Praise Be! Conquer Those Blues With the Spirit of Gratitude!
Praise Be! I’m giving thanks today. For Everything!
I try to live with a spirit of gratitude every day, but today I’m going to try to be particularly mindful of giving thanks at every opportunity. I woke this morning with a heaviness in my heart, the early morning was gloomy and dark, and my senses felt stuffy and dull. I was just feeling off kilter in general, the kind of day where you feel like you have a cold coming on. Well to hell with that…something had to be done!
I’m a preemptive kind of person, and I’ve learned to listen to the little quiet whispers of warning, so rather than cancel all my plans for the day and stay safely ensconced in my home drinking herbal tea, I will face the day with light filled praise and a smiley face. If nothing else my sunny countenance will annoy the crap out of anything that wants to bring me down today!
I have learned that the easiest way to shift any negative situation is to give it praise and be grateful. The vibration of gratitude immediately discharges the negative charge and neutralizes the situation.
Living By Design not By Accident!
To give praise and gratitude are powerful affirmations of blessings received. Immediately the gap between wishing for something and having something is closed. Immediately we free ourselves from being distant from the qualities of life we desire. When we focus on the distance we get more distance.If it is important to you to create and live your life by design rather than by accident praise the moment. If you want to live in co-operation with the opportunity that is present in every moment you have to be open to it and you open that door by being grateful for it. See it done – see it now.
Praise and gratitude are acknowledgments of positive life force flowing through your life. By expressing gratitude we recognize that there is an intelligent principle in the universe that exists omnipotently and of which we are innately part and parcel. As we give praise we simultaneously receive it and our own consciousness is uplifted. Once we understand that blessings are already received our psyche strives toward and resonates with that specific outcome because it knows no other way. Everything that exists is part of everything we are. We are not separate from anything. It is only our focus and our ideas of separation that determine how far away from something we are, and what other obstacles stand in the way. What ever we give the power to to limit us and prohibit our success will have it as long as it takes us to take it back.
The Nature of Praise…
i) What you praise increases: Everything you give your attention to multiplies whether it is negative or positive. Bad becomes worse, good becomes great. If you expect to be lucky and blessed – you will be. If you expect the worst – you will have it. Be careful in what you wish for and affirm as the truth of your life. If you think one day your ship will come in then you will wait perpetually for ‘one day’. Decide that today’s the day. Praise this day as the day your ship came in!
ii) Praise liberates and releases stagnant life force energy. By activating energy and freeing it up as available energy to your overall system of organs, muscles, and cells, the body gets to experience a surge of vitality and increased energy. A hopeful feeling washes flows through the system and so begins a process of restoration and regeneration and renewed health.
iii) Thanks – giving neutralizes stress and un-does dis-ease. By realizing blessings received we instantly release ourselves from disease generating attitudes of worry, guilt, fear, criticism, condemnation, deprivation, hate and ingratitude. You can not be grateful and resentful at the same time. Choose your point of focus before you get sick.
In times of trouble:
Praise your difficulties.
Any experience that gives you new learning or a chance to see something differently is worth praising. The attitude of gratitude changes the dynamic charge of the experience from negative to positive. You instantly diffuse the negative charge, disabling its ability to mushroom into other areas of your life. Even if you are unable to see anything good from your current perspective there exists a possibility in every situation. Give praise, look for the lesson/teaching/value of the situation. If you can’t find it, just expect there to be a ‘blessing in disguise’ somewhere. Let go and let God! These are the lessons of blind faith. Don’t give up now! These are the toughest times. Remember that it is easy to have faith when everything is going great, but faith really doesn’t matter unless you need it.
“I praise the life I have! I AM grateful for the strength I have!
I glory in the life I have! Praise Be!
There is always something to praise. Look for it if you don’t see it! There is a solution to every problem. There is an answer to every question. Sometimes our greatest teachings lie in the vulnerability of not knowing, then when we finally surrender enough the answer is revealed and made clear, giving us another opportunity to be grateful.
Thanksgiving is always a special time of year for me. I love the autumn, the leaves, the pumpkins, the apples, the coolness of the days, all of it. Every year at Thanksgiving I make a list of all the people I know and I find a thing in them – no matter how difficult – to be grateful for. I especially do this with my family. I don’t necessarily reveal the pieces but I have found that just holding that knowledge in my heart helps bridge any differences or conflicts we may have. And I AM intensely grateful for ALL my family, near and far, close or distant, blood or water! Have a blessed Thanksgiving celebration where ever you are!
Andrea Thiel Connell 