I get it. Life can be hard at times. We’ve all been there, and it’s okay. You’re human. It happens. The challenge is in not staying there. One of the best things you can do to shift your mind is with a daily gratitude practice.
I remember when I was first diagnosed with this dis-ease the doctors can’t seem to cure. In the early days not much was known about neuroendocrine cancer and research was left to the patient. I desperately missed the old me, the energetic person who would bound out of bed every morning. Now with this change it was up to me to find my new normal. Rather than lying in my bed on my pity pot each morning, which was a gateway to depression, I would start thinking about what I was grateful for. Sometimes it was as simple as just waking up that morning! I remember having to force myself to live in the present and not the past. There is no point in reflecting on what used to be. That will only make you sad.
I would lie there thinking, and then verbalizing in my own voice to release the power behind my belief and conviction.
I am grateful to be alive.
I am grateful for my breath.
I am grateful for my husband who takes excellent care of me.
I am grateful for my doctors…
I think you get it. Once you make a practice of gratitude as a daily ritual your life will improve! We are all here as participants in this game called Life and we have a choice on how we decide to advance to the next step. Being grateful releases endorphins in your body and will naturally make you feel better. When you focus on the positive each day, it will build on the next and before you know it, whatever was troubling you is in the rear-view mirror.
In the beginning my mind could easily wander so I had Post-it notes on my bathroom mirror, in the office and the microwave in the kitchen. I would write affirmations to help keep me centered and focused so when something negative occurred it didn’t completely throw me for a loop.
There are countless things to be grateful for if you open your mind and look around you.
* Photo courtesy of FutureFocused.wordpress.com
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