Being Grateful

I sit here with my morning cup of tea and have a smile on my face for all that is good in my life.

I am grateful for two beautiful healthy children, and two fur kids that bring our house such laughter and joy. (and yes too much hair)!!

There is a big shift in energy when one focuses on what they DO have rather than what they don't have.

Today I am grateful for my family. I am grateful the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and I have so many people that love me in my life. I am grateful for all that the Universe has brought me, even the not so great experiences, as they taught me something and helped me grow. The joy and blessings far out weight any negative I can ever think of!

Do you have a gratitude journal? If you don't I would strongly suggest you start one and write down at least one thing a day that was good that you are grateful for. I have done this for many years and it works. You will start to see life different, as if from a different set of eyes. It's magical!


Have a Blessed Day!!

Love & light to all!

Relationships

Relationships – they are the primary cause of joy and sometimes pain in our lives. What a contradiction they can be!! There is a primary downfall of many relationships that could blossom, and that is fear and lack of communication. Much of that fear can also be so subconscious we don’t even realize it and think we are just ‘doing fine’. But let’s look deeper, why do we attract the types of people we attract in the first place? Who we attract is no accident and who we pick is no accident either. A reason, a season or a lifetime - all relationships aid in our growth, even if they are painful.

A relationship should be loving. It should be affectionate and open. However, until we can love ourselves unconditionally and work on our own self esteem, it is too easy to project our weaknesses or fears onto another. I see self sabatoge happen a great deal in the work that I do and I find it so sad. Many of us, especially women, are caretakers, myself included!! I have really had to work on that one. I find that the more of a caretaker we are, sometimes the more we are the givers and feel like we end up with takers. This can be changed though. Your life and your future is not written in stone. We are largely the biggest creators of our own destiny’s and futures, and that includes our relationships.

One of the biggest mistakes I see sometimes is that we look to another or ‘outside’ to fill something that is missing in ourselves and we keep repeating the pattern until the lesson is learned. We have a low self esteem, lack of confidence or insecurities, so we look to another to ‘fill us up’. It doesn’t work well that way. It may sound cliché yes, but until we learn to forgive ourselves, love ourselves, accept ourselves the way we are, how can we really love another?

As human beings, I find we often confuse love with need. When one loves themselves, need is replaced by want. I should be with someone not because I need them but because I want to be with them. They are a gift in my life and a wonderful addition but they do not define who I am, my worth, or even my potential to be happy.

Start with validating yourself and loving yourself.

Practice some self love with a few basis affirmations each day and watch the changes begin.

“I love myself unconditionally just the way I am, and every day it just gets better and better”

“No one can take away my power without my permission”

I attract only loving people into my life that are positive for my growth and my highest good”

“Each day I remember what I am worth”

We fear rejection, abandonment and so many other things. One of the biggest things people fear I find is the fear of being very vulnerable. Yes it’s a great risk, however without it, we are not living and not loving fully.

I am reminded of the most profound poem I have ever read and it is called the Invitation. It is the last line that stands out for me in this poem.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

I will write more later in my next blog about reaching our deepest fears and blocks and overcoming them. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!!

Here is the complete poem. I hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithlessand therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.