Why did you create these challenges, obstacles, pains and hurts in your life?

Once you determine the reasons for creating them, express gratitude for those reasons and for having created these challenges, obstacles, pains and hurts.

Think of someone in your life who triggered you in the past, or who hurt you by not supporting you the way you thought you should. They may still be part of your life, or you may have since parted company, possibly as a result of this situation.

Re-experience the situation now from a new perspective, from the perspective that they were actually coming from a place of love, that they loved you enough and wanted the best for you so much so that they didn’t comfort you the way others would have. They had the strength of character and the love to challenge you.

Can you step into their shoes and see the situation from their viewpoint and from their love for you? Can you see how they were actually trying to help rather than hurt you? Can you see how they were a great teacher at that time?

Can you now express gratitude for them in your life? Perhaps, even, you might choose to thank them in person for what you can now see, express your gratitude to them directly.

Think of someone in your life who challenged either your beliefs or thinking about something.

How did you feel when they challenged you? How did you act when they challenged you?

None of us likes our thinking or beliefs to be challenged, especially if those ideas and beliefs are close to our heart or things we feel really strongly about. Most of us struggle to see something from another’s perspective when we feel so strongly about something, because we’re often blinkered and everything is painted in black and white.

Take some time now to remember what that person challenged you about. What belief, idea, concept or thought did they challenge you about and what was their challenge?

Looking back was their thinking slightly different to yours or radically different?

Can you work through their ideas, thoughts, beliefs to see things from their perspective, from a perspective different from yours? Can you appreciate and understand why they said what they did, why their ideas and beliefs may have been so different? Can you see the teaching, the lesson you may have missed at the time?

Spend time working through this until you feel grateful and can express gratitude for being challenged by this person.

Think of someone who used to play an important role in your life for quite some time but is now no longer part of your life. It may have been a close friend or a romantic partner. Ideally think of someone who left your life (or you left them) as a part of a disagreement or a breakup, not simply because you lost touch or moved away.

Look back throughout the time that they played an important role in your life and see if you can understand why they were part of your life.

What life lessons did they teach you? How did they change you, for the better? How did they positively impact your life?

Everyone who becomes part of our life, does so for a reason. Often, we have much to learn from them and when we have learned all we need, often they exit our life. When that exit is difficult and painful it can be hard to look back and see the positives, the life lessons, how much we changed and grew thanks to them.

Today’s your chance to do just that.

Give gratitude for that person and for all the blessings they brought to your life. Perhaps, if you know how to or can track them down, you might even choose to reach out to them to express your gratitude directly.

and let's not forget...

This week's high vibe tune reminds us that when gratitude shows you that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation, before you know it, you’ll be reaching for the stars

dance along to this week's high vibe tune here

have gratitude wherever you go...

... with this week's gratitude quote wallpaper.

Note: details of how to download this week's wallpaper is provided below.

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation” ~ Brian Tracy

16:9

16:10

4:3

mobile

how to download your wallpaper

Before copying one of the pictures below, you'll want to quickly check your screen settings because the worst thing you can do is use a wallpaper with an aspect ratio that differs from the aspect ratio of your screen.

The aspect ratio of a rectangle is simply the proportion between width and height. The most common are 16:9, 16:10 and 4:3. And it will be for these 3 sizes that I shall provide you with your free wallpaper.

To find your screen resolution follow this basic guide. Steps for your computer may vary slightly but I hope this will give you some guidance:

  • Right-click the desktop and select Display settings.
  • Scroll down until you see "Resolution" (you may have to choose an "Advanced" option)
  • To find your aspect ratio, divide the width over the height. For example, if my resolution is 1920 x 1080 then I would divide 1920 over 1080 to get 1.778, which indicates a 16:9 resolution. Similarly, 1.6 indicated 16:10 and 1.333 indicates 4:3
  • When you've calculated your screen's aspect ratio, go to the picture below that matches that size
  • Right click on the picture and select "Set as Desktop Background"
  • Choose whether to "Fill", "Fit", or "Stretch" your picture - if you've chosen the right size "Fit" will be your best option
  • Select "Set Desktop Background" and you're done

  • First, save the wallpaper image to your phone by pressing your finger on the wallpaper image and hold down on it until you see a menu.
  • From here, click the “Save image” tab, and it will begin downloading.
  • The next step is to set this saved image as your wallpaper by pressing and holding a blank area on your screen (meaning where no apps are placed), and home screen options will appear.
  • Select 'add wallpaper' and choose whether the wallpaper is intended for 'Home screen', 'Lock screen', or 'Home and lock screen'.
  • Another set of options will appear where you can choose where the photo you would like to use will be coming from, namely the Gallery.
  • If necessary, crop the image to a suitable size. Once satisfied, simply click 'Done'.

  • First, save the wallpaper image to your phone by pressing your finger on the wallpaper image and hold down for about 2 seconds until a menu appears.
  • From here, click “Save Image“, and it will begin downloading.
  • The next step is to set this saved image as your wallpaper by, first, going to the 'Photos' app and selecting the wallpaper photo you've saved there.
  • Click on the share icon on the lower left corner of the screen, then select 'Use as Wallpaper'.
  • Then choose to set the photo as either the lock screen, home screen or both.

 

download and keep week 52