Gratitude & Letting Go - Day 6

I hope you've continued a running list of gratitude and letting go. If not, take a minute to revisit your list and add anything new that has come up for you over the past week. I hope you have a nice long list started here. I also wonder if, along with all of the people and other gifts you are thankful for, you've added any piece of yourself in that list? When is the last time you gave thanks for yourself?

Gratitude & Letting Go - Day 5

Before you go to bed tonight, take five minutes to continue the sabbath practices of gratitude and letting go with this simple exercise found on www.livingwhole.net

THE 5-MINUTE GRATITUDE EXERCISE

Everyone at one time and another, in their living, experiences problems that consume them.

• Relationship challenges. 
• Work problems. 
• Health issues. 
• Financial challenges. 

The list is numerous. These issues grab hold and overwhelm you and your energy. Sometimes so much so you are exhausted for the problem. They grab so tight you wonder if you will ever move forward.

How do you lessen the grasp your challenges have on you and your energy? What something could have you seeing a way of positive change? The 5-Minute Gratitude Exercise just may be what you have been looking for. 

The practice of acknowledging gratitude lessens the heaviness issues have on you, your energy, and your ability to see through your challenges. With slack on the problem, you create space for new and more harmonious views on the situation.

In 5 minutes and 7 steps. That’s it . . .

Gratitude & Letting Go - Day 4

Say "I love you" to as many people as you can today and mean it.

verb (used with object)

to have love or affection for: 

to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).

to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in

to need or require; benefit greatly from

to embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover.

tp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/love?s=t

Gratitude & Letting Go - Day 3

Becoming aware of those things for which you are most grateful and expressing gratitude for them does not mean denying all the other stuff. How can we give thanks in the midst of pain, injustice, or feelings of depression? Is it possible to hold both our gratitude and joy, as well as our suffering, or the suffering of others? It is questions like this that draw us back to sabbath. Some people find an answer, a way, to respond to the paradox. Others find themselves twisted up by the questions, exhausted and confused. Either way, a return to sabbath can help.

Gratitude and Letting Go - Day 2

Daily Order: Day 2

Yesterday you began creating a gratitude and letting go list. What did you notice? Did you find any commonalities?

I wonder what will happen to our day when we fill it with thoughts of what we are most thankful? There are people out there who have already been researching this like the Greater Good Science Center, linked on Day 1. What I think is really cool about this stuff is that it scientifically reinforces what I believe most of us already know somewhere inside of us, but don't always take the time to admit to ourselves. Recognizing those things we are most thankful for makes us happy. Expressing our gratitude spreads the happiness. This happiness can ripple through our day, changing our perspectives, changing our actions, changing our words.

Will You Blog Along? And Other Options

If you've been reading along so far, you'll see I have a strong desire for conversation and community to accompany our 40 day experiment. I've asked for participation through comments here or at our facebook group and some sort of personal reflection through journaling or otherwise. If you'd like to use a blog for your reflection, will you share your blog address with me? I could also add you as a blog author so you could update your own reflections right here on this blog too.

WEEK 1: Gratitude and Letting Go - Day 1

This first week of our Sabbath Experiment begins with a focus on gratitude and letting go. I do not think we can truly have one without the other. Gratitude is not just saying "thank you" for something that makes us feel good. Gratitude comes out of recognition of the gifts that surround us and fill our lives; gifts that have nothing to do with what we have done to deserve them or make them happen. Gratitude, in essence, is a practice of letting go. Letting go is hard. Recognizing the beauty and gifts in our lives that have nothing to do with what we think we deserve is hard. Saying "thank you" and simply receiving these things, is hard. So we begin with little steps.