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Living In Gratitude: Feel, Be, Spread Love

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Love is our true foundation, inborn in all of us.

Last week, our blog talked about The Four Agreements and how they can help us let go of fear and embrace an authentic life. With Valentine’s Day only a few days away, of course, this week’s topic is love.

But rather than focusing on romantic love, we are instead discussing about how to live life from a place of love. Just as when we transform our internal beliefs, when we live life based on love, this also empowers us to live authentically.

Living a life founded on love embodies three parts: Feeling love, being love and spreading love.

Feeling Love

Each of us is born from love. It is our foundation and the essence of who we are. Over time, we lose site of that and instead form a base of fear, which shrouds and overpowers the underpinnings of love. To overcome this, we first need to learn to truly love ourselves. We are all worthy, deserving and valuable no matter our faults and foibles. Loving ourselves fills us with compassion, abundance, appreciation, happiness, understanding, acceptance, forgiveness and kindness. When we love ourselves unconditionally, only then can we begin to be love and spread love.  Read more

Living In Gratitude: Listening to Understand VS Listening to Reply

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Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. ~Stephen R. Covey

Listening is an important part of communication but is also one of life’s most difficult skills.

When someone is speaking to us, there is a delay between what we hear and what we understand. During this time, we begin listening to our own internal conversation and as a result, our ability to comprehend what the speaker is saying declines.

This lag time can be a result of our physical or emotional state but odds are, it is due to our own thoughts and opinions that we seek out of every conversation to support our own personal beliefs. Called confirmation bias, this tendency causes us to only listen for what we want to hear.

Often, people also employ competitive listening in which they hear something they believe to be false. This causes a negative reaction, listening ceases and communication breaks down. Read more

Living In Gratitude: A New Year, A New Appreciation

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Be in love with your life, every minute of it. ~Jack Keroac

Every moment of life is an adventure and January 1st holds the promise of a fresh start. Many of us choose this day to start ‘over’, to make changes in our lives.

For those considering making a New Years resolution, nurturing one’s gratitude can provide profound and life-altering changes.

Feeling and expressing appreciation spills over into all areas of life.

It enhances our relationships, creating stronger bonds among family, friends and coworkers.

Gratitude nourishes our bodies, boosting our immunity and our overall health. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Giving Thanks

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I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. ~Henry David Thoreau

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, it is the perfect time to talk about giving thanks. After all, that is what this day is all about: gathering with those we care about, sharing a feast and expressing gratitude for our abundance.

Each year brings a cornucopia of things into each of our lives: challenges, changes, adventures, opportunities, losses, renewals, laughter, sadness, lessons and stresses.

It is always easier to appreciate the obvious positives – a promotion, wedding, graduation or birth – but many of us do find ourselves lacking when it comes to being thankful for life’s hardships, losses and even day to day irritations.

Yet gratitude isn’t only about being thankful when things are good but about finding the blessings in all things.

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

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Living In Gratitude: 6 Tips To Composing Heartfelt Thank You Notes

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Saying thank you is more than good manners.  It is good spirituality.  ~Alfred Painter

People like being appreciated. Every gift deserves a thank-you, whether it is a material object, a referral, or to express your appreciation for someone’s friendship, acceptance or support.

Although occasionally a thank you email or text message will do, a handwritten note expresses a completely different level of appreciation. It takes added effort and planning (but not much) to actually pen and mail a thank you card, letter or postcard. Even if your handwriting is poor, still hand-write your notes. Do not type them or use a word processor.

Writing thank-you notes is easier than you remember them being as a kid (when your mom had you write thank you cards for every birthday gift received).

The 6 Points for a Perfect Thank You

  1. Greet the Giver

Dear Aunt Maye,

Although it’s the easy part, you’d be surprised how many people forget it.

  1. Express Your Gratitude

Thank you so much for the delicious homemade berry pie you brought to dinner the other night. 

  • Avoid beginning with, “I’m writing to thank you…” That’s stating the obvious. 
  • When thanking someone for money, use phrases like, “Thank you for your generosity,” or “Your kindness is greatly appreciated.“
  • When writing to thank someone for an intangible (such as allowing you to stay with them for a weekend), define what the intangible thing is:  ‘Thank you for your hospitality last weekend.”
  • Don’t worry if it sounds too simple; the point is to create a simple expression of a heartfelt sentiment.

Read more

Living In Gratitude: Slow Down & Enjoy Life

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Sustained busyness is taking a toll on the quality of our lives and our relationships.

Free time. Two words that most people, including children, are unfamiliar with and wish they had more of.

Our free time has been filled with work, errands, chores, extracurricular activities, social obligations, classes, projects…the list goes on. And to top it off, we are always connected. Thanks to technology, we are reachable at all hours, wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. All of these things can lead to feeling overwhelmed, stressed and irritable.

Being ‘on‘ all of the time, always rushing from one must-do task to another negatively affects our health and wellbeing along with our productivity, creativity and ability to focus. Our relationships can also suffer as we don’t have time to communicate and connect. The good news is, you can stop the ‘hamster on a wheel‘ mentality and slow down without falling behind.

Here are ways to slow down, relax and reclaim a balanced life.

Find your sweet spot

We all get to a point when we feel overwhelmed. Instead of trying to function in that state, give yourself time to wrap your mind around the task or situation at hand. Take a short walk, sit outside in the sun, listen to your favorite soothing songs. Give yourself an opportunity to find your sweet spot’, the place where you are both relaxed and productive. When we focus on all the details that need done, we get overwhelmed. Walking away for a few minutes allows us to reset and get to a place of acting mindfully versus reacting out of anxiety and panic. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Strive To Be Of Value

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Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value. ~ Albert Einstein

In Western society, much of what defines a person, especially in their ‘career,’ is their success. And this success usually revolves around the monetary or material as well as ‘one ups-manship‘, that unspoken concept of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’.

We are taught to strive for success rather than to be of value.

When we offer value, be it to the company that employs us, our spouse, children and family or our clients and friends, we are, by default, successful. Others are innately attracted to and appreciate those who selflessly offer their help and expertise.
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Living In Gratitude: Graciously Accepting Compliments

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Everyone appreciates a compliment but many of us don’t know quite how to accept them gracefully.

Compliments can make us feel uncomfortable. We don’t want to appear as though we are ‘tooting our own horn’ by accepting a compliment yet at the same time, we want to enjoy it.

Below are a few tips to graciously accepting the gift of compliments.

Compliments are gifts. 
The best response when someone compliments you is simply: Thank you.

If that doesn’t feel like enough, try to keep your response short and sincere.

“Thank you, my parents gave this to me and it’s always been one of my favorites,” or 
”Thank you, I really enjoyed presenting to your group,”
 or “Thanks so much, that means a lot to me.“

Accept All Compliment
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When we deflect or turn down a compliment, we are basically insult the giver.

Giver: I love your outfit. It was the perfect thing to wear to this event.

Receiver: Oh, this old thing? I grabbed it out of the back of my closet.  I don’t really like it, but it was too late to find something better.

That response informed the person who complemented you that they have poor taste. Now they are wondering why they offered you a compliment to begin with.

What should you have said? Thank you. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Insightful Words of Wisdom From Wayne Dyer

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It has been just over a year since Wayne Dyer passed away and just about that long since we posted our blog in tribute to him.

A truly perceptive man, Wayne Dyer was a renowned self-help advocate, author and lecturer. Below are just some of his wise and insightful words of wisdom.

 

Our intention creates our reality.

 

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

 

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

 

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.

Cannot be lonely if like person you're alone with Wayne Dyer GH logo

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.

 

Read more

Living In Gratitude: 19 Ways To Minimize Stress

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It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it. ~ Hans Selye

Stress is a part of daily life. This state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from the demands and pressures of life and work can result in headaches, fatigue, problems sleeping, difficulty making decisions and a host of other symptoms.

Below are 19 tips on how to manage and minimize stress.

  1. Chocolate meditation

  • Choose a chocolate that is indulgent or that you’ve never eaten. Dark chocolate is especially ideal for this exercise.
  • Open the packet. Inhale the aroma. Let it sweep over you.
  • Break off a piece and look at it. Really let your eyes drink in what it looks like, examining every nook and cranny.
  • Pop it in your mouth. See if it’s possible to hold it on your tongue and let it melt. Chocolate has over 300 different flavours. See if you can sense some of them.
  • If you notice your mind wandering, simply notice where it went and gently escort it back to the present moment.
  • After the chocolate has completely melted, swallow it very slowly and deliberately. Let it trickle down your throat.
  • Repeat this with one other piece.

2. Write down worries in a journal

The physical act of writing things down helps minimize stress by moving them from inside ourselves to an outside space.

3. Peel an orange

Studies show the smell of citrus is a tension tamer.

91 Savor each moment

4. Experience nature

Getting outside and enjoying nature is a great way to minimize stress. Focus on the sights, smells and sounds around you. Breathe deeply. Feel the movement of your body. Read more