Gratitude is a word we all know.
I have gratitude for pretty in pink cotton candy color flowers, reminding me that it’s a summer season of life.
The flowers are a gift from nature and the people who planted the bush. Both are gifts in this life…
And life works in our favor when we treat life as a gift.
…When we say “thank you” and are grateful when we’re given something like a present, compliment, or other kind words and gestures.
…And when we feel gratitude in what we have and what’s around us that we get to taste, touch, see, smell, and do.
My first memorable grips with what gratitude meant in words was in a book I saw and picked up that was different than others around in the bookstores at the time.
In Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, she wrote, “how could I expect more from the Universe when I didn’t appreciate what I already had?”
That was curious wisdom and encouragement for me. It helped make me wonder and evolve to become that person who could gain those deeper inner perspectives.
The 365 days of inspiring words in the book had new meaning and concepts I had never heard of before.
Back then, I didn’t know what a gratitude practice was.
Those were pre-New Age law of attraction days.
That today is Old Age stuff 😊
And we know what’s old often becomes new again.
…Like a gratitude practice.
These days, it’s common for many of us as our culture has evolved.
Back then, I only aspired to those simple abundant life practices, so that was something I worked toward without knowing it would become so.
That’s how life is rigged in our favor… setting us up before we even know what we want in the future.
Which btw, no past experiences you have are wasted in your life. They are there for a reason.
…And for some reason, I picked up the book again over 20 years later.
And in this life influencing book, the entry on January 21 reads: “Today, be willing to believe that a companion Spirit is leading you every step of the way, and knows the next step.”
…Back then, I had no idea what those words meant when the book sat boldly on my night stand in 1996 (a year after it was first published).
But my soul felt good reading over those words.
And today I know exactly what those words mean.
Today I have gratitude that my Spirit is aligned with those words.
And that’s one special way of how this life can be so awesome… when you discover that-secret-something that’s so profoundly deep and bigger than yourself and everything else in life you’ve known so far.
How can you not celebrate?
…When a discovery is bigger than yourself..
And this inner discovery was bigger than myself.
It was life changing.
And I needed a life change and a kick in the pants from the Universe to make some changes.
Journaling helped unravel me along with many self-help books on my journey.
Those were my life teachers.
…What books helped shape your ways?
Plus, the Simple Abundance book mentioned gratitude journaling.
And the book also mentioned abundance concepts (besides being part of the title of the book).
That was the first time I ever remember the concept introduced to me.
Because I didn’t grow up thinking of abundance.
But I aspired to abundance… dreaming about what that could be like someday! 💭
Dreams become reality when you let the bigger Universe work in your life and inside you.
…And you then purposefully stretch your mind muscles enough to go there.
That’s how I slowly let open space in and reframed abundance from a previous crowded, limited and victim mindset.
And within the new space, I invited more gratitude in.
Like with a simple way to show gratitude that anyone can do with the concept of not wasting… where you’re grateful for daily abundance in everyday things such as food abundance (that happens to be my passion place 🍽️).
So imagine all the vegetables growing and coming out of a summer garden. Or if you don’t have one 🙋🏻♀️, what’s available to you at abundant (indoor garden) grocery stores you shop in.
Either way, you have the option to save or waste food that’s not consumed.
And if you save, then you’re preserving food for another time or purposefully not wasting food.
In some ways, that can sound like a scarcity mindset (that builds up a limiting mindset), where there’s not more coming in or not enough.
…But the difference in message comes from inserting in Gratitude.
I’m grateful for this food.
…AND believing there’s plenty to go around.
And I’m thankful I’ve got unlimited access to new and different foods daily.
Then you’re allowing abundance in food to flow freely in your mind and life.
(Btw, you can do this for anything and everything to help yourself grow).
Where you’re taking belief into action, showing gratitude by not wasting.
Then you’re fully aligned with words matching actions.
Re-purposing and celebrating are ways to show gratitude and abundance.
…Oh, and when you think and live like that, you can be pretty darn sure that you’ll have plenty more coming your way! 💕
Gratitude is such a simple and powerful daily exercise for building up an abundant mindset… and to manifest your bigger dreams. 💭💭
