Day 9

Changing Your Personal Reality

CENTERING THOUGHT

My personal reality begins inside me.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Om Hreem
I am the reality that unifies diversity.

Day 9 – Changing Your Personal Reality

“The thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.” ― Henry Ward Beecher

Today’s meditation gives us the starting place for transforming reality – our own self. Reality is not an impersonal experience or concept. It is personal, and how we see it and relate to it is a product of our unique history, attitudes, and beliefs. We are unique in who we are, unique in how we see the world, and unique in the reality we experience.

The core of our awareness is the source of our beliefs, feelings, and attitudes, and therefore that is the place from which we can change our personal reality. This inner awareness is an ever-present field of possibilities. We always have the possibility or choice for change at any moment. Gratitude is a practice that empowers us in this choice to see the opportunities in our life with fresh eyes.

My Notes:

Changing your personal reality!  I am the author of my own life story.  I can start a new chapter anytime.   Live my story that no one else can live.

My mood changes how reality looks.   No two people exist in the same reality.  I set the source of the quality of who I am.  No one else.   I am beautiful, caring, creative, smart, loving.     Gratitude connects me to today’s reality, so if the self is constantly changing being attached to old thoughts habits, it is like holding onto an illusion.   Existence, nature, grace, truth and love; these are all parts of the true self.  Repetition makes life stale, it brings boredom and fatigue.   If you keep repeating things you have no interest in, you grow numb.   Live life in the freshness of every moment, this is how grace constantly renews itself.

EXISTENCE

NATURE

GRACE

TRUTH

LOVE

Day 8

Gratitude Benefits Mind and Body

CENTERING THOUGHT

Every thankful moment makes me healthier.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Shara Vana Ya
My awareness is aligned with the creative power of the universe.

Day 8 – Gratitude Benefits Mind and Body

“There is no prescription for finding moments of gratitude in every day; there is simply the choice.” ― Gillian Deacon

This week we will extend our understanding and experience of gratitude to the mind-body connection. Gratitude is much more than an attitude or mood – it is a powerful positive input to our mind-body system that leads to increased physical and psychological wellbeing.

Grateful thoughts and meditative states don’t just stay in your mind. Messenger molecules instantly transmit their effects to the body’s 100 trillion cells, creating new brain cells and new pathways and brain patterns. The practice of gratitude has even been found to change our gene expression in a positive direction.

By directing our awareness toward gratitude, our entire mind-body system is automatically oriented toward greater health and balance.

My Notes:

There is a connection between my meditations, positive thinking and my overall well being.  Oh so true.  How many times has a person gotten physically sick over negative thinking.

So I have a few Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits and I decided to use them for some cards I needed to make.  I like using them especially the ones with multiple layers.

I have the Big Top and the Compass sets.

On both of these cards I used distress inks to color the backgrounds.  I love distress inks.   Everything looks so colorful!

I love the nautical look and was so excited to get this kit in the mail.   Since I had to make cards quickly for my consignment shop, I grabbed this kit.  After looking at everyone’s inspiration, started cutting paper and designing.

I wanted the lifesaver to have some pop so I used Glossy Accents to make it more visible. This card screams nautical to me!!

I wanted the look of the ship sailing away in the stars. Reminds me of Peter Pan.

I love the coral paper in the background. A simple design so the beautiful paper is not lost in stuff.

Day 7

Obstacles to Grace Melt Away

CENTERING THOUGHT

When I don’t resist, I am in grace.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Prani Dhana
My individuality expands to universality.

Day 7 – Obstacles to Grace Melt Away

“To live a life of gratitude is to open our eyes to the countless ways we are supported by the world around us.” ― Gregg Krech

In today’s meditation, we look at how grace can dissolve the resistance and obstacles we find in our life. We’ve all had times when we’ve struggled and encountered obstacles. These outer resistances are signals from our true self that there is some inner resistance, which comes from the limiting belief that we are a separate self. These beliefs are often a sense of entitlement, selfishness, or pessimism, and they block the natural flow of gratitude and grace.

As we practice gratitude, our perspective expands and we see we are not isolated at all. We are supported by the generosity of the universe in endless ways. Seeing this, our negativity, sense of entitlement, and all obstacles dissolve like morning mist with the rising sun.

My Notes:

One of the most impactful message in this meditation is the resistance  are signals from the true self.    The belief of entitlement

When you feel resistance, stop and pause, give yourself a moment.  See it as an opportunity, that all will be well.   Meet them with gratitude, it is hard, but you will slowly change your perception.  As you see each obstacle you will see it as a lesion to find grace.  Eventually Grace will find a home within you.

Entitlement that all rewards are deserved and earned, hence there is no need to be grateful.   This is thinly veiled selfishness.  All my life I have struggled with entitlement, especially in the workplace.  Because I do not fight for that which I earn and deserve, many try to take it away from me or deprive me from those rewards.   I was looking at it from a selfish point of view.  I lacked gratitude and grace.  Often I could not understand why I felt that entitlement was wrong but still felt I deserved it (a natural conflict), but listening to this meditation, I realize that I should have gratitude to those rewards instead of angry about the entitlement.  My soul would have been more at peace, I would have been my true self.

Day 6

Gratitude Is in the Present

CENTERING THOUGHT

Every moment is filled with grace.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Samprati Hum
The present moment is my true self.

Day 6 – Gratitude Is in the Present

“Just be, right now, here; and breathe. Begin to trust the magic of yourself.” ― Nikki Rowe

In today’s meditation, we will discover how gratitude makes the present moment fully alive, awake, and enriched. We will learn how every instant of our life is a unique gift and that when we are awake to this special value of the Now, we step into a state of grace.

So much of our cultural conditioning pulls us out of the present moment, striving for an impossible ideal in the future. Somewhere outside this present time, we hope to have what we currently lack, or look like what we think we should look like, and feel the happiness we don’t feel now. But this assumes that the present is inherently lacking, and the present is all we ever know. Practicing gratitude turns this around so that we find our completeness in the present moment.

My Notes:

Many time I dwell in the past or think of the future, that I totally miss the present.   Live in the present, have gratitude for the present.  In my meditations today I focused on feeling present, not let my mind wander and leave the here and now.   It felt as I slowed down time.  I was in the moment.

Day 5

Gratitude Awakens the True Self

CENTERING THOUGHT

My true self is always grateful.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Kritajna Hum
I am gratitude.

Day 5 – Gratitude Awakens the True Self

“The road to happiness starts with a deep breath and an awareness of the many blessings tied to that single breath.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich

We might think that to live in grace requires us to pursue a devout lifestyle and retreat from the world. However, we have learned that grace abides in all things, all places, and all times. If we go beyond our changing personalities to connect with our essential self, we contact this ever-present grace and can live this state of grace even in the everyday world.

Our true self is peaceful, but not inert. It is intelligent, powerful, and intimately involved in our every wish and dream. The true self has the creative power and intelligence to direct and manifest your life’s journey. When you step into and participate with life from this level, you are always grateful and find grace everywhere.

My Notes:

The path of grace has always been considered unique.

Contact your true self.  We all have many selves.  We show many people different selves. We use those selves in many situations and put them away when we don’t need them.     If you go deeper, pass those other selves, your true self is there.   The permanent eye behind all passing experiences is your true self.   It is silent but not passive.  The true self always knows all about you, your dreams and hopes.  It knows what you should do.  My true self is always grateful.

Day 4

Grace Is Replying

CENTERING THOUGHT

Grace is flowing back to me.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Twam Eva Mata
The universe is our mother.

Day 4 – Grace Is Replying

“The more you are grateful for what you have, the more you can live fully in the present.” ― Dana Arcuri

In today’s meditation, we explore how gratitude engages us in the evolutionary flow of life. When we offer the world our gratitude, grace responds and completes the circle. Our inner and outer worlds merge into one harmonious flow of existence.

As we use our gratitude to join this awakening of joy and beauty around us, we also find that our life becomes easier, more fun, and more meaningful. This nurturing power of grace comes from the source of Being which sustains everyone and everything in the universe. As human beings we can consciously choose to step into this flow of grace to enrich and elevate our lives.

My Notes:

Grace is the knowledge that we matter, that we are understood.  Gratitude is the catalyst to getting grace.  Be present in gratitude, Grace will respond.

Your perception will shift, what was plain before becomes beautiful with perception.

Grace is like the rain, it falls on everyone alike

Being aware, we can ask for grace.  Grace comes from within you and it has intelligence.   It knows what you need or what.

IMAGES THAT HAVE INSPIRED ME

Day 3

Awaken the Energy of Gratitude

CENTERING THOUGHT

I am gladdening my heart.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Ananda Hum
I am bliss.

Day 3 – Awaken the Energy of Gratitude

“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ― Karl Barth

In today’s meditation, we learn how to recharge our gratitude batteries. If we are tired, upset, or stressed, then our heart is closed and we are not able to feel or express real gratitude. Genuine gratitude comes from a feeling of contentment, safety, and being welcomed in your life – what Buddha called the “gladdened heart.”

This natural energy of gratitude is awakened when we meditate. Our intention in meditation will be to invite this warm attitude of appreciation into our awareness and perception. With this recharged heart of thankfulness we will find reason to be grateful wherever we look.

My notes from the meditation:

A closed heart cannot feel gratitude.  Gladdening the heart can recharge you, like recharging a battery.

Recognize this energy, this is the feeling that you are welcomed and safe in your life, you feel you are supported in whatever you want to be.  Abundance had included you.

Renew this energy, it happens when you meditate, you are requesting the warm attitude of thankfulness

Awareness will renew this energy that is unique to gratitude.   You can get a surge of gratitude by simply looking at a beam of sun light and see the dancing particles

True gratitude comes from knowing that you belong in the infinite dance of life.  The tiniest element fits into the whole.

Images that have inspired me

Notes:   I was grateful in many ways today, however I found myself complaining and being angry at someone.   I know this is not what I want to be.   But I also realize that with learning the ways of gratitude, you also have the overflow of junk you don’t want in your life bubbling up.   I will forgive myself and keep trying to do better.

Day 2

Gratitude Is Within You

CENTERING THOUGHT

All good things bring gratitude.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Kripa Hum
I am divine grace.

Day 2 – Gratitude Is Within You

“Gratitude is the experience of our true self.” ― Gina Lakes

Gratitude is a two-way flow of appreciation between your thanks and the uplifting response that you feel in return. Today in our meditation, we begin that conversation and find that as this conversation expands, we create even more thankfulness. We will learn how the flow of gratitude from the heart is received by Nature in the same spirit it is given, and it is returned back to us as grace. In today’s meditation, we learn to express gratitude from the silence of our awareness, which is the source of grace within.

• Feeling of gratitude from my heart creates a  warm sensation that brings a smile to my face.
• Imagine that which I am gratitude for shares those feelings back.  It is shimmering in its gratitude.  This warms my heart and soul.   This is the flow of Grace!  It is a feedback loop.  Give something to the source, then in its response, it comes back to you.  This will change my perception
• If I pay attention to that I am grateful for, then Grace welcomes me.
• If I send energy to show gratitude, it then flows back to you.   This is called Grace.

3 good things

Cool Breezes on a Spring Day

Feeling Creative and inspired

Falling asleep in my bed

Inspiration Pictures