Gratitude First! The Power of Gratitude

This is an excerpt from an article I recently read titled, Appreciating Appreciation, you can check out the full article here, but it read…

 "There’s a song called “Thank God for Dirty Dishes” that makes the point that if you’re lucky to have enough food to make dirty dishes, you should be grateful."  

 This made me stop and think because I must say, washing dishes isn’t one of my favourite things, so where else do I complain in my life when really, there is so much to be grateful for?

 When it comes to living the good life, it rarely if ever, comes from the outside first. We’re not magically gifted time freedom, the ‘perfect’ spouse or the successful business... no, we receive these things only after we’ve put in the work, including the inner work! Gratitude first!

 There is good in everything, no matter how crappy the situation may appear! The issue is though, that most of us are hardwired to look for the bad. It’s our brain's way of keeping us safe; to find what could go wrong to prepare us ‘just in case’. So you’ll find people walking around waiting for the other shoe to drop.

This is no way to live! We must start to reprogram our minds to find the good. Gratitude first!

 It takes practice, I’ve been working on this for a few years now but I’ve got to the point that I’m able to do it more quickly than before. Why, because- gratitude first!

 When you’re in a hurry and hit a red light, gratitude first!

When you have a to-do list a mile long, gratitude first!

When your kid is driving you nuts now that its summer vacation, gratitude first!

When someone close to you passes way, gratitude first!

When you hear someone being unkind to you or others, gratitude first!

 Each day we get to wake up and choose our attitude, and if you didn’t know that, now you do! You get a choice, you can either make a situation positive or negative by virtue of the thoughts that you think! 

 The law of vibration states-: like-energy attracts like-energy. You put out good vibes, you receive good vibes back, you put our bad vibes, you receive bad vibes back! Simple as that, so remember, gratitude first!

 Paying attention to your thoughts may seem like a lot of work, this is why we have used the word ‘feelings’ to describe what we’re thinking. Pay attention to how you feel, if it’s good, you know you’re thinking good and of course, vice versa!  So remember, gratitude first!

The easiest way to start implementing gratitude into your life is to start with just a few minutes in the morning, every day! Recently, I committed to a 365 day gratitude challenge were I write 10 things I’m grateful for, along with five minutes of meditation and then followed by sending love to 3 people or situations that bother me. This sets up my attitude for the day and allows me to have gratitude top of mind first thing in the morning! I’d love for you to join me! If you’re ready to jump on the gratitude train, follow me on instagram @heather_lee_chapman and tag me so I can see you’re on board!

Stay Healthy & Happy

Heather