Friday, November 24, 2006

An Attitude of Gratitude

Opps it is Friday again, it’s 6.43pm my time and it’s time for some blogging. Where does time fly? Well it does, especially if you’re having fun which is what I’ve been having this week. Why? Well no reason in particular, nothing huge has changed in my life, except one small detail. I’ve been focusing on practising gratitude.

I’ve been doing it, reading about it, thinking about it, looking at different ways to remember it; this week been focused on gratitude. And I feel great. Funnily enough I just received an email from an American friend who reminded me that it was Thanksgiving coming up. A time of gratitude for a whole nation. Why not a whole planet?

So why does gratitude feel so great? Because it infuses your whole day. If you start the day feeling good about your world, that energy stays with you. You begin to notice the little things in your life and start to feel grateful for them too. I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful place on this great planet, but I often forget that and my surroundings become invisible. By being in a space of gratitude I’ve started to notice it again and as I walk down the street have silently offered up a thank you for the great place I live. As I do this it becomes an even greater place. Nothing on the physical plane has to actually shift, but my experience of living here is enhanced through my gratitude.

Gratitude is also a great manifestor in our lives and that’s another conversation altogether, suffice to say that if we are grateful for the things in our lives that energy draws more towards us.

So how to remember? Have an intention each day so that as you wake and get dressed you start feeling gratitude for whatever good stuff you have in your life. You can also be grateful for the lessons you are learning even if they are challenging ones. Have something to remind you, a note on your bathroom mirror, a recurring reminder on your computer. I even heard of someone who carries something in their purse so that whenever they spend money they remember to be grateful for the wealth they have.

Doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do it. Gratitude makes you happy.

What are you grateful for today?

Thursday, November 16, 2006

It is what it is

I had an ahah moment this week, which I think in part has something to do with the fact that I am lying flat out with an acutely sprained back. Nothing like inactivity to get the mind going. I was thinking about my life, where I am, what I am doing, and watching how my mind kept on looking at decisions I’ve taken over the past few years and playing ‘what if’ scenarios. What if I’ve gone there instead of here, made that decision instead of this. Sound familiar? Now I know intellectually that there are no mistakes, no wrong decisions, that all that has occurred in my life is exactly as it should be. I honestly believe that. And, for a fleeting moment yesterday I absolutely 'got' that it is what it is. That is a very freeing moment, a complete acceptance of what is and what will come.

At the same time that this has been going on I have been watching the film The Secret a few times (check out www.thesecret.tv). The whole film is about the Law of Attraction and how we can use it to create in our lives. Nothing new in theory but very powerfully presented and unpacked in a really positive way, it kind of takes it one step further. One statement that stood out last night was that whatever has manifested through thought in your life can be undone though a shift in your thoughts and emotions. In other words just because we have created something we don’t like doesn’t mean that we cannot create something new. You can’t change the past and it’s consequences, but you can influence the future.

Put these two experiences together and I suddenly felt just how powerful thoughts and emotions are. If I have created all that is in my life then I can go create again, and again, and again. There is no end to creation, but by accepting ‘it is what it is’ you take the first step to letting it go and manifesting something new in your life.

What do you need to let go of today? What do you want to create in your life tomorrow?

Thursday, November 09, 2006

What is our purpose?

Big question, and one that can only just be raised here in the blog, but it is a question I often look at with my coaching clients. I’ve had many differing ideas about our life purpose over the years. Some say that it always includes an element of service; that it doesn’t necessarily mean the job you do; that it is something that draws you; that it might be invisible to some people; that it has to touch your heart; that it is predestined by our karma; that our purpose is finding out purpose. On and on it goes; there are lots of thoughts about life purpose. All of the above statements hold an element of truth in my mind but the one thing about purpose that I am now sure of is this:

Your life purpose is to find your joy.

If you are doing the thing that brings you joy, fulfilment and happiness then you are embodying your life purpose. When I first came across this idea I thought it selfish and self-serving. But as I contemplated it I began to see that it is only by doing what brings us joy that can take us to our purpose. Our life purpose is not going to be something that we hate! Not possible. Our life purpose will be what gives us the greatest fulfilment and this is why I now have this as my focus, not only for myself but my clients too. Fulfilment is the key. Take that one step further and we don’t even have worry about finding our purpose – a burden for quite a few people. All we need to do is ask ourselves what fires our imagination, what makes us feel great when we think about it, what do we love doing. It really doesn’t matter what it is as long as we are true to our hearts; big or small it is equally valid. As a great master once said: if you want to know how to please God, first please yourself.
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