Gratitude:I have been looking at the question “what life would I like to have?” And I found additional questions in different places that add to this initial question:

What does the world require of me?

What does the universe require of me?

What do I require of me?

I don’t have an answer with words to any of those questions. 

But that’s ok. Because like other things being on the journey to more gratitude in my life, is probably as important as the target. 

I am grateful for the journey. 

Gratitude:

I have picked up my book “Prosperity Consciousness” again and read the following questions:

– “What life would you like to have?”

– “Would you please claim and own the capacity to celebrate your life and make it a joyful experience every day, starting today?”

When pondering the first question, I really got that sometimes, I think that something would be great, but it is really someone else’s point of view that I took on as if it was true for me. 

In a day where I struggled a bit, gratitude seemed unattainable. So I fell back on a safe one: I am grateful I have time to ponder questions like those above…

Gratitude:I was talking about my gratitude posts with a friend telling her how, I have been posting more my research on gratitude than my gratitude itself. During our conversation, I realized that I am reticent posting what I am grateful for because it may be hurtful to others or I may be judged as having it “easy”. My friend reminded me that I am not responsible for how people choose to feel about what I write/say. 

And I wonder where in my life I have stopped myself from being happy/grateful in order to avoid being judged… POC & POD. 

So here it is: I am grateful for my fabulous easy life. 

Gratitude:My post from yesterday made me think of the different people who influenced my life. And the one who stood out yesterday was my father, Alain Cart. He taught me not to be a victim of my circumstances. I remember a conversation where he was giving me examples of what being a victim was and how people can react in different ways to a car accident. I don’t remember understanding the conversation as a child, but as a young adult, I remember taking a personal development course that was teaching just that. (I got my money back).

I am grateful my father taught me to be in charge of my life. 

Gratitude:I saw a video on YouTube titled the science of Happiness. It was a study done that found that expressing gratitude to someone increase our level of happiness. I have already talked about that. But what they found was that the person the least happy at the beginning of the study (which made each participant express gratitude to the person most influential in there life) showed the highest increase in happiness. So they concluded by saying: if you’re having a bad day, express gratitude to someone who is important to you (why they are important to you).

Gratitude:Rolly and I were talking about greetings. When he calls me, he always asks how I am doing instead of getting to the point of his call. Asking and replying to “how are you?” is so automatic these days that it doesn’t mean much, and doesn’t go anywhere as far as conversation starter. Our conversation led me to remember Rolly’s uncle who asked his sister:

“What’s going well for you today?”

Each time I remember this, I want to use it as my regular greeting but then I forget…

I left a voicemail recently to someone who’s message asking to leave a message was finished by the words “stay happy”. I loved it so I finished my message to her with the same words “stay happy”, but it seemed really weird to say. It was nice to hear it on her message though. 

Stay Happy!!!

  I heard before that one way to increase happiness is to add Beauty to our lives. 
I realized today that it doesn’t necessarily means to buy beautiful things, it can be to notice the beauty more. And when you live in Beautiful British Columbia, it is easy to see beauty! It’s just a matter of being more conscious of its existence. And it’s a bit like gratitude, the more I notice it, the more I will notice!

How does it get any better than that?

Gratitude:I saw a video of George Lukas talking about the pursuit of Happiness. He said that when we have experienced pleasure from something, we will never experience the same intensity ever again unless we increase the quantity. 

That reminds me how the first two bits of something delicious feel divine but after that, if we pay attention, the pleasure is not the same. So let’s really take the time to savor the first two bites!

And what if, instead of looking for the same pleasure, we could wipe the slate clean, have no expectation of pleasure, and be surprised each time, a bit like an eighteen month old child discovering the world for the first time. 

I am grateful for the delicious moment I had of sitting in the sun and enjoying the sun’s kiss in my bare arms…

What else is possible?

Gratitude:I had lunch at Miracle Beach this week. I had been there before with one of my dear friend. She can find heart-shaped rocks every where but Miracle Beach is one of her top spots. So I tried to find heart-shaped rocks. And it is a little bit like gratitude: you have to really look and go slow to notice the shape of each rock. And I noticed that at first I released all the heart-shaped rocks I picked up because they were not heart-shaped enough…

Where in our lives are we not being grateful for things that are not gratitude-shaped?

How can we really look and find more gratitude as if we were looking for heart-shaped rocks?

Gratitude:I was reading something that brought a smile to my face. It wasn’t because it was funny but more because it was heart warming. I wonder how could I consciously add things to my life that bring a smile to my face…