The most important daily practice is gratitude. Whenever someone comes to me with life challenges, or just wishes to grow spiritually, I recommend for them to start a gratitude journal. Every morning write 9 items that you are grateful for. I did mean write. Doing it in you head is different. Writing by hand has a different effect on the brain and imprints the thoughts deeper and more powerfully. Every thought that we have travels from us as energy in an infinity sign and picks up similar thoughts. Gratitude thoughts will attract more things to be grateful for.
Over the years I have seen miracles come from this practice. It sounds so simple, but very effective if one continues to do it for a long time. The nine items do not always have to be new; they can be repeated over and over. New ones must also be added. There are so many things that we take for granted that we really should be grateful for. Simple things like toilet, clean water, food on the table, a roof over our head etc. are luxuries that many do not have.
The difficulty of a daily practice is to continue to do it. When we see positive results, we begin to sabotage and skip the practice. The ego personality does not like change. It will tell us that we are good enough and do not need it. We come across this challenge whenever we try to practice anything daily: be it exercise, diet, study, prayer etc. To be aware of this gives us an edge and creates the will and courage to succeed.
If we understand the importance of our thoughts and how they affect our life and others, we may be more careful and try to create thoughts of gratitude throughout the day. Annie Besant in her work “Thought Power” explains that: “The mind is like a wireless machine. A saint with peace, poise, harmony sends out into the world thoughts of harmony and peace. They travel with lightning speed in all directions and enter the mind of persons and produce in them also similar thoughts. Whereas a worldly person whose mind is full of jealousy, revenge and hatred sends out discordant thoughts which enter the minds of thousands and stir in them similar thoughts of hatred and discord”
Our thoughts also affect the chemistry of our body. Being grateful, will lead to a healthier life. By thought alone we are able to manifest: Joe Dispenza inspires us all through his explanation of how our energy has influence on the material world. “If you are going to perform something that’s unlimited, you’d better feel unlimited. If you want to create freedom, you’d better feel free. And if you want to truly heal yourself, you’d better raise your energy to wholeness. The more elevated the emotion you feel, the greater the energy you broadcast and the more influence you will have on the material world of matter. And the greater your energy, the shorter the amount of time it takes for your manifestation to appear in your life. In this process, you relax and allow a greater mind – the consciousness of the unified field – to organize an event that’s right for you. You essentially get out of the way. When your surprised by an unknown experience that seems like it came out of nowhere, that’s because you created it in no thing. and it can happen in no time if you create it in the realm beyond linear time – that’s the quantum field, where there is no time.” Dispenza (p.73) Kindle Edition.
Gratitude creates an elevated emotion that caries us through the whole day. We will begin to see more things in our daily lives that we can be grateful for. Also we will have a positive effect on our surroundings and the people we are in contact with. For example, if you only see the positive qualities of a person and not the discordant energies, you will find that in time they will manifest he positive energies more and more.
Such a simple practice, yet difficult to maintain, must be developed by those that want a happier and more fulfilling life. Bring gratitude into every daily experience; not just writing into the journal. Tell people “thank you” when they do something for you no matter how small it is.
“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” -Dalai Lama
