I find that if I can pause and say to myself ‘ I am present, right here, right now’, I can then begin to think of what I am grateful for right now: ‘our health, food, shelter, water, the loving touch of someone, the warmth of a dooner, the view’. It doesn’t matter what I am grateful for….or if even at the start I’m not feeling grateful … by cultivating the list, my mood shifts…it stops the ‘woe is me’ thinking that I hate to say is often going on in my head and instead pulls me into the present and into a different, more open, more accepting mood of gratitude! Nothing has changed on the outside….I just feel different about it on the inside!
I have also noticed the whole mood of our family can change just before dinner if we all say one thing we are grateful for before tucking in to our meal. The kids roll their eyes ‘ not this again!’ but the mood change is palpable…everyone settles, is more connected and more open! Writing this blog makes me more determined to cultivate the attitude of gratitude in our house!!!
Deep Heart Wisdom 