Finding The Gift In Every Situation

When life places obstacles in our path, when things seem like they're breaking down and we grow weary of the struggle, it's a good time to step back and look for the gift. What gift, you say?

Every situation and experience in life holds a gift, lesson or blessing for us. Yes, even the really painful experiences, like the loss of a loved one, an automobile accident, or natural disaster. There is a gift there, if we look for it.

To find the gift, we simply have to ask ourselves, "What positive lesson can I learn from this? How can this situation benefit me? What wisdom can I gain from this experience? What makes this situation worthwhile to experience in my life?" We can learn from anything in our lives, from a snag in our pantyhose to a migraine headache. We can learn from our disappointments, our heartaches, and our joy.

We can do this with any situation too, not just negative ones. Where is the gift in a boring Sunday afternoon, a crying infant or a gray, rainy wedding day? All we need to do is choose to see the positive side of the situation. The gift of a boring Sunday afternoon might be expressing gratitude for having some free time to express our creativity or enjoy a good book. A crying infant can teach us patience, compassion and nuturing. A rainy wedding day can help us understand what really matters, the celebration of love and meaningful connections with our friends and family.

Of course, when truly wonderful things happen to us, we don't need to really look for the gift then, do we? We already know what it is. During the happier moments of our lives, we can further honor this positive energy by expressing our deepest gratitude and joy. Rather than just feeling glad about our good fortune, we can purposely focus our thoughts on massive amounts of joy and gratitude, and consciously immerse ourselves in happiness. We can shout our thanks to the heavens and affirm that we welcome even more blessings in our lives.

Choosing to focus on the positive side doesn't mean living our lives in denial. It doesn't mean refusing to acknowledge the negative or mundane aspects of our lives. It means we see them, we accept them, and then we look beyond them rather than getting mired in negative thoughts and letting them affect the rest of our day.

Looking for the gift means choosing to lift our thoughts higher than our struggles. It removes us from our victim status and empowers us. No matter what happens in our lives, we have the ability to choose our attitude and our mindset. We can choose to focus on happiness, joy, love and gratitude, or we can stay mired in unhappiness and struggle.

Focusing on the gifts and blessings in our lives won't make all of our problems vanish overnight, or at all. But it reduces their importance and helps them to fade into the background a bit. We create in our lives what we focus on the most. By choosing to focus on the positive, we attract more positive energy into our lives.

Stop for a moment and look at your surroundings right now. What gifts or lessons are available to you in your current circumstances? And will you choose to embrace them and fully benefit from them?

Thank You Very Much – Turning Problems Into Gifts

I am a martial artist and black belt in aikido, a practice that continues to teach me about life, both on and off the mat. For example, at the end of each aikido practice, I express gratitude to my partners by bowing and saying: "Thank you very much." I've found over the years that sometimes I have obvious reasons to say thank you - working with that person was exhilarating and fun. However, sometimes the reasons are not so obvious - my partner was stiff, rough, unconscious, or generally difficult to work with.

Still, I say thank you, because we're supposed to. Over the years, because I like to be congruent, I have learned to look for something to be grateful for. With my stiff partner, I find I have learned to be more flexible. With the rough opponent, I learned to take care of myself by speaking up or falling more carefully. In each case, I look for the gift. It's become fun to do this, and fun to apply this learning off the mat as well.

How might you incorporate this simple but effective practice in your daily life? Who are your attackers, and where are the unexpected gifts? After an encounter with the pokey driver ahead, if you had to say, "Thank you very much," what would you see as the gift? With a dismissive coworker or boss, if you had to look for the gift, what would it be? In each "difficult" relationship, where's the gift?

There are certain times of the year when we are more aware of being grateful for all of our blessings. My hope is that you might be grateful all year round, and not only for the obvious gifts but for the unexpected ones as well. Wishing you many of both kinds . . .

The Heart-Warming Gratitude

Thank you very much. I am obliged. Gratitude, a quality that is a must to live a good life. Gratitude, a quality that makes both the giver and the receiver happy. Somebody helped me and I forgot about it. Somebody helped me and I remembered it and said thanks. What is better? Many of us forget to thank. We take everything for granted. We take help as our right.

How many of us express gratitude towards earth for allowing us to live on it? How many of us express gratitude towards sun for giving us its light and life to us? How many of us express gratitude to water for quenching our thirst? How many of us say thanks to flowers for making us happy? All of us take these for granted. We don't express gratitude to our own body to survive in this world. Gratitude has a great quality. It makes one who expresses gratitude feel very good. Try it and you will find your heart filling with warmth.

Husband takes wife for granted and vice versa. People are forgetting the art of saying thank you. Why not make other person feel good? By receiving a thanks, the recipient feels worthy. I am a good person. I did something good, so I am getting this Thanks. Why should we miss even the smallest opportunity to express thanks? It costs us nothing. But it is invaluable for one who gets it. Even the smallest gesture made by any body deserves our gratitude. A cab driver, a flower seller, a guard, an attendant, a waiter, everyone who does anything for us, should be told- Thank you very much.

Life is tough for all of us. There is no charm left for many of us in the routine of work. A thank you brings beauty in a dull life. Like a rainbow in the sky, an expression of thanks decorates the heart of the giver and the recipient. The way rain quenches the dry earth, gratitude quenches the desires of hearts to feel good. It quenches the thirst of the hearts. Let us all express our heart warming gratitude and make our earth a better place.

Developing An Attitude Of Gratitude

What does Gratitude really mean? Most of us are thankful for the blessings we have in our lives. We have families we love, jobs that help us provide the necessities of daily living, good health, friends to laugh and play with, freedom and Free Will to live our lives the way we want to.

Most of us are very grateful for these blessings, but how often do we stop to focus and reflect on that? Probably not as often as we should. Why is Gratitude even important? Sure, we're thankful for what we have, but why should we have to dwell on it?

There is a very good reason! Have you ever given someone a gift, and when they open it they react with very little enthusiasm? They say flatly, "Oh yeah, thanks, I've been wanting one of those." Their words say "thank you" but their heart says, "big deal". You can feel that, can't you? Does it inspire you to want to give them another gift? Probably not. On the other hand, if you give someone a gift and they exclaim, "Oh THANK YOU, I just love it!", doesn't that lift your heart? You feel appreciated, and happy that you made them feel appreciated.

The one Universal Law that has had the most profound effect in my life is, Like Attracts Like. When we are truly grateful for the blessings in our lives, and we take time to reflect on them, we automatically begin to draw more blessings to ourselves. Why? Because we create what we focus on.

True gratitude isn't the act of mechanically listing the blessings in our lives every night before we go to sleep. Gratitude is an Attitude. It's a mindset of thankfulness and joy for the wonderful blessings in our lives. Our hearts and minds are lifted in joy when we reflect on the beauty and love surrounding us. It's a heartfelt acknowledgement that our lives would not be as happy as they are now if we didn't have those blessings.

Okay, so maybe not everything in our lives is perfect right now. Gratitude can be hard to foster when we are also experiencing struggle at the same time. Maybe we've just lost a job, or a loved one. Maybe we have difficult financial struggles. Maybe we are mired in depression and sadness. It's hard to feel grateful during moments like that.

That's where Faith comes in. Gratitude and Faith go hand in hand. Gratitude is reflecting on and being thankful for the blessings we do have, while Faith affirms that more are on the way. Maybe not everything in our lives is the way we want it to be, but some things are wonderful, and the things that aren't so wonderful will get better in time. Another job is just around the corner. Peace and healing will come to us as we go through the grieving process for our loved one. Financial struggles come and go. Depression and sadness will lift (seeking treatment may be necessary in some cases), and the sun will shine once again. Believe this. Know it in your heart. Affirm it to the Universe, and it will be so.

You know what I'm grateful for? You. Every single one of you who is reading these words right now. I'm deeply grateful that I'm given the opportunity to send even a tiny ray of sunshine into your lives each week. The letters I get back from you telling me that I've made a difference in your life, no matter how small, fill my heart to overflowing.

Be thankful for the ways in which you touch the lives of others. Some of them you may not even be aware of, and that's okay. Know that they do exist.

Take time to reflect on the good things in your life, not just today, but every day. Really let yourself feel the goodness and love surrounding you. Tell your loved ones what they mean to you. Embrace them and be thankful for their presence in your life. Focus on the Love, for it's all that really matters.

Creating A Meaningful Life

If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?

Sometimes we forget how fleeting life is. There are no guarantees. We might be here until we're 100 years old, or we might check out in our twenties or thirties. We just don't know. But most of us tend to trick ourselves into believing that we have all the time in the world. We procrastinate, hesitate and put off the things that are truly important to us.

If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, would you have any regrets? Would you feel a sense of loss for all the things you didn't do? I'm not referring to major accomplishments like climbing a mountain. I mean the smaller, more precious moments in life. Would you regret not spending more time with your children or spouse? Would you feel disappointed that you never signed up for those dance lessons you've always wanted to take, or wrote the book that's hiding in your heart?

Think back to your childhood for a moment. Remember how slowly time seemed to move? Remember how people in their twenties seemed old, and people in their thirties and forties seemed positively ancient? My grandmother told me years ago that the older you get, time moves more quickly. I didn't believe her. I was a teenager when she told me that, and to my astonishment, more than 20 years have passed since then. How is that possible? Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday I was graduating from high school and had my whole life ahead of me. Time really does seem to move more quickly as you get older. I'll have to remember to tell that to my own grandchildren. *grin*

So, how can we live our lives in a way that will leave us with no regrets? It seems that life has gotten so busy for most of us. How do we find the time and energy to do what really matters? Most of us still have to work, we have responsibilities and demands on our time. Is filling up our schedule with more "stuff" really the answer? No, I don't think so.

I think the answer isn't so much about adding more to our lives, but rather, more deeply enjoying the lives we have now. Certainly we should follow our dreams and engage in fun activities. If you really want to sign up for those dance lessons, go for it. If you have a novel begging to be written, write it! But adding those activities alone will not transform our entire lives.

What transforms a person's life is how present they are in their day to day tasks. While you're working, immerse yourself in the work. Give it your full attention and effort and passion. When you put aside your work for the day, also put it out of your mind. When you are spending time with your family, enjoy them. Laugh, have fun, play. Engage meaningfully with your spouse. Let your family know how much you love and appreciate them.

Finally, and most importantly, allow yourself to really experience life. Take frequent moments throughout your day to breathe, feel, BE. Too many of us spend our days in a rushed fog. We don't take time to awaken and enjoy. We are sleeping through the best parts of our lives. Simply opening our spiritual eyes and looking around can refresh and invigorate us.

Cherish each moment you have on this earth. Live with passion, joy and awe. Cram as much happiness, fun and love into your life as you can. Then when regret comes knocking at your door, there is simply no room for it to come in.

Attitude of Gratitude

An attitude of gratitude? People often to think it will come from having some great luck or fortune. Of course it could feel great to win the lottery, and great friends, money, houses, travel - these are all good things, but not enough by themselves. The right frame of mind is necessary to fully enjoy life. You need the attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude 101

Your life is better when you feel blessed, when you can look around and say "Thank you, God," or "Thank you universe." Whether or not you are religious, when you see life as a wonderful gift, your experience is a richer one. Imagine going through life like you're a child, and every morning is Christmas.

Of course, it is easy to think that gratitude comes from having what we want. We might imagine ourselves giving thanks if we had money, a loving family, and maybe a house on the beach. But we know there are ungrateful, unhappy people with these things. We also know that there are poor people full of gratitude for what little they have, so where does this feeling come from?

Creating Gratitude

An attitude of gratitude arises from how you look at things. It is the natural feeling that comes when you recognize the real value of the people and things in your life. Focus on the good and you cannot help but have a better attitude and experience of life. Gratitude, then, is something you can encourage, something you can learn.

The first step is to stop and smell the roses. How can you be thankful for something you don't notice or enjoy? By the way, roses really do smell great.

The second step is to make this appreciative approach to roses and life a habit. You don't need to ignore the ugliness in the world. Just consciously choose to see the good and beautiful things, until doing so becomes automatic.

One way to encourage this habit is to start writing down every positive thing that happens to you, and all the things you like. Continue this until you start automatically seeing the good things in life. If you've ever bought a white car, and started seeing white cars all over, you know how awareness and focus can alter your perception of reality. In the same way, once you are aware of the good, and start looking for it, you'll start to see wonderful things all over.

Simple exercises like the one above train your mind with time. When you are in the habit of "counting your blessings," gratitude, and a much richer experience of life is the natural result. You will have an attitude of gratitude.