90-Day A Better Me Series

Part II: A Journey of Perspective

What Launches Us Forward: The Stable Foundation

Day 47: The Sturdy Foundation of Gratitude

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, and a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

-Melody Beattie

YES! YES! YES! The sturdy foundation of gratitude is enough withstand any storm. Gratitude can light up any dark corner within us. Gratitude is the foundation we can build the life of our dreams on. When we live with gratitude for our past and present, we manifest a life full of abundance that make our souls sing. This is the space of miracles.

The quickest way to close the door on our path of the inner victim is through gratitude. When we can learn to replace every dark thought with one of gratitude we start retraining and rewiring our brains to see life through different lens. We no longer will live in lack. We choose to be abundant with a grateful heart. It doesn’t matter how anyone else views our lives when we live in gratitude.

When we decide to add gratitude to our foundations the world looks different from every angle. We become grateful for the lessons we learned. We’re grateful for the experiences that taught us what we want and what we don’t want in our lives. We’re grateful for the love we have given and the love we receive. We’re grateful for the kindness of strangers. We’re grateful for the trees swaying in the wind and the ducks swimming in the pond. We are grateful for each breath of oxygen we are able to inhale. We become grateful for the Earth for giving us a home.

When we live in gratitude things in our lives begin to shift. We start taking care of ourselves, our relationships, our land, our communities, our planet, and our energy. The world around us changes because we changed. We won’t see life the same as someone who is committed to living life from a place of fear, victimhood, revenge, hate, rage, and resentment.

Think of these perspectives and decide which one feels better:

• I’m so broke, I can barely get by / I’m grateful for what bills I can pay
• I can’t believe this guy ran into my car / I’m grateful that we are alive
• I’m going to be so late because of all this traffic / I’m grateful I have a way to get me to the appointment
• I’m never going to be able to finish on time / I’m grateful for every minute I have to finish
• My friends are assholes for cancelling on me / I’m grateful for time to do something for myself.
• Why is this happening to me? / I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn from this situation
• My body suck / I’m grateful to have a functioning body to serve my needs
• The narcissist in my life destroyed me / I’m so grateful for the lessons I learned about myself being with a narcissist. He/she really taught me the importance of taking care of my self-worth, self-esteem, and self-love.

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.”

-Alphonse Karr

How we view every circumstance is up to us. NO ONE can make us be grateful or make us be the victim of our lives. We choose the perspectives of truth we want to follow. If we want to live our best life, we have to choose the best view. The view of life through the perspective of gratitude is the best view in the house.

The shift to gratitude takes work and dedication. We have to make a commitment to re-train our brains to focus on gratitude. It may seem silly at first because it will feel unnatural to be grateful for things we once chose to bitch about. Here are a few fun ones:

• I’m so grateful for being cut off because it showed me what an aware driver I am.
• I’m so grateful for the rude cashier because it gave me the opportunity to be kind to someone in pain.
• I’m so grateful for the customer who treated me like an equal human being.
• I’m so grateful for the neighbor who yelled at me because it made me look at the person I am and be grateful for the life I have.

Gratitude can bring light to absolutely ANY situation. When I’m in a bad mood about something, I will write the most absurd gratitude lists and will just start cracking myself up at all the things I can come up with. I’m always amazed at how quickly it can shift my mood. Gratitude is the tool I depend on most to get me out of any funk/situation that I’m letting suck the energy out of me. Gratitude is my path back to sanity. When we can be grateful for the stuff that used to create chaos in our lives, we REALLY learn to appreciate the things that bring us love, joy, peace, happiness, and tranquility.

Just for Today

Commit to the path of gratitude. How can you implement gratitude into your life daily? Can you find ten things a day to be grateful for? How many will you commit to writing down? Will you start a notebook, computer file, or a gratitude app on your phone?

Here’s a challenge for readers who really want to see a real transformation in your lives: Start writing 5 things to be grateful for EVERY day for the remainder of this 90-Day A Better Me Series. Are you up for the challenge?

With Love and Gratitude,

Rachael Wolff ©2019

Did you read today’s companion piece? 90-Day A Better Me Letters Series: Day 47 – Commitment to Practice Gratitude