Living In Gratitude: Change These Two Thoughts

Acknowledging the good you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance. ~Eckhart Tolle

A few blogs ago, we discussed the importance of an uplifting morning ritual to begin each day on the right foot and in a positive state of mind.

For those of us who haven’t yet implemented any of the suggestions from that article, or possibly even those of us who have, we may still be unconsciously undermining our days with two thoughts.

“I didn’t get enough sleep.”

and

“I don’t have enough time.”

A recent article penned by psychologist and writer, Katherine Schafler, discusses how these two thoughts become a ‘default mode’ for many of us, setting us up for a mindset of scarcity. She says that we “focus on what we wish was different, and in doing so, we subtly reject all that we already have.”

We think these two thoughts every single day claims Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money. “Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something…what begins as a simple expression of a hurried life, or even the challenged life, grows into the great justification for an unfulfilled life.”

This unconscious morning ritual initiates a daily thought pattern of other negative thoughts. And so we start our day feeling behind, inadequate, and ill equipped.

Schafler offers an activity that demonstrates how our thoughts determine our focus.

Take 15 seconds to find everything blue in your surroundings: the sky, a pillow on your sofa, your coffee cup…

Next, close your eyes and recall everything in the room that was green. She bets we won’t recall much.

Her point is this: when we focus on something specific, our brain naturally disregards most everything else.

When the instructions we give our brain first thing is that we are lacking in sleep and time, our brains will automatically find ways to hone in on these directions all day long.

The good news is, we can retrain ourselves to live in a place of abundance. The way to achieve this is through the practice of gratitude.

Schafler says that the practice of gratitude does mean pretending everything is perfect. Nor does it involve “shallowly telling yourself that you have everything you could ever want or need.’

Gratitude is acknowledging what looks like enough.

And we can begin by beginning our days by changing our outlook to:

“I got enough sleep and I have enough time.”

This sets our brains up to focus on what else we have enough of:

• Patience
• Creativity
• Problem-solving
• Confidence
• Money
• Food
• Friends
• Love

And so it goes. These two thoughts are the catalyst for noticing all we have in life that is good. In essence, we find more to be grateful for and as such, we breed contentment and happiness.

An appreciation practice nurtures an on-going sense of gratitude. This enables us to give our ideas, time, patience, and creativity as well as live in the present moment, says Schafler. And people who are genuinely grateful for what they already have naturally give and as such, they naturally receive in return.