I created a free Gratitude Journey Guidebook for you!
Check out the Gratitude package on the Empowerment page!
To really simplify gratitude and get to the essence of our practice in the guidebook I offer the word.....
OPENING.
Sit with that for a moment. Find your feet, and feel into this word. OPENING.
Reflect on how it physically feels in your body when you are grateful. Maybe bring to mind a moment recently you are grateful for. See it, bring life to it, who was there? What was happening? Relive it for a moment. Let yourself feel the gratitude for this moment.
Now notice how your body is? Is it open? Is there an opening that occurred from feeling gratitude? Do you soften and unfurl?
I find that in order to feel joy, gratitude, love, connectedness, belonging, in my body, there has to be opening. AND when I am in a state where I am feeling joy, gratitude, love, connectedness, belonging, I feel more open. There is an opening in our physical body, in our minds, and in our hearts.
So the practice of gratitude is the practice of opening.
Opening to the goodness of life.
Opening our hearts to what we love.
Opening our being to others.
Receiving and giving.
In the Guidebook I offer the reflection, “What keeps me from being grateful?” Just scanning your life and being curious, “What is between me and being grateful?”
I share that in my reflection of this I find that it’s a busyness of the mind. It’s the sense and feeling that I am on my somewhere else. That this moment doesn’t really matter, it’s a moment in the future I’m tumbling towards that will matter. That will be enough. That will allow me to “make it” to rest, to stop doing.
Can you relate to that?
So check it out for yourself. When you are in busyness, and it can simply be the busyness of the mind, not necessary tasks. When you are in that state, what does your body, mind and heart feel like?
Are they open? Closed? Tight? Soft? Contracted? Expansive?
Now reflect on a moment, a person, or thing in your life that you have deep gratitude for. Maybe when your partner asked you to marry them? Maybe the birth of your child? Maybe the day you quit your job? Finished college? Maybe it’s something that may seem small but that is large in your heart…..The laugh of your partner, the sun on your face and your toes in the sand, a compliment you received, a pet that is in your life. Whatever it is, let yourself really embody that feeling of gratitude for it.
Check in. When you are in this state, what does your body, mind and heart feel like?
Are they open? Closed? Tight? Soft? Contracted? Expansive?
What I find is that in order to cultivate gratitude, notice the good, feel the good, remember the good, I must be open. IN MY MIND, BODY AND HEART.
In the Guidebook I offer Tara Brach’s 3 pathways to open-hearted presence, because she also believes that to cultivate gratitude it comes from an open hearted presence.
For me, it boils down to....
BE HERE. BE OPEN.
The doing of this takes many forms; reflecting and journaling, meditating, taking in life, finding my feet and deepening my breath, many many different forms. But the BEING, the foundation is BE HERE. BE OPEN.
So I invite you, as you go through this the Gratitude Journey Guidebook, to get curious about opening.
What does OPEN feel like in your body?
What does CLOSED feel like?
What does opening hearted presence feel like to you?
When we are open, we can receive the goodness of life. We can take in life. It is that sacred union, that we are participating in this mystery.
Questions? Comments?
I’d love to hear what this process is like for you.
I would be honored to hear what unfolds on your Journey!
Desire more?
I have awesome monthly membership options for continual support and growth here.
Work with me one on one!
Schedule your free discovery call here.