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Gratitude is a Super Power!

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I am grateful to be looking at gratitude yet again this blog!
Gratitude is an awesome superpower. I read recently that one of the most powerful statements you can make, feel or think is ‘thank you’. Thank you to others and yourself too.
 
It is so helpful to remember to be thankful to all those people in our lives who have been motherly, kind and caring toward us, including of course our own maternal mothers, to whom we owe so much, including our lives. Remembering to be thankful to friends, family and strangers too for the kindness they show us in all sorts of ways is powerful to promote our happiness and peace of mind. We'll talk more about gratitude for mothering kindness next blog, as it will be Mother's Day weekend. I'll be on board travelling from Canberra to Sydney!
 
It is also great to be thankful to others who give us the opportunity to be kind to them. This includes, friends, family, pets, strangers and of course our children or anyone we care for.

It's great to remember to tune into our wise selves to be kind and thankful to ourselves too. Seeing ourselves be a positive force in the world, being kind and grateful creates a happy perception. We can reinforce this goodness by being thankful to ourselves. We can be grateful to ourselves for doing our best to be a kind, positive force in the world. Remembering also to forgive ourselves and others for all those so called ‘mistakes’, more helpfully known as learning opportunities. 
 
The opportunities to extend kindness do not always come in the ways we expect and sometimes these kind acts are received without thanks. I find it helpful to thank myself, especially during those times like when I have spent a lot of time and effort doing something like making a family meal which is received with 'I don't like this!' Resting in my intention to have prepared a healthy meal and thanking myself helps to prevent resentment. A space I  have known very well. 

Sometimes extending kindness, especially as parents, can be in the form of a strong boundary like ‘please, don’t speak to me like that’, or ‘no, you can’t do that’. Such Kindness always has the intention to protect others from harm.

I can remember the need for such a strong kind boundary many years ago when I needed to enforce the ‘no sleeping with phone rule’ with my then thirteen-year-old. As I was saying goodnight to them, I discovered the phone under their bedclothes. I removed the phone and there was much subsequent protesting.  I needed to check in with my wise self to remember that my intention was to prevent harm and for them to get a good night’s sleep. I was then able to thank myself for being courageously kind, as the protests continued.  
 
More about gratitude and its awesome benefits next blog.
With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 


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Awesome Appreciation!

4/17/2023

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​I am grateful to be looking at gratitude; how to practice it and its amazing benefits to our well being again this blog. 

As we said last blog there has been much research which shows that gratitude contributes to happiness and self-confidence. However, it is easy to forget or to be unaware of the power of gratitude and positivity and the destructive nature of taking things for granted and negativity. 
 
At times I can find it is easy to slip into habits of negativity and taking things for granted. This is like a 'negative, everything is going wrong' soundtrack and downward spiral. Just yesterday I found myself doing this when we were walking along the Queenscliffe coastline and it began to rain.' It should be sunny' I thought. I was focusing on the one thing that was going 'so called wrong' and taking for granted and forgetting to notice and be grateful for the amazing place I was in.

Being aware that this is not an opportunity to give myself a hard time for being negative and ungrateful, and instead remembering to tune into, notice and be grateful for the so called ordinary (aka extraordinary place) I found myself in. Taking a deep breathe and noticing  the beautiful sky, birds, sea and the bush, was a great start. Taking time to appreciate the beauty all around me and be grateful for it changed everything. 

We can pull ourselves out of this unhelpful mind state by tuning into our wise selves for a reminder to do as Pema Chodron suggests and 'appreciate everything, even the ordinary, especially the ordinary'. I am also reminded to notice and be grateful for the things that are going right, instead of focusing on the negative.
 
It is easy for us to be grateful when we stop and think about our amazing lives and everything others are doing for us. We are all interdependent and without the kindness of other’s we would not be alive, let alone surviving. For example, we often don’t stop to think about all those that have contributed to our cup of coffee. There are those who grew the beans, harvested, processed, packed, shipped and transported them, the barista who made them into the cup of coffee etc. Everything is interdependent like this. It's amazing when we stop to consider all those people at play making our lives possible, and being grateful for them all. 
 
For many years I was in the unhelpful habit of waking up with that feeling of dread about the work day ahead. It took some mind retraining, but now I wake and think about all the things I am grateful. Lama Marut introduced me to this practice which he called the ‘2-Part Morning Loll’. Part one of this practice involves just this, waking up and lolling around in bed thinking about all we can be grateful for, including waking up! I think about where I live, the life I enjoy, family, friends and all those unknown people who make my life possible, including those who grow my food, etc. And to be grateful for my teachers, those who have generously taught and shared their wisdom with me. This is a much more fun way to start the day and gets me going on the right foot.  
 
Another way I find helpful to remind myself to be grateful is to keep a gratitude journal. This prompts me to remember be grateful during the day. More about these helpful habits in the blogs coming up.
 
Another way I find helpful to remind myself to be grateful is to keep a gratitude journal. This prompts me to remember be grateful during the day. 
 
More about gratitude and its awesome benefits next blog.
With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 
Maree xx
 
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