The Importance of Gratitude

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~ Melody Beattie ~


On Wednesday I will be going out of town for a few days with my family to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, and it got me to thinking about how important gratitude is for all of us. In fact, it's absolutely essential in order to be happy- at least in my experience. Feeling gratitude and expressing it has done wonders for me. It has helped to pull me out of some of the darkest times of my life; the simple act of sitting down to write a list of what I am thankful for has shifted my perception completely over and over again.
Over the weekend I saw a friend of mine, and I was telling about how I have felt improvement in my physical condition. Then I went on to complain that I had gone on a walk and by the end of it I lost all of my steam and was very tired. I told him that I was disappointed in the way my body was holding up and he replied that at least I was doing better, and I had been able to do more than I had in the recent past. The conversation continued on in this fashion- I would gripe about something and he would throw it right back at me with a positive. He finally stopped me cold when he said that there is so much to be grateful for in all of our lives, and until we are able to see that and embrace all that we have, we can never be happy. He calls himself a glass half full person (who formerly was the opposite) and shared that it has brought him more contentment and joy than all of the years he spent feeling like he didn't have enough combined.
I have to say that I totally agree. No matter how badly I have felt physically or emotionally, I have always been taken care of. There has always been a better day around the corner, and I have always had things in my life to be grateful for. They say that what you give attention to increases, so why not make the good things in your life multiply, instead of creating more grief and frustration? I whole heartily recommend making a gratitude list everyday and letting it remind you of just how blessed you are. Even if you can't see it at that moment, the more you do it, the better you will feel.
I wish you all a peaceful and wonderful Thanksgiving, and remember to take a look around you and let in all of the things that you have to be thankful for!

Staying In The Moment

I was going to title my post "Waiting is Hard to Do," but since I have chosen to stay focused and positive, I feel that "Staying in the Moment" is much more appropriate.
I have been waiting to hear back about my heart biopsy results (which should be ready today or tomorrow), and I have to say that it hasn't been all that easy. On top of that, my body is still in the process of recovering from the procedure, so that has left me with a lot of time by myself to think and project about what they may have found, and what that might mean for my future. I am sure you can only imagine just how creative my imagination can be!
Anyway, I went to my primary care doctor this morning, and he didn't give me very much to be hopeful about. The one thing that helped to ease my stress a bit, was the fact that he said it takes much longer to recover from the heart biopsy than it does to get past the cardiac catherization. That was good news to hear, because I have been thinking that I should have bounced back from this already instead of feeling weak and in pain for the last few days.
He went on to say that I should not get my hopes up that they will find anything from my biopsy- even if something is detected, most of the time they can only treat the symptoms and not the cause. So my question was this (once again): why did I just go through all of that?!!! He replied that it was absolutely necessary to run the tests for my condition, and that it helps the doctors to rule out possible causes. It also will help us figure out what direction to go into, regardless of what the outcome is.
Well, once again I left the visit feeling rather deflated, and after coming home and resting a bit, I have realized that I have been looking for answers outside of myself once more. I know that the solution is in my Higher Powers hands. I know that He wants the best for me. I am also trying to get over blaming myself for having caused all of this- which I feel is essential to my wellness- and will do what I can to set my thinking back onto a better train of thought. Honestly, I haven't been reading or listening to any of the inspirational material that I normally add to my daily routine (except for my twelve step work), and I can feel an absolute downturn in my outlook. I am going to commit to all of you that I will (at the very least), lie down and listen to one of my Law of Attraction Cd's on my iPod. It never fails to make me feel better, and in fact, it just might get me back into right thinking again. I am so glad that I decided to post on my blog today- it has helped me to see that I do have a choice in how I feel, think, and act. Best of all, if I end up backsliding on my progress (which I feel I have) I can always get right back into it by listening to something inspirational. Which is exactly what I plan on doing!