As I was setting my intentions for the New Year, 2020, I started with a reflexion on 2019. What was supporting me last year??
It was a very beautiful but also challenging year for me, filled with difficult moments and a lot of adjustments had to be made. I realised that what really kept me going, helped me see just the blessings, and made me go only forward was GRATITUDE.
I know a lot has been said lately on that and we hear it everywhere. I also have been practicing it for a long time now, but last year was special. I literally lived by it everyday. When I didn’t know what to do in certain situations that seemed hard to resolve, I used gratitude over and over again. There is so much to be grateful for. We ALL have so much to be grateful for. Starting with simple things like running water or clean water to drink, food on our plate, clothes to wear, washing machine to wash it, roof over our head, people around us: friends, partners, children, then of course health, love, peace, kindness, nature around us…..the list is endless.
This brings me back to the times when I lived in Lagos, Nigeria. I have really learned a lot there in respect to gratitude from local people. I have seen so many situations where people had next to nothing and lived in poverty however, they were still grateful for being alive, for food, and for their health. They danced, sang and made jokes on a daily basis. This was so inspiring to watch. In my culture I was not used to it. In Africa I have seen people living without running water, without electricity, without enough food to last them till the end of the month, yet they still were cheerful, grateful, kind and helpful. And somehow they would always make it work. What kept them going was gratitude paired with profound trust in higher power. (I will write on the latter in a separate blog).
And that is how it works.
By just acknowledging a couple of positive things that stood out for us on a particular day, we put ourselves into a spiral of positive energy that we can ride on wherever we want.
Acknowledging and appreciating what we have, being thankful for it, makes other things just flow into our life. Suddenly everything starts falling into place.
If you still have doubts try it yourself.
PRACTICE:
Everyday (best first thing in the morning or last thing at night) tell yourself 3-5 things you were grateful for on that particular day or the previous day. You can also write it down in a ‘Gratitude Journal’.
Do it for at least 1 month and see how you feel. At the same time try to restrain yourself from complaining too much. Anytime you feel like it, just start reminding yourself your blessings over and over again.
Try it out, it works like magic!