Living in Gratitude

Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons were on the show last night to talk about their book: Living Life as a Thank You. What a great reference manual for each of us to use during those times when it seems almost impossible to find anything for which you are grateful.

The book is a compilation of true stories, touching on so many different life issues, surely everyone will be able to relate to one of them. Getting through life’s adversities is sometimes difficult, but being grateful, on a daily basis helps to get through them more easily.

If you wake up and can just remember to be grateful for that – when you think about it, THAT, waking up, is HUGE! Some people won’t wake up, but here WE are!

Daily gratitudes make for life transformations. Thank you, to be polite, is of course a gratitude. So is doing something for someone else. We can be grateful to have the opportunity TO do something for someone.

Driving in traffic, let a car out of the side street and watch as they then, in turn, let someone else out as well. It perpetuates, and it only brings more good things to those who are grateful.

Positive actions bring more positive actions. Gratitude in all things brings more things for which you may be grateful. It’s a wonderful circle that just keeps coming back to you with only positive and wonderful things.

We all have the resource of gratitude. We need only practice it. When we do, the results are immediate. I’ve done it just as an experiment to see what happens and I must admit, my life has transformed incredibly over the past few months. It has been most apparent over the past two to three weeks.

Try a little gratitude in your life and watch the results you receive. Here’s a tip to help you get started.

Clearing ourselves to let gratitude take precedence takes a bit of practice but once you see what happens, it becomes automatic. Be mindful of what you say and make an effort to correct all the negatives. For instance, when you say, oh, it’s a horrible day or it’s rainy and miserable, try to be aware that there is an opposing view. Follow it up by saying, this is a perfect day to get those indoor chores done, or the rain is good for the lawns and gardens and everything will now flourish. Those changes are both positive and they are filled with gratitude for what is and what is to be.

Writing down what you are grateful for also helps. Perhaps at the end of the day you can write down at least ONE thing that you are grateful for that occurred that day. You can, of course, be grateful for more but start small. Then add to it and when you get to a number that works for you, maintain that count each and every day.

If all live our lives as a thank you. We will all be on the right path to our happiness and we will be healthier, less stressed and we will have a whole lot more energy.

I am grateful for this opportunity to help those who wish to learn about living in gratitude.

Intending you all a most wonderful day!

Copyright 2009. T Love. All Rights Reserved.

Letting Go

Letting go is never easy, especially when it comes to relationships. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime’. We don’t know up front, when we first meet someone, into which category they will fall. Most times, it’s for a reason.

The reason people are those are that you meet and click with, who help you out or whom you help out and then you’re done. Could be the clerk at the store, or another parent at the PTO Meeting, or maybe it’s someone you don’t even meet in person but rather speak to on the phone or via e-mail. Whatever it is, this is the most common person who enters your life. Short relationship or long relationship, they’re in your life to either make a connection or an assist. Maybe it’s for a period of 10 years but you’re not really friends, you just see each other or speak about something specific – ‘the reason’ that you met and have a relationship at all.

Then there are the season people. They come to us and we have a longer term relationship with them. Perhaps they’re a friend, co-worker, boss or maybe even a family member. You have a deeper relationship with these people. They mean more to you and you to them. There is a stronger bond holding the two of you together. You’re like-minded and there is a balance between you. You don’t know what happens but all of a sudden for some reason, you’re no longer “friends”. For no apparent reason, no one had a fight, no one offended anyone, there is just a parting of the ways and the relationship is over. Sometimes it happens quietly and one day you realize, hey, they aren’t treating me the same, the relationship ran its’ course and it’s no longer what it was. In these instances it’s hard, sometimes, to let go. You may wonder what you did wrong. I’ve learned to not wonder. It’s just the way it is. I’ve also figured out that some people, just don’t know how to BE a friend and unfortunately, sometimes, we put more into it than they did anyway. As hard as it is, we just need to learn to let it go.

The lifetime people are the people you really love. Whether it is a friend, spouse, family member – these are the people who, when the chips are down, will be there for you no matter what because you mean the world to them, and they to you. It’s funny though. Sometimes those who you put in the lifetime category, end up in the season category. When times get tough and those that you are counting aren’t there for you, that kind of makes it hard to maintain that lifetime thing when you KNOW you’ve been there for them. The letting go of these types of relationships is the hardest. We were counting on these people and really believed with our entire heart and soul that we mattered to them as much as they matter to us. However, there are times, when that is not the case.

We all have reason, season and lifetime people in our lives. I’ve seen reason people turn into season people and then become lifetime people. I, also quite familiar with lifetime people becoming reason or season people. Keep in mind, DNA does not a family make and FAMILY does not necessarily mean LIFETIME people.

It’s hard to say good bye and it’s hard to let go. If we remember to be grateful for the time we’ve had, be aware of the gift they brought and the one you gave back, and by gift I don’t mean it’s always easy and nice. It can be the gift of learning a lesson in a very hard way. We must realize that where we are, RIGHT NOW is where we are meant to be, in every relationship.

If we remember that, it makes moving forward to the future and letting go of the present a whole lot easier.

Intending we are all able to let go more easily and move forward in love and gratitude.

Copyright 2009. T Love. All Rights Reserved.