How to deepen your gratitude practice

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Apr 16, 2019

a female entrepreneur going deeper into her gratitude pracice. She is looking at the viwer, her hair tight up in a bun on top of her head, the palm of her hands are together like in prayer position.

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™จ๐™š ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ค๐™ง๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™›๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ – ๐™ž๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ข๐™š ๐™ž๐™› ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™œ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™š.โ€

๐˜ฝ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š ๐˜ฝ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฃ

Some people think of gratitude as an over-hyped spiritual concept. Having problems? Work on your gratitude. Want to manifest? Learn how to be grateful for the things you already have.

Others have a gratitude journal and compile lists about things they are grateful for, spending 3-5 minutes listing item after item, and then will continue with their daily lives.

Spending 5 minutes on gratitude is significantly better than not practicing any form of gratitude. We all need to start somewhere.ย ๐Ÿ™‚

In my self-help book “Universe & You: 11 Steps To Co-Create The Life YOu Desire” gratitude is one key element within one of my steps – the one where I write about how to master our present better.

I spent years saying thanks for even the small things that happened during the day when I went to bed while falling asleep. I then wanted to take this practice to the next level.

Real gratitude is not just a thought or an item on a long list of other items. It starts there, no doubt about it, but if we donโ€™t go further, we miss the real magic: Itโ€™s like visiting Iceland and not staying awake to see the Northern Lights. Itโ€™s like having sex without the emotional and/or spiritual connection. Itโ€™s like eating a gourmet dinner while you have the flu and canโ€™t taste anything: there is always something missing.

Where does the real magic begin?

When we do it right, we feel gratitude in our bodies. It might have different sensations for different people. For me, it starts like a warm, pleasant feeling that moves around in my body, but then very quickly reaches my heart. I feel an explosion of love, or gratitude to the point where it needs to be released in form of tears.

In these moments I am connected to Source, The All That Is, the Universe, but above all myself: I feel so much love and appreciation for everyone and everything. I know everything is perfect and is unfolding just as it should. I have faith that this is how it was supposed to be, and no other way.

How can we go deeper in our gratitude practice?

Anyone can be grateful for a salary increase, promotion, having met their soulmate, or having success in oneโ€™s business.

But what about the โ€œnot so goodโ€ events?

I teach my clients to dig deep into their past, and to reflect on the โ€œsadโ€ or โ€œnegativeโ€ things that happened: the feelings of betrayal, difficult relationships ending in a divorce, grief after a loved one died, an illness one barely survived, or any grudge one is still holding on to.โ€จ

The question then is: 
– What have you learned from that situation? 
– How did that event/occurrence change you? 
– Where are you today as compared to then? 
– Did you develop more strength, more confidence? 
– Did you learn how to set stronger boundaries, or to embark on a quest for more self-love?โ€จ

Most often we grow through pain. We grow when we decide that โ€œenough is enough”. When we leave toxic relationships, or treat our bodies like the temples they are. We change our diets after a chronic illness that maybe came as a โ€œwake-up callโ€.

Once we reflect on what happened and what our lessons were, and whether we are any further on our self-development journey because of what happened to us, we realise that nothing happens TO us. But that everything happens FOR us.

Of course, there are terrible things happening sometimes, and I donโ€™t wish to make it sound like everything is a beautiful lesson in life. Sometimes we get severely harmed and wonโ€™t agree that it happened for us to learn something. Thatโ€™s ok. Iโ€™ve been there, too.

When we experience tough situations, we will always wonder: โ€œWhy me?โ€ and โ€œI certainly didnโ€™t deserve thisโ€. And yes, we didnโ€™t.

How can we appreciate the “bad events” in our lives even more?

What I came to appreciate is the power and strength we gain when we overcame something terrible. And that makes us fu**ing warriors. And whatโ€™s best, we become empathetic towards people who went through the same hardships and difficulties.

We will become better listeners. We will be better equipped to console someone because we come from a place of knowing what it feels like. A place of non-judgement.

And how beautiful, special, and divine is that? We can use our darkest moments to enlighten other peopleโ€™s paths who might not know there is a light at the end of their tunnel. Let alone how to get there. Weโ€™ve been there, we know how to heal, how to get out of our tunnel of pain, and most importantly, we are now soldiers of love, leading the way for others to follow.

As Iโ€™m writing this, I feel the gratitude building up in my heart: and with tears in my eyes, I tell you all:

You are amazingly brave souls, all of you.

The transformational power of gratitude is infinite. You can go deeper and deeper each time. And deeper and deeper we must go. Only through gratitude and forgiveness can we evolve collectively. And isnโ€™t that exactly what we need right now on this crazy planet called Earth?

In case you are in need of a spiritual guide who can hold space for you and empower you, contact me now for more info on my programs.

Written by Lais Stephan

Lais is a healer, channeler & Space Clearing Expert together with her mum Heloisa.

She is the Author of โ€œUniverse & You: 11 Steps To Co-Create The Life You Desireโ€ and a poetry collection โ€œWild Women Risingโ€.

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