Gratitude

Thanksgiving is a time of year when we typically think about the things that we are thankful for in our lives. There is so much to be grateful for. Unfortunately, there are days, weeks, even years when we can’t see the things we should be grateful for in our lives. For many, the pandemic was one major worldwide event that caused many to lose any feeling of gratitude. For others, they found gratitude and meaning in their lives for the first time.

I remember one time, a few years back before the pandemic, reading about how I should feel gratitude. I sat with this and reflected on what this truly meant. I could name things that I was grateful for but I couldn’t feel the gratitude. By now I had done enough internal energy work that I knew the difference between feeling and thinking. Energetically I knew this difference corresponded to the difference between viewing the world from my heart (feeling) chakra energy, or viewing it from my third eye (thinking) chakra energy. I clearly was stuck in my third eye, or brain when it came to gratitude.

I realized in my reflections the problem lied in the fact that I was viewing my world from the perspective of “lack” rather then “abundance.” As long as I was looking at what was not in my life, I could never be grateful for what was in my life. I understood that I would have to shift my mindset in order to feel gratitude. Now the question was how was I going to do this.

So being the person that I am, I gathered facts. I read about gratitude from an energetic and spiritual perspective. Gratitude is a feeling that resides in our hearts. It is one of the higher level feelings related to love. Gratitude is a special kind of energy that when we let it flow, it makes us feel good about our lives. Once it is in our lives, it creates a positive feedback loop.

The Positive Feedback Loop: (I am talking energy here.) When the heart feels your gratitude, it sends a message to your brain to be on the look out for more things that make you feel this way. Your brain is programmed to work on a reward system. Your heart keeps collecting this information, the brain keeps looking for it and before you know it, your world has morphed into one of gratitude. From the heart’s perspective, gratitude is necessary ingredient for health and well-being because it opens the heart energy center to receive more of that feeling.

Knowing this, I still had to apply it to my life. I wanted to feel good about my life. I wanted to feel gratitude. Since I determined that there was connection between the heart and brain, I decided to use my brain as my starting point. It was backwards to how I wanted the energy loop to flow but I thought once I got it started, it probably would flow the way it is meant to. I decided to give it a try.

I began to journal every day, three things that I was grateful for. In the beginning, it was a little difficult to come up with three new things as the days went on. But as I persevered, it became easier. It started out as an intellectual exercise but quickly turned into a feeling one.

I now wake up actually feeling grateful to be here another day, grateful for the breath that I breathe, grateful for being in my daughter’s lives another day, etc. My mindset has shifted from one of want to one of thankfulness. My heart is full when I wake up. I will not deny that there are things that I still would like to have in my life, the difference is I don’t dwell on the lack but rather on the things that I do have and how they might be shifted to achieve the things I still desire. It is a healthier, more proactive, and positive attitude. I look forward to what each day will bring. I wish the same for you this season and every day after that.

With the Flame of Love,

Trish Briggs