Excerpt from January 14th in Simple Abundance:
"There are several tools that I'm going to suggest
you use as you begin your inner exploration. While all of
them will help you become happier and more content and will
nurture your creativity, this first tool could change the
quality of your life beyond belief: it's what I call a daily
gratitude journal. I have a beautiful blank book and each
night before I go to bed, I write down five things that
I can be grateful about that day. Some days my list will
be filled with amazing things, most days just simple joys...
Other days - rough ones - I might think that I don't have
the five things to be grateful for, so Ill write down my
basics: my health, my husband,and daughter, their health,
my animals, my home, my friends and the comfortable bed
that I'm about to get into, as well as the fact that the
day's over. That's okay. Real life isn't always going to
be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgment
of what is working in our lives can help us not only survive
but surmount our difficulties.
...you simply will not be the same person two months from
now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance
that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion
an ancient spiritual law: the more
you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.
...Select the prettiest, most inviting blank book you can
find for your gratitude journal. Make a pleasant outing
for its selection. Note the fabric or design of the cover.
The look and feel of he paper. Do you prefer ruled pages
or blank? Perhaps you can find one with a ribbon clasp.
One of the most valuable lessons Simple Abundance has taught
me is that it is in the smallest details
that the flavor of life is savored.
As the months pass and you fill your journal with blessings,
an inner shift in your reality will occur. Soon you
will be delighted to discover how content and hopeful you
are feeling. As you focus on the abundance rather than
on the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful
new blueprint for the future. The sense of fulfillment is
gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality.
A French proverb reminds us that 'Gratitude
is the heart's memory.' Begin this day to explore
and integrate this beautiful, life-affirming principle into
your life, and the miracle you have been seeking will unfold
to your wonder and amazement."
I Have Changed for the Better!
I am quite simply, not the same person I was before reading
Simple Abundance. I appreciate the little things more, I love
more and I worry a whole lot less. I have more faith and hope
than I used to have. And while I'm sure that it's not completely
the doing of this book, it was certainly a large factor in
transforming my life.
I Give Myself a Break & Kudos for a Job Well Done!
I began the Gratitude Journal with fervor, but like most things
it has tended to be forgotten. Instead of forcing myself to
write every night, I leave it by my bedside and write what
I'm grateful for whenever the mood hits me. Simple Abundance
has taught me to be good to myself and to not feel bad when
I don't write every day but instead cheer myself on when I
do find the motivation to do so.
I make my Gratitude Journal fun!
I chose a lined journal with a pretty cover and I always choose
a favorite pen to make writing in it more fun. Plus, I don't
just count my gratitude journal, I also count entries in Gratitude
and Participation
Positives as well.
