On your courageous journey to career clarity there will be times when you feel wobbly. As your old beliefs fray and you feel tossed out of your comfort zone, gratitude offers ways to replenish. When you lean into gratitude, you can find solace and grow comfortable with the unknown. Gratitude opens you up to the wonder and beauty of this new beginning that wants to emerge within you.
Gratitude has a way of carrying you through the challenging terrain of renegotiating your inner truth. The more you cultivate gratitude, the easier it becomes to access this wonderful quality when you need it the most. As Meister Eckhart says it so beautifully: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
Finding gratitude in your heart is a way of returning to what’s true and beautiful within you. Here are five of my most cherished ways to lean into gratitude. Choose the gratitude rituals that feel most meaningful, easy, joyful and supportive for you at this stage of your career clarity journey.
Bring Gratitude into Your Daily Life
If you are feeling strapped for time and it’s really heard to fit any gratitude ritual into your day, you may want to begin with this very simple practice. Say “Thank you” internally as you go about daily activities, such as washing the dishes, waiting in line, brushing your teeth, or washing your hands.
Dwelling in the energy of the words “thank you” shifts your internal vibration. It also provides some respite from the constant chatter our minds tend to busy themselves with.
Share Your Gratitude
Reach out to the people in your life to share your appreciation and gratitude. Let them know how much their love, friendship and support means to you. Tell them which qualities you most appreciate about them. When you sincerely share your gratitude for a person with that person it strengthens your connection and deepens your trust.
On that note, please share this article with your friends and family, so that we can all lean into gratitude together! Thank you!
Journal Your Gratitude
Many years ago, I committed to a three-month-challenge of writing down three things I am grateful for every morning. Every morning I write into my journal and feel the gratitude in my heart as I connect with the bounty in my life. It feels like drinking a nourishing elixir every morning.
Over time, it became easier to notice the small and big blessings everywhere in my life and it became harder to select just three things. After many years of gratitude journaling, it remains one of my most cherished ways to lean into gratitude each day.
Let Gratitude Ripple Through Your Community
Since the early months of the pandemic, it’s been so heartwarming to witness all the wonderful creations of gratitude and kindness throughout our city. Heartfelt messages greet me, wherever I walk. Chalk art, painted rocks and crocheted hearts suspended from fences remind me of the loving kindness that is always present.
Soon, my husband and I became active participants in this public sharing of gratitude. Together we created colourful hearts with empowering messages that we suspended from the tree on the boulevard in front of our home.
How about you? How would you like to distribute messages of kindness and gratitude in your community? Know that as you express your gratitude publicly, you are extending the ripple of gratitude. You are planting positive seeds and touching the lives and hearts of the people in your community. As you do, gratitude flows right back to you.
Expand Gratitude as a Whole Body Experience
With all gratitude practices, the most important element is to feel the sensations and emotions of gratitude in your heart and your whole body. This is a wonderful practice developed by the Heartmath Institute that helps to expand and deepen the felt experience of gratitude. It has become one of my most cherished ways to lean into gratitude. All you need is a little bit of quiet time and one thing or experience that you are grateful for.
Here is how you can practice gratitude heart breath:
- Settle into a comfortable position.
- Relax your body and let yourself arrive in the present moment, sensing the connection with the ground beneath you.
- Gently touch the area around your heart with one hand.
- Imagine breathing through your heart.
- Recall something, someone or an experience you are grateful for.
- Let yourself feel the gratitude in your heart as you continue to breathe through your heart.
- Notice what it feels like in your heart, when you breathe in gratitude. Does it feel warm and expansive? Notice the sensations around your heart and let yourself savour these sensations.
- Gradually let those sensations expand around your heart, like an opening flower.
The more you practice, the easier it becomes to let gratitude expand until eventually you will sense every cell in your body breathing in gratitude with your heart.
Now that you are well on your way to leaning into gratitude on your career clarity journey, take another powerful step and book your free career clarity consult. I look forward to supporting you on your journey!
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