Everything is energy. That includes my thoughts, my words and my emotions. Every day gives me 1000 opportunities to notice and invest energy in things that encourage me to feel stressed, frustrated, overwhelmed, angry, judgmental and afraid. And, every day gifts me with 1000 X 1000 opportunities to notice and invest energy in the beauty, goodness, ease, kindness, joy and pleasure -- the magic and the miracles -- that surround me. Which opportunity I choose and which energy I invest in will impact my next thought, my next word, my next action. It will impact the quality of my life and how I experience each moment. It will impact my physical wellbeing right down to the cellular level. It will radiate out from me and impact the next person whose path I cross. It will ripple out across the proverbial planetary pond and create impact beyond my imagining. With this in mind, I've made a commitment to think and speak and feel...gratitude. Gratitude -- expressed in any form -- literally vibrates with an energy that is powerful beyond measure and that multiplies exponentially. Feeling the energy of gratitude for something that was, is or will be is what keeps me hungry, alert, and awake to all of the good that is here with me now and that is yet to be. It keeps me astonished and delighted at all of the beauty that persistently dares me to notice it. It keeps me curious and filled with wonder about what lies just around that next bend.
Some days, the words "thank you" come to me as easily as breathing. On the days it doesn't come so easily, I jump-start the momentum simply by thinking "thank you" over and over. There's no target or inspiration for my thanks and not much emotion invested in the words. It's simply a starting point for quieting the "monkey mind" that has taken over and filled my thoughts with not-so-grateful jibberish. Then it's on to noticing things to feel grateful for; things that are easy to overlook and take for granted -- like green lights, the smile of a stranger, and being able to walk up a steep hill. There's still not much emotion attached to my expression of gratitude, but the momentum picks up and begins to inspire me. When I'm ready to kick it up another notch, I begin to actively look for and find things that spark a bit of joy -- the taste of a juicy, perfectly ripe mango, the brilliant red of a cardinal perched at the very top of a tree, the rainbow of light from a window prism. And each time I find that spark of joy, I stop for just a moment and express my gratitude. And if I'm ready to really soar, I begin feeling truly and deeply grateful for that which I have yet to experience -- that which lies just around the next bend -- and I allow the powerful energy of gratitude to begin drawing it to me.
May today be a day of 1000 "Thank You's".
Some days, the words "thank you" come to me as easily as breathing. On the days it doesn't come so easily, I jump-start the momentum simply by thinking "thank you" over and over. There's no target or inspiration for my thanks and not much emotion invested in the words. It's simply a starting point for quieting the "monkey mind" that has taken over and filled my thoughts with not-so-grateful jibberish. Then it's on to noticing things to feel grateful for; things that are easy to overlook and take for granted -- like green lights, the smile of a stranger, and being able to walk up a steep hill. There's still not much emotion attached to my expression of gratitude, but the momentum picks up and begins to inspire me. When I'm ready to kick it up another notch, I begin to actively look for and find things that spark a bit of joy -- the taste of a juicy, perfectly ripe mango, the brilliant red of a cardinal perched at the very top of a tree, the rainbow of light from a window prism. And each time I find that spark of joy, I stop for just a moment and express my gratitude. And if I'm ready to really soar, I begin feeling truly and deeply grateful for that which I have yet to experience -- that which lies just around the next bend -- and I allow the powerful energy of gratitude to begin drawing it to me.
May today be a day of 1000 "Thank You's".