start monday with gratitude

We take so much for granted in our lives, the tiny things that we enjoy every single day. And, yet, if those tiny things that we take so much for granted, were taken away, our lives would, probably, fall apart.

Sometimes it’s the tiny things that actually create the greatest impact in our lives because they keep things ticking along and running smoothly.

So today, I ask you: “what are you grateful for today, that you took for granted yesterday?”

Not so long ago, once a week for a couple of hours, I would speak English to a couple of young Swiss kids. One of the kids was really keen to learn, the other struggled to stay motivated. And that's okay. They're different personalities with different strengths.

We often played a naming game. I would ask them to name, say, 10 animals in English.

Every time I suggested playing the game and naming 10 animals, the enthusiastic learner would always say "no", closely followed by "40!" And both girls, with a little help and some rather poor animal acting from me, would reach that 40 mark.

But that was never enough for the enthusiastic learner. She wanted to keep upping the game and stretching for more (even though I was struggling myself to come up with more animals that I thought they'd know the names of in English).

That's where I want us to be with our gratitude practice this week.

Last week was a challenging week when we focused on finding the positives and expressing gratitude for challenges in our life, past and present. However, it has set us up in such a way that gratitude should come so much easier. Especially gratitude for the many things we take for granted, as our eyes have now been opened more fully.

So today I want you to show the same level of enthusiasm that that little 9 year old girl showed when playing the 'name the animal' game. Only I want you to show your gratitude that enthusiasm.

How many things that you take for granted can you be grateful for today? There is no limit!

Let's focus on our breath.

Breathe in for a count of 4.  

Breathe out for a count of 8.

Now... when you breathe in, imagine yourself breathing in a blessing, a miracle, something new that you would like to manifest into your life. Imagine something. See something. Think of something.

Then, when you breathe out, express gratitude for that blessing as if you already have it in your life.

Take some time out to do this, and then in your journal, don't share what you're grateful for, share how many blessings and miracles you expressed gratitude for through this breathing exercise. I want a number, today.

This is a fabulous exercise to do when you're feeling stressed. When we're stressed our breathing tends to become more shallow. When you breathe in for 4 and out for 8 your breathing will slow down and you will begin to relax. When you breathe in for 4 and out for 8 and also express gratitude for something on the out-breath, your vibration will also rise to a higher level.

In this week's gratitude practice, we're focusing on the small things, the things we tend to take for granted.

We're focusing on them because, when you focus and give value to the small things, when the bigger things come around, you'll find it easier to express gratitude for them.

In my musings this week, where I talked in detail about the gratitude quote for this week, I touched on how we tend to not allocate much value or importance to things we see as being free or receive for free. It's only when we pay a price for something, like our health, that we attribute more attention to it and express gratitude for it.

Today I invite you to think of something that you were gifted, for free, that you didn't allocate sufficient value towards, simply because it was free.

How could you have attributed more value to it? How could you have appreciated it more?

We're going to play with our breathing again, for a little. Today I want you to:

breathe in for a count of 4

breathe out for a count of 8

breathe in for a count of 4

and now I want you to hold your breath.

Don't breathe out and don't breathe any more air into your lungs for as long as you can. Really push yourself. See how long you can go without taking a breath.

How does your body feel while you're holding your breath? What's your body experiencing while you're holding your breath?

At first, it's not difficult, your body hasn't realised that no more oxygen is coming in and excess carbon dioxide isn't going out.

But what happens when your body tunes into what's happening? Does your chest feel tight? Does your head feel light? Do you feel pressure anywhere? Can you feel panic start to rise up inside you?

And when you can't hold your breath any longer, what happens? Do you exhale fast and full? Is your next inhale deeper and fuller? How long did you hold your breath for? How uncomfortable did it feel?

Can you imagine that not expressing gratitude feels, to your soul, the same as holding your breath too long feels for your body?

When we tune into ourselves on a soul level, we begin to honour the things that support us at soul level. We begin to change our attitudes, habits and behaviours to be ones that are supportive of our body, mind and soul. And gratitude is one of those habits and attitudes.

Today I want you to write down and record how your body felt during this little exercise.

Alternatively, feel free to express some gratitude, now you know how suffocating it feels for your soul not to.

You’ve been practising gratitude daily for almost a year now, so it should have become a natural habit for you. Yes, it’s still something we need to remember to do voluntary. It’s not like breathing, an involuntary action that our bodies make to ensure we stay alive.

However, it should, by now, be something that comes more naturally to you. As it’s something that should come more naturally to you by this stage, we’re going to test that out.

Similar to previous days we’re going to focus on deep yogic breathing.

Again, we’ll breathe in for a count of 4 and out for a count of 8.

When we did our gratitude practice on Wednesday we focused on a blessing or a miracle that you would like to receive into your life and on every out-breath you expressed gratitude for that, as if it was already in your life.

Today we are going to focus on things that you already have in your life that you should express gratitude for. They can be big things or tiny things. It really doesn’t matter.

On the in-breath, to a count of 4, I want you to bring whatever you already have in your life to the forefront of your mind. And on the out-breath, to a count of 8, I invite you to express gratitude for it.

Every time you breathe in, think of something different.

For some time now, I have been doing regular Breathwork sessions a few times a week.

Although Breathwork has become popular in recent years, it’s nothing new. People have been practicing breathwork for thousands of years, and it has its roots in yoga. However, the light has been shone on Breathwork following research on its many and varied health benefits.

Indeed, some of the emotional health benefits associated with it include fewer feelings of depression and anxiety, better outlook on life, and an increase in contentment and joy. Indeed, the emotional benefits of Breathwork are similar to the emotional benefits associated with a gratitude practice.

When you express gratitude on a regular basis, your outlook on life becomes more positive, leading to fewer feelings of depression and anxiety, contentment, happiness and joy in your life increases.

There are many Breathwork techniques such as holotropic breathwork, deep abdominal breathing, breath of fire and, like we have been practising this week, yogic breathing.

What’s special about Breathwork is that, whilst you may wish to focus on releasing something that’s not working in your life or something that’s been pulling you down, your body will instinctively release whatever it needs to best release. It’s a very natural process.

With this in mind, today, being Sunday, often considered a more restful day of the week, we’re just going to let our bodies decide what blessings and miracles to breathe in and what to give thanks for.

So, following the style of breathing we’ve done this week – breathing in for a count of 4 and out for a count of 8, I simply invite you to set the intention that you shall breathe in whatever blessings and miracles will best benefit you and breathe out whatever you should give thanks and gratitude for.

Simply trust that your body, your energy knows. All you have to do is breathe.