Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude

by Rev. Sheri, founder of Angel Messenger

When you look around you, do you see things and people in your life for which you are grateful? Or do you find yourself taking these things and people for granted, overlooking them, expecting them to always be there for you?

If you are like most of us living our hectic lives in today’s ultra-busy world, you spend more time mowing your lawn than you do on spiritual activities like daily gratitude. This begs the question,

“Why should the grass get more attention than our connection with a power greater than ourselves?”

How to mow less and connect more

One of the best ways to spend more time each day on spiritual activities is to set aside a few minutes each day to think about what we are grateful for. An attitude of gratitude can open our eyes to the blessings offered to us on a daily basis by the universe, and by the people around us. It can open our hearts in ways that allow our spirituality to grow.

We Americans set aside one day a year to be thankful for our blessings, but blessings and miracles come into our lives every day of the year. Why not acknowledge that?

Recognizing blessingscultivate an attitude of gratitude

The circumstances of our lives, and the people in them, bless us in many ways. Some blessings are positive, while some feel overwhelmingly negative. Regardless of how they feel, they are put in our lives for our highest and greatest good. Here are a few ways to recognize them:

  1. Grumpy, Gloomy, Gruff Gus

Let’s get this fellow out of the way first. This is the individual who is a real chore to be around; remember the saying, “like a bear with a sore head”? That’s Gus! He or she may complain incessantly, or become argumentative over the smallest things, challenging us on everything we say and do.

Gus is in our lives as a gift. Okay, so maybe this is one gift we’d rather not unwrap, but he (or she) is a blessing nonetheless.

  • Gus’s ‘bear-like’ attitude challenges us to see him or her as another Soul on the pathway home to God/Spirit. If we can look past the ‘bear’ demeanor, we might even see the hurting person behind that gruff exterior.
  • Gus as a complainer gives us the opportunity to choose to listen to the complaints or to ask that they be stopped. Complainers like to elicit the ‘fixer’ in us and then get annoyed with our attempts to solve their problems. Rather than allowing Gus’s complaining to elicit our ‘fixer’, we have a chance to realize that Gus is not broken so doesn’t need to be fixed.
  • When Gus challenges everything we say or do, it offers us a chance to become stronger within ourselves and to realize that our actions and expressions have validity.
  1. Loving friends and family

These are the people who love and cherish us just as we are. They are always there when we need them … offering to help, willing to listen and loving us through everything that happens in our lives. They bless us in many ways.

  1. Things, things, and more things

Susie never gave her dishwasher a second thought until the day it died. For the next three weeks, until she could get it replaced, she had to wash dishes by hand and hated every minute of it. The dishwasher was just one of the many things Susie took for granted in her life, things she needed to be grateful for on a daily basis.

  1. Pets

They love us unconditionally. We often feed them, water them and forget them. Have you told your pet lately how much you love him or her? Pets are highly intelligent, evolved beings. They hear and understand every word we say as well as our body language and the subtle energies we give off.

Being grateful for all the blessings and miracles in our lives on a daily basis helps us to grow spiritually. It also makes room for more blessings and miracles to enter our lives. Our Angels, Spirit Guides and Loved Ones in Heaven love to bestow blessings on us!

Tomorrow when you are driving, walking, or doing some other activity in which you can let your brain roam loose and free, start making a list of the things for which you are grateful and give thanks for them. If you are like most of us, you will find that list is never-ending, and you will end up living in an attitude of gratitude every day.

Angel Blessings,

Rev. Sheri
Founder, Angel Messenger

5 replies

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

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  2. […] you go to sleep….. you can write down what you have been grateful for that day and in those writings notice how the universe sent synchronicities, people, events, […]

  3. […] to control our thoughts in order to cultivate happiness is both an easy and a complex thing; as we all know, our thoughts can get the best of us at times, […]

  4. […] Gratitude opens the heart. Lovingkindness fills it. Say thank you to everything and for everything. Be kind to yourself in the simple ways that really matter. If you came from a home where love or kindness was scarce, this can be more challenging than you might think. Listen to the needs of your body, soul, and spirit. When you are tired, rest. When you need a break, play. When you are lonely, contact a friend and allow yourself to be comforted. Spend time in nature to recharge. As you practice being kind to yourself, you find that kindness extending to others, human and animal, and the earth itself. […]

  5. […] in the struggle keeps us frantic, on edge, anxious, in the future, etc. It stops us from seeing our blessings, enjoying ourselves and relaxing in the now. Like Dilys Gater says: “To be or not to be is […]

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