Day 8 - Clearing through gratitude
My journey isn’t being marked or graded. It’s simply a beautiful thing discovering my self awareness. The more I dive head first into a mood of gratitude first thing in the morning, the more the negative inhibitions disappear.
ALL LOVE!
Gratitude is, from my experience so far, such an important quality to dive into headfirst. The second you wake up you should be smelling the fresh flower of gratitude. It gives you an extremely strong connection to the universe; one that almost pulls your spine up straighter to go about your day; being thankful rather than judgmental. If we can start being less judgmental about things on the outside, it’s harder to criticize ourselves on the inside.
Without being grateful, we start our day with our brain, soul, and heart cramped into a corner. The practice of gratitude is like speaking calmly to a scared or hurt child to come to a caregiver. It's scary to love yourself truly and to acknowledge what you can be grateful for, but once you do, you’ll find connecting to the higher power that’s in us all is easy and soul fulfilling.
Gratitude impacts my inner voice in such a powerful way. It really gives my inner voice space to breathe and purpose to move forward through my day because gratitude and my inner voice work hand in hand. If I'm grateful for my day, then my inner voice has permission and more power to really push my day with an encouraging and positive lift.
Gratitude clears the way for expression because gratitude is light being shone through water. What does it equal? A rainbow of opportunity to express yourself in ways that further your journey to self-discovery and mindfulness. A gratitude list practice is essential to finding your inner voice and true essence.
My Gratitude list: my body, my eyes, my vision, my brain, my creativity, my mouth, my voice, my heart, my ability to love and be loved, my stomach, yummy food, my back, my work, my legs, my adventures, my feet, my past…
A gratitude list helps channel a mood of gratitude. A mood of gratitude starts with a simple recognition that you are alive and you are present in that moment. My whole day is elevated if I can start my day with gratitude even for little things... "My heart is beating. I have a schedule today. Or I don’t have a schedule today. Or I have a day. And that is a beautiful start.”
If I can picture my inner voice being a battery, gratitude is the charge. Gratitude is a very, very powerful tool.
Listen
Exercises & Journal Prompts
In a journal, on a laptop, or on your phone, write a list of what you're feeling grateful for when you wake up. Challenge yourself to do this every morning. Start with seven consecutive days, then keep going for one month, then try and make it a daily practice. And when you finish, delete it, crumple up the paper, or leave it be in your journal. This exercise shouldn’t be about bragging. It’s simply dusting the cobwebs off in your inner voice box and giving it the fresh air it needs. It’s charging your inner voice. Gratitude heals and encourages growth.
If you can wake up in a fresh bubble of gratitude, how long can you challenge yourself to keep the bubble afloat and growing throughout your day?
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