The Power of Gratitude
The Power of Gratitude
As Principal of Millennium Education & Absolute Empowerment, I am very blessed and grateful to meet amazing and talented people. I receive so much during the seminars and courses but most of all it is connecting with people and hearing their wisdom. Recently I was very honoured when a client sent me their wisdom about a subject that is dear to my heart – GRATITUDE. I was so touched by it and I wanted to share it with you. So with Anthony’s permission I share his Gratitude article that he has written. Many thanks Anthony for these words that align with the Sacred geometry Crystal Gridding we do on the medical intuitive seminars and Courses – Jean Sheehan
The importance of gratitude as a topic became clear to me after attending a lecture by De-Martini who features in the film the “The Secret”. He stated at the end of his lecture that if you take only one point away from all the information that I have covered this evening then easily having an attitude of gratitude is the most important. Also other writers such as Wayne Dwyer, Seligman etc placed gratitude as one of the most important elements in mans search for happiness. To understand the importance that the concept of gratitude has on the journey one has to first understand the link between the soul and ones thoughts.
Each thought that you have has its own vibrational rate or frequency. Those thoughts that are negative such as blame, resentment, guilt, hate and pessimism are emitted as large particles from the body and vibrate at a lower frequency. They manifest around the physical body as an aura of dark colours such as brown, muddy red and dark green depending on the power of ones emotions and the type of thought. Those thoughts that are positive such love, compassion, appreciation and seeing the goodness and beauty that surround us are emitted from us as smaller particles with a higher vibrational rate. They manifest in the aura as the lighter more opaque hues of colour such as blues’ light greens and yellow.
It is my belief that the most important work that we must do on the spiritual path is to increase our vibrational rate to a higher frequency through positive thoughts of love, compassion, optimism, seeing the beauty and gratitude. Over time as we refine the positive qualities of our thoughts and emotions and raise our vibrational rate to a level that matches the vibrational rate of the soul, it begins to unfold and in doing so provides the key linkage into the source which is a higher state of consciousness and awareness. Once we reach this level of resonance between the soul and the mind, the mind becomes still and ceases its chatter. At this point a flip occurs where our personality which harbours our ego and its associated fears, judgements and biases drops away and the higher instrument, the soul takes over as the main instrument from which we view the world, we see life through the eye of the soul.
HOW CAN GRATITUDE BE DEFINED
Gratitude, thankfulness or appreciation is a positive emotion or attitude which acknowledges a benefit that one has received or will receive. Being grateful acknowledges what we have attracted into our lives. You become aware of the good things that happen to you and the beauty that surrounds you and express your thanks and appreciation without taking them for granted.
THE TECHNIQUE
The main technique for cultivating gratitude and appreciation is to establish a daily practise and habit in which you remind yourself of the gifts, grace, benefits and good things that you have enjoyed over the course of the day. To do this the best way is to keep a daily journal in which you record the blessings that you are grateful for at the end of each day. You need to buy a year day diary and record at least five things that you can give thanks for at the end of each day. Do you have your health, can you walk, talk, Consciously see the beauty that surrounds you or music that you have listened to that stirs your soul. Do you have a family and friends whom you love and love you. Do you have shoes to wear, cloths, food, sight, shelter, pets. Did you experience a smile or a good deed from a stranger today.
Almost everything you have is because of the efforts of other people working in harmony who have served you to make your life more comfortable. Your car, furniture, restaurants, home, clothes, electricity, movies and phone etc. The key is to focus on what we have overlooked in our life, what we have taken for granted that is good in our lives. We must learn to savour small authentic moments that bring us contentment. To strengthen your experience it is important to make a conscious effort to see these aspects of your life that you are grateful for and appreciate as GIFTS to you from the cosmos, the source or God for which you are giving THANKS. Also it is important to become aware of your feelings and relish and savour these gifts in your imagination. In other words do not hurry through this exercise as if it were just another item on your do list.
Another important key skill in keeping a daily diary of situations and things that we feel grateful for is to give thanks for the negative circumstances and situations that come into our lives. eg illnesses, conflict with family and friends or at work or life circumstances. Most people find this hard to do but the trick is to reframe the situations into a spiritual learning experience, an opportunity to transcend the ego and our previous programming and conditioning from which we often see ourselves as a victim. If we see ourselves as a victim we will remain stuck in resentment which lowers our vibrational rate and moves us away from the source.
If we look back at the conflicts, negative circumstances, and pain that we have experienced in our lives you will see that these situations often have been the catalyst that have motivated us to search for the answers which then often leads to our main spiritual growth and wisdom. Often we are programmed and conditioned to feel bad about these situations in our lives. It is a different point of view to be in a persistant state of gratitude for all that shows up. It is important to see these situations as an opportunity to grow and transcend our ego. On the spiritual journey the universe gives exams. These are the true tests of spiritual growth.
THE BENEFITS
The technique of writing an evening journal of five daily blessings has the capacity to change your life beyond belief because as you give thanks an inner shift in your reality will occur. Our perception becomes sharpened and we are more likely to see consciously positive events and situations where before we saw curses. When we are grateful we affirm that a source of goodness exists in our lives. By writing these each day we magnify and expand upon these sources of goodness. Numerous recent studies and research of the impact on people that have kept a gratitude journal over a ten week period compared to those that didn’t proved that the gratitude group were consistently 25% happier than the control group who didn’t keep a gratitude journal.
For those that kept the gratitude journal the change was substantial. Furthermore the gratitude group also reported fewer health problems, were more optimistic, felt more connected to those around them, less stressed, less depressed, exercised more and were more motivated and energised. They also reported better quality sleep, improved social relationships and therefore experienced a higher level of overall wellbeing.
According to other studies people who feel grateful are more likely to feel loved, make more progress towards their goals and are more likely to help others. One of the most important impacts of practising gratitude is that it is the surest way to stop the incessant negative stream of inner dialogue that leads us away from our authentic self. Fear dissipates because it cannot exist if our heart is full of gratitude. If you are serious about becoming a happier person and expanding your awareness, writing a gratitude journal is not an option, it is a must.
THE MECHANICS OF GRATITUDE
Scotoma – blind spot of reality
To gain an insight and understanding of how we have created a habit of focusing on what is missing and wrong in our life as well as taking our life for granted we need to explore the concepts of self-esteem, how the mind works and scotomas.
To various degrees most people have low self-esteem in that they place a low self worth and value on themselves which has been created by their past conditioning, programming and the negative view that they take on past life experiences. The accumulation in our lives of negative thought patterns that pass through a mind that is linear and one dimensional (The conscious mind can only hold one part of a thought at anyone time ) creates a belief system about ourselves and the world which tend to reinforce itself as a habit and becomes crystallised and self repeating.
Scotomas have the role of blocking out other information from our environment which conflicts with our belief system. We all have blind spots in different parts of our lives and we are by definition totally unaware of them. Scotomas have the affect of altering our perception of our world and reality by blocking out what we see or don’t see, what we hear and don’t hear thereby impacting on what we feel and think. Scotomas close down our ability to see other possibilities and solutions to situations and problems restricting our flexibility and ability to change. In a sense we have “locked in” a habit in our mind of selectively seeking out negative information and perception about our world and “locked out” positive perceptions and information. Therefore the belief system that we have created about our world and reality is flawed.
So that we are able to expose and break through the hold that scotoma have on our life we need to start with the awareness that scotoma (blind spots) exist in our lives and that there is other information and perceptions that we are not seeing. The second step is to create a conscious habit of asking ourselves question throughout the day such as:
“What is positive in my life?”
“What beauty surrounds me at this moment?”
“What wisdom and knowledge can I gleam from this experience?”
To use an analogy it is like a picture that we have created of our life with the negative perceptions in the foreground and the positive perceptions blurred in the background. By using gratitude and appreciation we reverse this picture to bring the positive aspects of our life to the foreground. By persisting with this technique new habits are consciously created in the mind which seeks out positive perception and information. This results in endorphins being released from the brain which reduces stress as the nervous system in the mind and body relaxes, the immune system strengthens and the person also experiences a natural state of euphoria as the mind vibrates at a higher frequency.
GRATITUDE ANCHORS YOU INTO THE PRESENT MOMENT
When you consciously look at the beauty that surrounds you, the trees, flowers, friends, animals, birds etc and give thanks and appreciation for there existence you are bought more fully conscious into the present moment of the beauty that surrounds you. It frees us from ruminating about past problems or future orientated anxieties. In other words you are able to detach yourself from the past or future and anchor yourself fully into the present moment.
When for example you give thanks for the beauty of a flower you become fully conscious of its beauty – you open up to its energies and become fully connected into the moment. To see the beauty of the flower is a conscious action through your mind you become the beauty that you see. You become connected to the flower, fully awake, fully conscious and fully present. The mind at this point is fully lucid, clear and perceptive.
You need to see each moment as an opportunity to find things to give thanks and appreciation for so that you are continually living in the beauty of the moment and therefore raising your vibrational rate.
ABUNDANCE AND GRATITUDE
By consciously appreciating and giving thanks to the abundance that exists in your life you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law. “The more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given to you”. By weaving this ancient spiritual law into the fabric of your daily life you will be designing a wonderful blueprint for your life. By continually practising gratefulness you will positively shift your energy to the highest possible frequency which creates a vibrational match for the positive energy and experiences that you want. You are in a sense sending a clear message to the universe that this is what you would like to experience more of.
The key to this technique is that your gratitude and appreciation are sincere and heart felt. It is these pure emotions that create the highest vibrational frequency and thereby acts as a magnet to attract abundance into your life, it opens the door for more to come. The daily action of writing your gratitude journal creates a habit in your life which magnify and expands upon the sources of goodness that exists. Whatever you focus on expands. It is a simple concept and a powerful tool in the deliberate creation of the life that you desire.
Most people spend their time focused on fault finding and what is wrong and missing in their lives which is reflected in judgements, criticism, anger, envy and resentment therefore attracting into there life more of the same. It is important to note again what we think and focus on expands which is expressed:
“As we think so shall we be”
One of the natural extensions of building an attitude of gratitude into our lives is the development of a generous heart without the expectation of return. This occurs because we view our life from an abundant point of view and as such begin to give to others in a natural spontaneous way because there is no lack. A sense of gratefulness dispels the idea that we do not have enough, that we will never have enough and that we ourselves are not enough. As such we begin to detach ourselves from materialism.
GRATITUDE, THE HEART AND INTUITION
Gratitude is one of the keys that opens up the gateway to your heart with the result that an intense spiritual power is released. The higher the vibrational rate that we achieve through the purity of our thoughts enable us to communicate with higher vibrational frequencies or intuition, a knowing without thinking.
To strengthen the power of your gratitude you can use your imagination to build a picture in your mind of a stream of golden light streaming through the top of your head and filling your heart on an in breadth, and then holding for a second or two. On an out breadth imagine the flow of golden light streaming outward from your heart. In your mind bless the situation, person etc that you are giving your appreciation or thanks to. This technique has an immediate impact of stimulating the heart chakra thereby raising your vibrational rate to a higher level than otherwise would have been achieved.
This leads us to a new level of awareness, our perception becomes more acute and we are opened to new possibilities. In other words when we practise gratitude our heart opens and we begin to hear the voice of intuition which becomes clearer and louder with life expanding and changing messages which enter our mind with ease. This is part of the grand design of conscious evolution.
The Power of Gratitude©- Article By: Anthony Petcopoulos, Millennium Education & Absolute Empowerment Noosa Heads, Sunshine Coast , Queensland, Australia
