Most mornings I wake up, take Athena the dog out, and attempt to move my wild mind from a place of sleepy yawns and achy muscles to a place of gratitude, sunshine and spiritual wealth. It takes a few minutes but I eventually get there. I notice the better I take care of myself through the prior day–the less chemicals, wine, and processed food I have, the easier it is to wake up in a good space. That’s not true for everyone, but it’s true for me. I has taken me years to understand that.
Here are some ideas around gratitude that have been top of mind for me lately.
Summer of Gratitude:
Don’t hope more than you work. Many people complain about the life they want without stepping in a proactive direction. But one has to ask, is that what they really want? If this was what a person truly wanted, they wouldn’t have time to talk about hopes and dreams, because they’d be busy doing it. If this is you, and you dream of one day having a certain life, job, boyfriend (or girlfriend), look, knowledge, language….there are ten million ways to go about achieving that. Get to work on finding a way. Don’t waste one more moment sitting around complaining. If you think you deserve certain opportunities, you will go for them and you will do your absolute best. If you think of yourself as someone who delivers great work, you will deliver great work. If you think you aren’t good enough you will submit unfinished projects. Capeesh [insert Italian tough love accent here]?
Body-Talk. We forget why our bodies are here. These vertical vessels allow our spirits to move around this earth experiencing the world. I’m not sure where along the spectrum we lost sight of what functions are bodies serve, but we’ve really forgotten the physicality of our bodies. We are too concerned with fitting into a fabricated beauty ideal that frankly doesn’t fit most of the human population. For those of you like me who have gone through struggles, bad days and shame around body talk it’s not always easy to step into a light airy dress of gratitude. We wake up, step on the scale and give ourselves applause or a mental lashing depending on what we see. As Geneen Roth says, shaming yourself will not help you lose weight. Wake up and say your gratitudes for the vessel that allows you to experience this life. Give special love and attention to the very things you see as your flaws. Have you ever seen someone who doesn’t look stereotypically model-ish but is having a damn good time anyway? They glow! It’s not about a number on the scale people!
Count Your Beans. I recently watched a video with Marie Forleo and Kris Carr. Kris Carr talks about how she started her own business and mentions that she spent a good amount of time “counting her beans” before she started her business (Crazy, Sexy, Life). That means SAVING buckets of money. On a related note, yesterday I had coffee with a new friend who is a finance consultant. We were talking about women and money. She felt that a lot of women just don’t want to look. She said the energy around money is unfavorable for many women. She believes many women have a feeling of scarcity around money. For anyone that wants to get their finances in order–they need to respect and appreciate what they have. They need to use tools to look at the numbers and understand what they mean. We all need to know where our money goes if we want to create more of it.
Ok friends, it’s the weekend. Take time AWAY from the computer. Reflect on your week on a hike, outside or away from anything you have to turn on or turn off. Go be with yourself and enjoy.
photo via Henkaa