It’s true – gratitude has the power to change things. I would venture to say, that it serves at the catalyst to change one’s circumstances. It begins with choosing to be grateful, and that choice ignites a positive domino effect that leads to actual change. I know some of you must be thinking that I’m crazy. How can one’s thinking change one’s reality? How can choosing to be grateful turn a seemingly upsetting situation into a blessing? Read on and you’ll find out.
Neale Donald Walsch, author of the acclaimed series, Conversations with God, said: “…gratitude completely shifts the context from which we consider, observe, witness or experience any outward event, circumstance or situation. Perspective creates perception, and perception creates belief; belief creates behavior. Behavior creates experience, and experience creates your reality.” Walsch articulates the dominoes in play here, so let’s list them: Gratitude, Perspective, Perception, Belief, Behavior, Experience and Reality.
- Gratitude – a feeling of appreciation or thanks
- Perspective – the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance
- Perception – the way you think about or understand someone or something
- Belief – a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true
- Behavior – the way something [or someone] moves, functions or reacts
- Experience – the process of doing and seeing things and of having things happen to you
- Reality – the true situation that exists: the real situation
* Definitions from Merriam Webster (merriam-webster.com)
Feeling turns to understanding, to knowing, to acting… to experiencing
An Applicable Lesson
[Story complements of a dear friend]
I got home from a long day at work. I was exhausted and I walked into a disheveled house. Shoes scattered across the living room, my toddler’s toys sprinkled generously over the entirety of the floor, the beds unmade…the works. My husband had arrived home a short time before me, and what was he doing? Watching TV and barely paying attention to our little one. Dinner had to be made, bath time had to take place, shoes and toys had to be put away – so much had to be done and I would have to do it all!
Frustration quickly set in and I realized I was at a crossroads. I could choose to let frustration flourish into anger, and create a tense atmosphere for my whole family, including myself. OR I could take a deep breath, kiss my loved ones hello and take a moment to be thankful for my circumstance. Yes, the house was much less clean than I would have liked and yes, there was a lot that had to be checked off of my list before I could put my head down on the pillow and get some rest, but as much as those things were true, something was even more TRUE. What was it? The reality that my life was really very blessed.
The truth is that I have a home filled with the laughter of an energetic and ever-growing toddler. I have a hard working husband who deserves to put his feet up for a moment after a long day at the office. I have food and the means to prepare it for my family – and I have this day…this precious day. I am not guaranteed tomorrow, but I have right now, and right now, my reality is pretty wonderful!
What is YOUR story? What is your Attitude? What is your reality?
Do you need some help parsing out your reality? Do you need some help learning to see the beauty through the barriers of life? Those barriers (shoes, toys, whatever they may be) sure cloud our vision, don’t they? They sure do a good job of blocking the beauty! But it’s there – you just need to look for it.
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Interested in more information? Contact Master Certified Coach & licensed psychotherapist: Mara Fisher, LCSW, MCC, at www.BridgeofLife.com or +1305-754-7246