Are you calling BS on the GRATITUDE MOVEMENT?

Ever feel like you just don’t want to be grateful?  Or wonder what’s the point?

I’ve been there, and I talk to people every day who feel the same.  

Here’s the thing, being a wee bit grumpy keeps things safe.   When we acknowledge how amazing and beautiful our life can be we immediately invoke an invitation to embrace that beautiful life.   Sometimes moving towards the good stuff can seem scary, overwhelming, and expose a fear of vulnerability.

Optimism elicits hope, awakens dreams and pulls us into expansive action and thoughts.  This is the premise for the Law of Attraction: those positive thoughts attract more positive thoughts.  Gratitude invokes more gratitude, etc.  What we think/focus on …becomes.  That’s a LOT of self-responsibility. 

However, if we commit to our misery, we cut off the invitation to embrace the optimistic unknown.  When we are in a funk, we usually aren’t up for taking risks, being adventurous or doing much of anything proactive.

It’s easier to commit to negativity and call it “realistic”.   Some think, bad things still happen even if you are positive so….???  Of course, they do! 

Which brings me to this.

GRATITUDE IS NOT PRETENDING ALL IS WORKING IN YOUR LIFE.  IT IS SIMPLY CHOOSING TO BRING YOUR FOCUS AND APPRECIATION TO WHAT IS WORKING IN THE MOMENT!

Yes, you can have things happening that you don’t prefer, and you can still be a grateful person. 

How do you do this? 

Here are some tips to get you started:

1.)   Let yourself acknowledge what you are NOT happy about. 

2.)   Get it out.  Get Therapy, a Journal, a Good Friend, a Punching Bag.  Just get it out!

3.)   Honor your feelings.  ALL of them!

4.)   Stay open.

5.) Honor what is working and what you are grateful for in the moment.

Simply acknowledging how strongly you feel about something has the capacity to diffuse the intensity.   Be aware of what comes up after you acknowledge the entirety of your emotional experience and then decide to focus on the parts you can control, and the parts that make you feel good.  Find your gratitude amongst the grit and totality of life.