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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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Slapdash Socks 

5/10/2016

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Have You ever found it hard to find the joy in helping others?  I have many times, as there seems endless chores to do at home.  Gandhi wisely reminds me that "service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant or the server".
 
One of my children taught me the truth of Gandhi's words many years ago. Like most of us I tend to spend a lot of time in the laundry.  In the past most of this time was spent without much joy or care.  I would be in there huffing and puffing with a negative, resentful soundtrack going on in my mind.  "Why was it my job?  Why didn't anyone seem to care of appreciate my efforts? I have better things to be doing with my time, I spend half my life in the laundry, I just want to get it done as quick as possible and get out of there".  The service rendered in this case lacked joy and care too.  I tended to be slapdash, pairing the socks any which way, hanging and folding haphazardly and hastily in a desperate effort to finish and move on.

I did not realise the unhelpful habits I was creating.  I was building up resentment and unhappiness.  I did not know I had a choice to make it agony or fun.

One day one of my boys announced with joy "don't you love it w hen you open your socks and they are the right way around".  "Really!" I thought, "it makes a difference if I take the time to turn the sock the right way around!"  My slapdash resentment in the laundry was not helpful to me or my family.  No joy for me or them.  

I made a decision that day, I would make the laundry somewhere I could serve with joy.  No more resentment and negativity there. I would also do my best to be mindful and take care as I paired, folded and hung.  It has truly become a favourite place of mine.  A poster with a quote from the Dalai Lama hangs there.  It reads   
The true meaning of life
"We are visitors on this planet, we are here for ninety of one hundred years at the very most.  During the period, we must try to do something good, something useful, with our lives.  If you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the true goal, the true meaning of life." 
Since that day I always take care to pair the socks the right way around so they are easy to get on. I try not to rush either and as best I can mindfully and carefully do the laundry. I recently got a new washing machine as I needed to retire my old faithful one.  My new machine and a new clothes horse have made the laundry even more fun!

As my family have grown up I have began to share the laundry.  This probably could have happened a little earlier.  I now share  the joy with them as I learn to let go of the control and share one of my favourite places.  

So again I am reminded that when I can be mindful of unhelpful habits and aware to get that 'what about me, Maree' out of the way and instead do my best to benefit others that as Gandhi says - the server and those served have the opportunity for joy.

Maree xx 
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