Gratitude Changes Everything

It’s time to banish the monsters that rob bliss

Banish your inner monsters today. (Image created by Jody Wright with Bing’s Image Creator)

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.” Oscar Wilde

I think Oscar Wilde said it best! Let’s move from just existing. It’s our time to find our bliss!

It sounds easy enough to “exist” but in today’s world the question is, “How do we actually move beyond merely existing into truly living?”

It’s like pondering the impossible when we first set out on this journey of living.

Here are some tips I’ve found that are helpful in taking the first steps.

Practice Gratitude

Easier to say than do, right? What if your friend has cancer, or your husband has congestive heart failure? The furnace just broke in the middle of winter for the second time in two months. Your ancient car is threatening the “t” word (transmission). Oh, and that job you had . . . gone. Are you supposed to feel “grateful” that all this is happening?

Of course not. However, you can be grateful each is still here. You can be grateful that you can make others happier. You can find an opportunity to introduce a little joy and even laughter. You still have time to say “I Love YOU!” in countless ways while those you care most about are in this “here and now.”

For me, everything except for love falls into the category of “stuff.” There will be health issues to face. Furnaces will screw up in the worst times possible. Cars will come and go. Jobs will change. All of which I have spoken of in the first paragraph after “Practice Gratitude” has happened to me in the last six months and more that I don’t wish to rehash. To which I must reply, “Shit happens.”

I have to ask myself eventually, “What is right with my world?”

A lot of people face far more problems than I ever will. I have to look the monster in the face and realize that “this too shall pass.” But meanwhile, I also get to choose how I want to live today. Will I be miserable and complain to all within ear range? Or can I remind myself that better thoughts are available right now, just for the thinking of them?

A year from now, I probably won’t remember a great deal of the things that worry me today. Why focus so hard on what I do not want at the expense of what I do want?

If I go through life paying too much attention to circumstances, I will always be tossed like an ocean wave from one situation to the next. If I can take a breath, stay in the moment, and move beyond merely existing, we have choices. These very choices can give us back our power (though no one ever really took it away) and move us into living instead of reacting.

Let’s start concentrating on what we do have and what we are grateful for.

Refuse the Habit of Depressive Thoughts

A friend reminded me of the fact that a habit is just something we keep on thinking and sometimes depressive thoughts fall right into that category.

We get to control our thinking. Why keep going down the same street of negativity and reliving the past day after day? Break the cycle and when you run across those depressive thoughts, vow to change the habit.

That’s not to say to run away from it. Just consider depression as a temporary visitor. Invite it in, be polite, and walk it out the back door.

Take A Walk:

I’m reminded of the song, “I’ve Seen All Good People.” One of the lyrics says, “Don’t Surround Yourself with Yourself, Move on Back to Square.”

Sometimes we get caught up in our very own loop; we get angry and get lost in our very own chain of sorrow. We think the same old thoughts and we are surprised when we end up in the same old spot over and over again. We become a prisoner of our own thoughts . . .

So, try taking a walk. Turn your cell phone off. Be, for a moment in time, “unreachable.”

If you have a dog, take them too. Let your thoughts focus only on each step, each bird, each tree, and each inch of beauty you can find around you.

It won’t take very long to feel better when you are one with nature. And if you look really deep into it, you’ll see miracles. Tissue-thin butterflies defying all odds. Dragonflies that look like they reigned supreme in dinosaur times. The smell of the foliage. The whisper of a stream in the distance. The song only trees can make as the wind dances through them.

Discover how many different flowers you can find just growing wild. If you are artistic take a sketchbook along and draw them. Or press them in a book and write poems next to each.

Breathe in life again. Center yourself up. Dare to contemplate bliss . . .

YOUR CHOICE

These are just a few examples, but you can find so many more. Make your mission a gratitude journey. You deserve it. Claim it.

We get the choice. Existing . . . or Living? I choose LIVING (with ample helpings of BLISS!).

Won’t you join me?

Find your bliss today. Why wait? (Image created by Jody Wright with Bing’s Image Creator).