Gratitude. It is the art of appreciation all that we have in our life. When we practice gratitude in our lives, great joy flows to us from the Universe. And more gratitude comes back to us! When you really live by being grateful, you can quickly move from feelings of worry, fear, anger and frustration to experiencing peace-of-mind, joy and happiness. Gratitude leads to miracles and blessings in your life.
To practice the Art of Gratitude, many woman have embraced the art of using a gratitude journal. In it, they write all that they are grateful for during the day. They express gratitude for the major gifts they’ve received as well as the simple joys of life. These gratitude journals have become a way to embrace all that life has to offer and magnify one’s joy.
About three years ago, I threw away my gratitude journal. It had become a chore. Something that I had to do instead of wanting to do. My gratitude for it had diminished and I discovered that I was not appreciating everything in my life as I had. Why? I’m not sure and I don’t need to question it for I replaced my journal and received even greater meaning. All of a sudden I became very grateful for having had the practice in my life!
So, I embraced something that had even greater meaning to me. I shifted from having a gratitude journal to creating a blessings bowl! I started counting my Blessings and here’s why. Gratitude is great and wonderful. But what I discovered was that for many people were grateful that they have something because they didn’t have it’s negative counterpart. “I’m so grateful I have a roof over my head.” They would not stop their thinking there. They would add because “I’m not homeless.” Or, they would say “I’m so grateful now that I have a new sweater because my old one was so tattered.” They used Gratitude to embrace what they had because they didn’t want what was the counter part.
This is a not the way Gratitude is practiced. Gratitude is about embracing the essence and feeling of having all that we do have ~ not what we don’t have or don’t want to have.
So, a few years ago, I started counting my blessings. For me, feeling blessed, is exponentially more powerful than being grateful. Having blessings in my life allows me to vibrate higher on the vibrational scale than being grateful. This may be a subtle difference but it is one that should not go unnoticed. “I am so blessed to have a roof over my head”. One’s thought process stops there. There is always a period at the end of a sentence when you start with saying “ I am blessed”. It is a more sacred sentence. It aligns with spirit more powerfully than gratitude and one becomes closer to source when using it.
Blessings allow you to be exponentially grateful. It allows you to reap more abundance and joy in your heart than ever before. It deserves a higher practice to embrace it. So, instead of simply converting my old gratitude journal into a blessing journal, I upscaled my practice. I created a Blessings Bowl.
And, I encourage all my clients to create blessing bowls. They are a vessel that holds a written acknowledgment of the blessings in your life. How to use a blessing bowl?
Choose any bowl that resonates with blessings ~ one that is beautiful in your eye. A hand made stoneware, polished brass or made of crystal, it does not matter as long as it is beautiful in your eye. Size does not matter either ~ a small one will do until it is filled.
Use beautiful pieces of parchment. It infuses vibrancy to the act of writing your blessings down.
Place your bowl next to your bed and write your blessings down just before going to sleep. This will allow them to enter your subconscious dream state to cement this feeling into your being and wake up feeling more blessed and inspired than every before.
Gratitude allows you to experience more joy and is absolutely a practice to cultivate. Practicing gratitude without attaching the counterpart of not having something in your life is best. Counting your blessings is also another art to cultivate in your life to create an abundance of gratitude and allow you to live in-joy exponentially and have even more blessings and miracles come into your life.
This is a fantastic idea, Laura! Many of my coaching clients struggle with keeping a gratitude journal so this a wonderful alternative. And yes, I agree that gratitude is often used to focus on what you don’t want rather than appreciating what you do. Thanks for sharing!