Manifesting Your Best Life: Part Two, the Art of Gratitude (and Framing)
In part two of my “living your best life” series, I wanted to focus on the one emotion I’ve been feeling in such abundance lately (and that takes some time to uncover, sometimes) and that’s gratitude. Sometimes, when we take the bad with the good, we can acknowledge that, even though bad things have happened to us, we can be grateful for the good; for the love; for the sunshine on a cloudy day, even if every day isn’t wonderful. We can be grateful for the things that *are*, for our “reasons”, so to speak. Let me give some examples (and explain more about how framing life and feelings of gratitude this way ultimately changed my life!)—
Taking the good with the bad (and being grateful for the good, always)
Things aren’t always perfect, but when I started to take a few moments each day to be more present and express gratitude for the things that are pretty darn close to perfect in my life, it changed my outlook.
For example, the ability to wake up and listen to good music; it’s something so simple and so integral to my life, but once I decided to start waking up and really soaking in a good song or two on my morning walk, or simply while I got ready, it changed my whole frame of mind. Deciding to get up and have a dance party for one to a song I truly love, and really just allow myself to have those few minutes of living in the present and fully listening to it, feeling it, moving my body, made a huge difference. This is a great example of taking something I do constantly anyways (listening to music) and making it a moment of gratitude, reflection and fun— a simple change in my frame of mind that allowed me to think, “Wow, I’m very fortunate to have this to enjoy,” and it set the tone for the rest of my day or week (and still does, every time).
Another thing I practice constant gratitude for are the things in my life I’d usually take for granted— the “always on” things, like my day job, my home life, etc. I think sometimes we forget to find joy in these little things because they become so routine to us. For example, when I allow myself to reflect on my job, my coworkers, and have fortunate I am to be employed and make a living it really changed my frame of mind about working every day. I don’t simply have to go to work every day, I get to. I get to work and make a living and build a life for myself, my husband (who also has a great job, which we’re thankful for as well), and our animals. I get to write, make money, and later use that money to afford food, fun, and other things I enjoy. That’s really something great, when you think about it, and a total privilege. Any of us who are gainfully employed are fortunate to be in that position, and fortunate to have paths to means that help us create more of an abundant life for ourselves and our families.
And speaking of family— that’s another thing we sometimes take for granted, and can forget to derive joy from in the day to day madness that is life. I take such huge joy and pride in the little family Andrew and I have built, which includes our wonderful group of friends, and taking time to genuinely soak in the moments and memories I’m creating with these individuals and recognize (and thus, be grateful for) the value they’re adding to my life and the enrichment they’re bringing to my soul is huge for me. My life really changed for the better when I decided to start spending more time soaking in the love and enjoying the “little things” in my day to day, which my family and friends (and animal pals!) are an integral part of. Something as simple as finding joy in a silly thing my dog does, and laughing about it with my husband, reminds me to be grateful for the miracle of life— because though it isn’t always perfect, nor is it easy, it has moments of ordinary beauty always around if you’re simply willing to look for them, and hold onto them for a while.
So, what are you grateful for? Focusing on what we’re grateful for can greatly change our frame of reference and general emotional state.
Xoxo, MM.