How Do I Thank Thee? Let Me Count The Ways…
For the past couple of days, at this blog, we’ve been telling you about the power of gratitude, and how you can incorporate it into your life to manifest more of what you want.
We’ve shown you how being grateful, being thankful, and showing appreciation for what you have — and what you’re about to get — will bring you more of your desires, and faster.
Today we have another inspirational exercise and video for you… but first, a quote from our good friend, Guy Finley, a neighbor of ours:
Unlock the Secret of the Ages
“The only way a man or woman will ever know a life without conflict is when they see the Love behind everything that happens — not by imagination, but through direct participation, recognition. There is never a moment that God’s will isn’t actually pouring down on us in one shape or form of energy or another. It is never not taking place, which means that we can always be in alignment with a greater will by giving ourselves up to it.
How do we give ourselves up to it? We have to recognize it in that moment where we are stirred, both positively and negatively. Have you ever noticed how little you think of God when things are fantastic? Real gratitude is born out of a certain substance created in the human heart whose very content is born out of recognizing that Love is actually behind everything that is happening to us — if only we recognized the story and the storyteller and gave ourselves to that will accordingly.”
– Guy Finley, author of Secrets of Being Unstoppable
One of the best ways to tap into that real gratitude that Guy is talking about here is revealed in the exercise that we have for you today.
If you’re ready to discover it, just click below to continue reading…
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Often we don’t show the gratitude we should because we get caught up in our day-to-day lives, confused by too much going on, and allow ourselves to become frustrated by little things. Then when we hear other people complaining about their lives, the tendency is to join in and start complaining, rather than expressing appreciation.
Gregg Krech, author of “Naikan: Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self Reflection” and co-founder of the ToDo Institute in Monkton, Vermont, says, “A powerful way to cultivate gratitude is to focus on what is really happening in our lives, rather than falling into the traps of complaining and drama.”
Here is the practice he suggests in order to accomplish that:
The basic practice of Naikan, which translates to “inside-looking,” consists of asking oneself three questions every day:
1. What have I received today?
2. What have I given?
3. What trouble have I caused?
“While Naikan doesn’t deny the difficult parts of our lives, it puts things into perspective,” says Krech, who asks himself these three questions every evening.
“When I list everything I received and then everything I gave each day, what I have in the giving column is always so much shorter than what’s in the receiving column,” he says. “As we become aware that we’ve received so much more than we’ve given, not only does that cultivate gratitude, it also cultivates often a sense of wanting to give something back to the world.”
Your parents probably told you to “count your blessings” when you were a child. Well, it turns out that making lists of things you have to be grateful for goes way beyond what they even thought possible.
This short video explains why it’s so important to do this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0ru4gzBI-o[/youtube]
So get yourself a little notebook, a journal, or just some regular paper from your computer printer, and start today by answering those three questions and making yourself a list of what you’re grateful for.
Here’s to being thankful, manifesting our desires, being thankful for that, manifesting more desires, and so on… a great snowball effect that, once it starts, you won’t want to stop.
Happy giving of thanks!
Your Partners in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,
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Filed under: Gratitude, Manifestation Tools
I am grateful for my good loving friends, for being happy with them, for good relationships, for my good health, and for all other blessings. Silmy
I am grateful to be healthy, able to give to others as a home health nurse, to be alert and even taking classes in document examination, assisting others with doing handwriting analysis for them. I have a home, friends, loved ones, children who are mostly healthy, Grandchildren who are healthy, Greatgrandchildren. Janet
What do we all have to be thankful for. All we have to do is look around and just be thankful for where we live. I am proud and very lucky to live in the United States of America. Do I have problems, yes. Do I have things to be thankful for. You betcha. The thing that I have to be most greatful for is the fact I had 2 wonderful parents who were an inspiration to me and role models. My Dad was a Baptist Minister for the first 50 years of my life. How priveleged I am to have that to tell people. I know he would not want me to say this in a public forum because he was always there, but never wanted to be in the limelight. He was the rock that held everything together. Needless to say I have so much to be thankful for and could write a book about it.
I am grateful for my good health, family, friends and being enough of all that I need, having enough of all that I need and being able to share some of that with others. I share it in my writing, but continually look for other ways to share. I am truly blessed and have been doing a gratitude journal for a while I can tell you it’s amazing, just amazing the positive results it produces.
I am grateful for my husband and family. I am grateful for a life and career that is joyful and evolving everyday.
I am grateful each day that I wake up and have the opportunity to have a second chance. A second chance to do, be, have, all that I believe I can achieve.
I am grateful
MeMe
http://www.cafememe.com
I live in sunny South Africa.I am truly blessed.I have a loving caring husband, four wonderful sons ,they are blessed with children who are healthy .We have a home which are supplied with all we need.we have food clothes ,a car .Above all we are healthy. I am 61 yrs old and i am still rendering a full time clinic nursing in our local community clinic ,where i serve families in caring for themselves and their children.I can see,hear talk walk and still appreciate all the wonderful gifts of the universe!
I am so grateful for all the challenges that keep coming my way in spite of staying focused, putting out for what I want, witnessing every thought and feeling and being grateful for the good things that are currently happening.
Just when I have thought I have got on top of current affairs another whammy comes along. What am I learning from this?
Not to be so cocky; seeing that life is preparing me for further soul growth; Learning to be grateful for all the challenges in my life and grateful for all the simply wonderful aspects of my life which are many when I think about it.
I discovered that being in a state of gratitute (State of grace) lifts my consciousness from the lower self to the higher self. The shift is amazing. It takes away all feelings of stress and anxiety. Even the concept of time seems to slow down. Its like suddenly I have been transported to another dimension of blissful existence.
ps
A thought thread comes to me that we are born with a certain amount of positive credits and negative debits in our emotional/mental bank.
The thoughts we think and the actions we take through our life determine how these credits accumulate or are debited from our account. Obviously the more credits accumulated the greater the possibilities abound and the so-called born with a silver spoon or luck factor comes into play. I would say there is a carry-over from a previous existence crediting or debiting our accounts.
I love my life! I wake up every day without an alarm clock, with my husband by my side. We are retired at age 45 and now live every day on our terms. We have total freedom in our lives to do whatever we want, walk our little dog in the middle of the afternoon when everyone else is at work, go for breakfast in the middle of the morning, take a day in the middle of the week and go shopping or visit our kids out of town, or jump in our little convertible and go for an extended drive and just enjoy the ride, we travel several times a year. We have no stress in our lives, we are in perfect health, have an incredible relationship together and with our kids. We live in a lovely home and are totally debt free. I am so grateful for the life we have and the life we live, and have learned that everything in life is truly a choice….and we have made choices that have brought us to this abundant state, and I am truly thankful that I learned to make the right choices.
http://WWW.ABUNDANT-LIFESTYLE.COM
I am grateful for the air I breath, my bodily functions, strangers I meet, smiles I share, giving hope to those who feel hopeless, praying with others, the food I eat, the drink I drink, the roof over my head, my bed that gives me perfect rest, my character, the love I share everyday, the fact that I can feel grateful and do give thanks for there are many who do not give thanks and do not forgive and that is sad. I am grateful for the sunrise and sunset, the angels and the Universe. The etheral substance that looks after me and sustains me.
I am grateful for all of my life! The good, the not so good for it is all good.
Especially that which causes us to have gratitude…which are our lesson bringers…for it is those moments in time that causes us to stop and reflect as to what lesson this experience is supposed to awaken in us.
Even though in the heat of the experience I am caught a wishing this lesson hadn’t been given…
I know that if I only preservere; eventually the storm will pass and the sun will continue to shine once again…
if only I don’t get caught up in the moment…long term…thus losing the trees amongst the forest of time…
I am truly grateful for my children, grandchildren, friends and family…life is good!
I am also grateful for my health and all that I am always being given…
Love, Light and Peace
Tonie Wallace
We Are All Blessed
http://www.onlinetoniewallace.com
I used to say that I was “blessed and highly favored”, and probably said it more as wishful thinking than a true acknowledgment of all the blessings I have received and am continually experiencing. One of those is this awesome opportunity to say Thank you.
I am thankful for a good life, not always perfect, but full of rich possibilities and an endless supply of love . I am thankful for a wonderful child and abundant health. I am grateful for loving friends and family and a safe and warm home. I’m grateful for gainful employment and a chance to learn something new everyday. I am thankful for the love of God, that I experience every moment of the day. What a wonderful moment this is and I am grateful that I can look forward to many more. God bless you.
When I’m feeling overwhelmed and depressed at all that I haven’t done and seemingly endless mountain of responsibilities, I walk outside and find that I am staring at the ground. As I catch my thought of negative vibration, I force myself to look up and around. What do I see? I see a world of natural beauty as I gaze and breath into the fresh foggy crispy November morning. On my right is a frosty pine forest that the previous owner planted 50 years ago. I am thankful. I look to the left across the misty bottomland and see the eagle soar above the crystal clear river as he gives a cry to greet me. I am thankful, Universe. Then, as I look ahead of me, I hear the bray of Amos, my mule, greeting me and welcoming me once again into this world where I live. I am in the moment. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!
I want to give something back today for people to receive so they too can be thankful. What shall it be?
I am thankful for everyday I wake and have a warm loving home. Challenges come yes they do I am thankful for the lessons each one has to teach me. I am thankful that I may help another through out the course of my day no matter how small it may be. I am thankful for my beautiful children my greatest treasures. My life is one to be appreciated in all its travels. I thank the universe and spirit for giving me the strength to keep on keeping on.
i am grateful for being alive for being guided for all of lifes pleasures and most of all for the knowledge and feeling that i am a wanted child of the universe and he takes care of me now and will continue to do so for ever more provided i remain open .
I agree with being grateful as a powerful force in your life. You can uplift others and yourself. I live an amazing life, designing it daily to be what I want, not what others think it should be.
Some of you may have heard of a gratitude journal . It’s a simple and lovely idea that can be done in a few minutes a day. You simply write what you are grateful for. You can do it daily, weekly, or whenever the mood strikes you. You can write in a journal, on computer whatever you prefer, you may even want to record it in a digital voice recorder.
What is so magical about doing this is, it focuses you on what is good in your life. It makes you stop and pay attention to the wonderful people, experiences and things in your life. Then by writing it you think about it in more detail. Then you can review it and you will begin to see how much you have in your life to be grateful for.
On top of this you will begin to attract more people who are grateful for you and life. You will see and feel more things for you to be grateful for. Gratitude will fill you up and you will begin to see almost nothing except reasons to be grateful.
I love life, thanks, Nan Akasha createyourownrealitynow.com
I am grateful for my good health, talents and knowledge – being open and ready to learn more – grateful for my fabulous close friends and the quality time i spend with my loved ones. I am grateful for the good health of all my family and friends – and the notion that underneath everything that we see, believe or perceive – all is well.
Every morning I lay in bed getting ready for the day with gratitude attitude. I thank my bed for its comfort thru the night, I thank my apartment and the heat it gives in the cold mornings. I look out the window and say thank you that I can see. I arise and say thank you that I can walk, talk, smell, pet my cat…I am so grateful for my job, which allows me to work from home, my fitness classes I can still teach at 54 years old, my family, who are all wonderful loving people. I am thankful that I can drive down the street and send love to strangers on the street, sending them blessings and good wishes. And I thank the internet and all the opportunities to learn how to be even more grateful.
Hello… I have just found this website and I’m really pleased!
I started keeping a gratitude journal at the beginning of the year… and each day I write in it — and it is something I really look forward to doing each morning. And on the days that I feel incredibly challenged, by even getting my journal out… I instantly shift into a different mindset.
In the last few weeks I’ve got so much to be grateful for — for spending precious time with my dad as he was dying and then being privileged to organise his funeral. He was with me when I entered the world… and I’m so grateful I was there for when he was leaving.
So much to be grateful for each and every day.
Jeanne
http://www.aspirationsplus.com
Yea Gratitude When I think gratitude thankful my list is world long. What new thougth have I been given, have I given it a way? yes or no,if no I have a house of junk. If anwser is yes I or we are free. Thougth,things,money poeple, love what is and don’t stop looking. If i am not happy now. I’ll never be;
I am so much grateful for the atoning sacrifice of our savior, the life that I have, my family and friends, my job and to all the countless blessings I been recieving. and I am thankful for this very interesting and uplifting stories or articles.
thank you!
I am greatful for the gold mine of knowledge and countless blessings I receive from you in my inbox. Kindly continue to send the same in my inbox regularly for which I express of my deep gratitude once again. Regards.
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