The Most Powerful Practice

Over these days some very powerful insights have come to me that I want to share with you.

Why gratitude is the most powerful practice.

 1. It is always available. Gratitude is a switch that you can easily turn on no matter where you are and no matter what is happening. It has the power to shift your perspective in an instant.

 2. It keeps you in a place of feeling good.Gratitude feels good. No matter what your circumstances are in any given moment, there is always something to be grateful for. Make no mistake. Things don’t always go your way. There are still tax audits, car accidents and loved ones we lose to cancer. Sometimes the circumstances in our life can really suck. Gratitude pulls you up without much effort and can bring equanimity to the present moment.

 3. It can lift you up for hours. It’s impossible to feel sad, angry, scared or confused and grateful at the same time. When you are lifted to a higher emotional state, your next feeling is more likely to be a good one. The same is true for the next, the next and the next. Gratitude feeds on itself and multiplies your good feelings.

 4. It creates an abundance mindset. Once you get past being grateful for your friends and family, for your health and your community, a gratitude practice stretches you to the deep corners of your life. You become grateful for all of the small things. The smile from the store clerk. The breeze that is blowing through your window this morning. That gorgeous sunset last night. The complex and satisfying flavors of the soup you just ate. That you woke up today and are reading this right now.

 5. It is independent of your circumstances.You can be in a very difficult place in your life right now. By all accounts, this could feel like a very bad day. It’s okay (and necessary) to acknowledge what doesn’t feel good – it’s necessary training to fine-tune what we don’t want so that we can create more of what we do want in our lives. But focusing on the negative experiences and the emotions that accompany them only creates more of the same. Turning on your gratitude switch shifts your momentum in a new direction.

 If you are starting to think, but my life is really different – things really are difficult for me right now. I want you to flip your switch right now. Find five things in this moment that you are grateful for. Even if it’s “I’m grateful I have two feet and they work!” or “I’m grateful for the sunshine (or the rain, or the clouds).” Now keep going. Riff on it. Once you start, it’s easy.

This is a very good day.