We've all heard about the benefits of gratitude (over and over again), but are we practicing it? This time different than any we've experienced before. Humanity has evolved, and even though we might not be seeing immediate evidence when we look out our windows, we are carrying a different frequency, a different vibration, and the way we heal has changed in this more heart-centered paradigm. Gratitude has become a necessary ingredient in order for us to experience the fullness of life right now. We cannot heal completely just by focusing on the physical and the energetic system anymore. We now need to make space for grace, and gratitude does just that.
Recently published research has shown that people who practice gratitude have fewer health concerns than those who don't. These are common health complaints such as headaches, digestive issues, respiratory infections, runny noses, sleep problems, and dizziness. In one study, a group of college students wrote gratitude lists for 10 weeks. They reported fewer physical symptoms over the course of those weeks—including things like sore muscles, headaches, shortness of breath—than the students in the control group that did not practice gratitude.
There's been research done, as well as research I've conducted on my own with my clients, on changing the way we talk with our cells. When we change this conversation to one based in gratitude instead of criticism, our cells respond with love and excitement. (Our poor fat cells are often a huge target of said criticism.)
Image © Wewe Yang / Pexels
We’re quick to complain when our bodies are not looking or responding the way we want, but we rarely think about all of the work each cell does every day without our input. The heart cells beat and the lung cells breathe constantly. We can start by thanking our cells for this work and tenacity.
Imagine working for a boss who never focused on the work you were doing well, and only spoke with you when something wasn't being done the way they wanted. That's what we do to our cells! We don’t even acknowledge their existence until something isn't right—we feel sick, we feel sore, we've gained five pounds. Then we criticize.
When we can change this conversation to one based in gratitude and appreciation, our cells (our workers) show up with much more excitement, enthusiasm, and energy. They know the direction we want them to go in. All it takes is a shift in our perspective, and a little bit of appreciation. They respond to our gratitude with with eagerness and the desire to give us increased health.
On Resonance
We're like tuning forks, and gratitude changes our vibration. When we’re focused on what we're grateful for, we start to vibrate with that frequency. When we vibrate with that frequency, we start to attract more things like it because we are in resonance with them. This happens all the time. We’re always attracting, whether we're practicing gratitude or not. Wouldn't we much rather attract the things that we want, than the things that we focus on that we don’t want?
Focusing on news stories, finances, or relationships that are moving a direction that we don’t want puts us right in the frequency of attracting more of it! When practicing gratitude, we focus on what we want and what makes us happy inviting and creating more of it.
When we express appreciation for who someone is or the way they show up in our lives, they will keep showing up and wanting to be around us. People like being appreciated. Plus, you will begin to attract more relationships that have similar qualities, and people who let you know how appreciated you are! When we focus on being grateful for the things that people do or who they are instead of being focused on where we disagree or what's not resonating, we remember our connection instead of feeding the illusion of separation.
Gratitude shifts our focus from what's wrong in the world to what’s right and what we love. It's a subtle shift in vibration that miraculously changes everything. That doesn't mean we ignore the other things, because maybe we're here to help fix them! But when we solely focus on those things, we're giving them energy. Our focus is our prayer. When we're focused on the things we don't like, don't want, or can't stand, we're praying in that direction, and sending all of our energy there.
We start to vibrate like a tuning fork with those things, attracting more like them. The world starts to create more like it because it's what we're focused on creating. When we can shift our focus to what it is that we love, what we want more of, we tell Universe, “Thank you, bring me more.” We start creating more of what we do want through intention and appreciation.
This is especially important for those of us who have been working to increase our vibrations. The more work we do on ourselves, on holding a higher vibration and being the hands and the heart of the Divine on this planet, the more powerful our focus gets. Each individual being is continuously growing and evolving. As we do that, our attention and intention carries more and more weight because there is more energy behind it.
We need to be very diligent about this, because what we focus on is going to create for the world. We are not to move back into spiritually bypassing, but we are to consciously choose what we focus attention on. In order to fix the things that we are not happy or comfortable with, we need to bring our focus to where we want to go. In this way, we start to build a bridge from here to there. We can be shown the steps to get there. That's the beauty of gratitude.
Where our mind and heart go, energy flows.
All of this assumes that it's going to be easy for us to find something to be grateful for. That’s not always the case, depending on where we are and what we're experiencing. Every single person is capable of gratitude, bur we might need to start really small on some days—gratitude for getting some sleep, having water to drink, or having someone to talk to. So that's where we start, if it's what we need to do. Being grateful for the small things will attract more tings to be grateful for as it expands our vision to where we start to see the world through different eyes; eyes focused on all that is available. We start to experience the world differently, and the world starts to experience us differently. Even nature starts to respond to this shift because it knows that we take the time to appreciate. Everyone wants to be around someone who appreciates—even rocks, flowers, and animals.
On Giving
One of the very subtle things that we need to start paying attention to is the way we give. We are notorious for over-giving, as we give so much to so many. It’s innately who we are, but where this goes off the rails is when we get ourselves overtired and so depleted that we have nothing left. It’s time for us to get radically honest about how we're giving and why.
When we can bring ourselves into the vibration of gratitude, our heart center opens and we are functioning from love. When we give from the heart, there is infinite flow. We where we are connected to Divinity, to all the energy of the Universe and all the love that there is. We have infinite supply.
But, we’re still in human bodies, and we need to acknowledge that we get tired. We cannot be taking care of people for 23 hours a day, every day and expect to not crash. That's not the way the human body works. We need to take care of ourselves. But when we are giving through open-heartedness, aligning with gratitude, we will understand when it's time to give to ourselves and we will not have a problem doing so.
When we are over-giving, we are giving from the ego. Read that again.
We are giving while pushing through depletion, giving through obligation, giving because we feel that it’s karmic—to get something in return, either now of in the afterlife—and it’s having the opposite effect than we intend in our lives. It’s having an adverse effect in our karmic structure, in our soul, and in our relationships because eventually, that giving turns to resentment. We begin to resent others because they are not appreciative and are the reason we are not experiencing life in the way we want to. Sometimes, it’s the martyr complex, but no matter what, we stop seeing the other through the eyes of love, because they are now causing us pain.
Yet it’s our choice. We can stop giving anytime.
Gratitude changes the way we give, as well as the way we receive. Over-giving closes us off to receiving. We stop allowing energy to come back to us. We want it and we expect it but we don’t allow it. This wanting becomes a need for validation. Wanting and expecting a return closes off the flow. It's like we're holding on to a hose so tightly that we are pitting a knot in it.
When we can give through the equanimity of the heart center—because we want to give and are so in appreciation—we are in synch with the Universe. Flow can work in both directions because there is no need. We are taking care of ourselves as we are taking care of others. This is the miraculous energy of gratitude.
This month, as we are in a season of more gratitude, let’s practice. Let's really allow this attitude of gratitude to lead and guide us so that we can be the tuning forks resonating with the vibration of what we truly want to create moving forward.
This creation can happen through genuine alignment with what we love and appreciate instead of through fear or a need for validation that we might not even be aware of. In this way, we can open ourselves to having the best, most joy-filled, most amazing co-creative experience that we can possibly have on this planet with the Divine, with our Angels, and with each other.
TLDR: Gratitude is the way we say to the Universe, “THANK YOU! BRING ME MORE!” And it does. And stop giving from the ego. That does the opposite of what you set out to do.
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