Cultivate Gratitude

I am sharing some insights on how Gratitude changed my life and so it can work for you as well. "Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."-- Oprah Winfrey | Even though I learned about Gratitude and practiced it all my life, the logic didn't hit me entirely until I went through my journey in the year 2009. This journey made me connect all the dots.

Transcript

Welcome back to another episode at Life is Magical.

Hello beautiful selves,

This is Shree Manju.

Hope you are all doing good and enjoying the magical life.

In today's episode,

We are going to talk about the gratitude and how we can make life much easier being grateful for or being thankful for.

So let me begin to the very start of my journey when I didn't recognize this powerful secret weapon that we all have it and how understated I was about it.

Many of you might know the movie The Secret or the book Secret right?

Where it all talks about like being grateful and cultivating the habit of being in gratitude.

And let me take you back to my journey.

12 years ago I was just being,

I just had my second child and after months,

Couple of months,

I realized that I was having these painful fingers.

I was not able to move and slowly the pain started building to all around my body.

It was very hard even for me to get up in the morning,

Feed the child and I had another toddler so it was just chaotic.

I was taking so long to get out of the bed,

To be functional,

Not getting good night's sleep with all the pains and aches.

Life was so different like I didn't have this kind of issue with my health before so it was all new for me to understand like what is happening even what happened to me.

I just gave a birth to baby and why is this like my life was falling apart like and I was in between the jobs as well as nursing the kids and top minding them.

And then one day I was so mourning about these pains,

So unhappy about it how my life is and I was only 29 at the time and then my husband said one day,

Hey why don't you see the beauty around you're at least okay like even you take time that's okay but you're around you're seeing your children like you know you're there smiling you're able to do the best you could even though it takes time like I think you need to see that side be positive about it and look from that angle.

Of course as you can imagine I just screamed at him like you know you don't understand my pains you don't know anything about it and I gave up to him poor guy but afterwards I took what he said like I slowly tried to digest it you know sometimes people say you the truth you immediately conclude like no they don't get us but sometimes it is actually for our own inner strength they are telling us and I sat with that truth for a couple of days and I started realizing actually why am I forgetting the things that I am actually able to do even though I'm 29 I'm not able to get up in the morning but I'm having a decent life I have a good home have a supportive family like why am I not looking at those things and so slowly I started looking like it's only a one day one step at a time thing I was doing in I started doing it and then this uh movie and the book the secret the secret came into my life I read it I reread it I watched a movie I got a journal um the secret journal where you need to write what you're going to be great what you're grateful for now and what are you going to be grateful for in the present tense about the future and writing that like really made me realize there are so many things that I'm actually so grateful for but I was taking in for granted like or not measuring them from the same angle I would love to measure like you know saying like I was only stuck with my idea of like I'm not able to get up in the morning not able to do in a fast pace as I would have normally done but rather forgetting like you know the beauty about like and the baby smiles or like you know or has a good feed or play I'm not appreciating them because something else was starting away my concentration and focus and my focal point or the spotlight in my life was diluted so that made me realize like how to bring it back and how I can be in control and along at the same times I brought in reiki meditation all those changes and then I noticed like after months into it I was actually more heartful like uh more content from the heart and I was able to take in whatever was coming in my life in a positive attitude able to consume the informations in from a better place or let's say from a neutral place like you know and that's definitely a change and since then I have never let it go since 2009 this is my go-to thing my favorite part like first thing in the morning when I wake up I always repeat in my head like what are the three things that I'm grateful for even after crazy of um insomniac night I'm still saying I have a warm bed like you know I have a comfy bed to relax in or how productive my day stay was or last night like about a dream how grateful I'm about like the insights a dream has got me and um so again I do that at the end of the night as well I think about like um how did my day go and what are the three things that I'm super grateful for like you know even if this is a traffic jam like oh thank you for that if not I wouldn't have seen like the bunnies are running around in the grass like you know on the side of the road or um someone smiling from the next car like some simple things you do miss out so thank you for that rather than being stuck about the thought of being stuck in the traffic so remember it's about how we see and where we keep our spotlight in our life and why not change it because you're on this journey and it's about us how we shift how we look at the journey I have been consumed by the painful times um and that only left me with more pain but if I change the journey into much more relaxed much more high vibe thoughts I'm more happier and I see the challenges are detangling and making my life flow forward with much ease and this is the best thing about being thankful for in life that brings up so remember this is the tool that I would like to leave you with think about three things when you wake up in the morning what are the three things that you're grateful for and what are the three things that you are grateful for at the end of your night and be very very specific not just say you have a home every single day but fill in with like you have a home with a happy family or a loving place like you know that you're staying up with or that you are happy like I have hummingbirds coming into my home garden so I'm super thankful for those hummingbirds like don't be very specific the more you are the more you are attracting for that happiness to grow in your mind and your heart is going to swell with so joyful moments so that is the most important thing like you know anytime when we are thankful for we are going to have more of it and it is what we concentrate about yeah and then that leaves us with releasing the fear or releasing that we are not going to have enough like you know the worries will come only when we are not on the high vibe or when we are not in that positive spin of life like you know this is where that worry flow comes in and even as growing up like you know I have been the one in my family I've watched like my parents are praying every day and I used to pray as well I didn't know what to pray for I would just say loka samastah sukhino bhavantu which means everyone to be happy in the world and that's all like you know and sometimes when I was doing the exams I would say hey please god get me over this nervousness or make it easy for me in the exams that's it thank you for it like you know and I'll look after everyone until today I do that like you know always about like myself what I want and also what I would like the world to have or anyone in pain to reduce the pain like you know and that is my way of like giving back as well like yeah for the things that would work and the things that would make it easy for us you know and when you pray you're praying from your heart your soul opening it up with that peace of like something magic to come into your life and take away like you know anything is of a discomfort like yeah but this is the thing like you know I have always done it but until like 2009 until my husband revoked those thoughts into me it didn't come to me that it's all about being grateful for that I was doing in but I think I needed a new vocabulary a new thought to it to do it so if you are listening in if you are not looking into the grateful thing that you have in your life just stop just pause and look look from 360 degrees angle I'm sure like you know there is one thing that you are always going to be grateful for no matter what kind of a childhood we have no matter what kind of a relation we are or what kind of a job we are in there is always there is that magic is going to be there that we are going to be grateful for and that is what we need to bring it back into our life and let it grow let it grow like a plant that is just going to go wild like like raspberry plants like you know you just need one stem and that's it it's going to go like a wildfire like there is no stopping for it right and that is the most important thing yeah and also that helps us from being grateful for it helps us get into that uh base of uh from self-pity or self-sabotaging into more being positive more affirmative mind or more growth mindset and that is going to shift the way that uh we look into life I started actually being more alive started celebrating more um being more of myself it's just like the perspective has changed and also I started seeing like how things I was manifesting were changing as well just because of that little logic I was putting into say for example I do get clients who would say like hey I'm not happy with my job I just need some uh light at the end of the tunnel like you know and when someone says that like I just ask them what do you mean by you don't like your job and then they would say hey this job like I don't like the hours that I'm working in or um my colleagues that's not working out well or the pay is low so then I say so it's only one aspect of it that you don't like it's not the whole job that you don't like is there any growth is there anything that you're enjoying then they will say I really love the work I do I really love the way I get to meet the friends they're like you know I made a lifelong friend or I get on so well with my boss so and it's just that spotlight from the things we didn't like to what we are liking what we are enjoying we are shifting and we are seeing that and that is a major shift needed in our lives in our perspectives and that gives us more of hmm this is interesting so it's only one thing that I don't like it so when I'm going to ask for a better job so I exactly know what to manifest for it so if I'm not happy with my current boss in my new workplace I'm going to ask hey please please get me a better person whom where I can have a same length of conversation who can understand my skill and I can have a growth opportunities and so easy then to manifest what you really want when you appreciate what you have and this is where most of us do miss it out when we ask what we want we forget what we have already like you know so shift that conversation with yourself if any thoughts are coming in do think about it and keep a note of it and up your game like you know that will be a good shift for you and also this thing that I do started doing I think six seven years ago where Liz Gilbert mentioned I don't know if any one of you don't know uh e pray love is her book and the movie so I'm sure you would have heard about her before so um she shared in one of her instagram or facebook posts back a few years ago where she does this um glass jar gratitude jar and where she writes whenever she is having a grateful moments to feel a little slip and leave it in and at the end of the year she opens them up and recollect all those happy memories I said I love that idea and since then I think it's our seventh year now that we are practicing as a family so around the 31st December or the first week of Jan the Christmas time holidays we do that as a ritual um and we see like oh my god there are so many things that we wrote and we forgot about them as well it's amazing to have those happy memories recollected recreated again because when you are having a good time you are really having a good time and you think you'll remember it forever but believe me we do forget them because there is something else goes over and we just forget it and uh doing this for six years seven years I still do forget what I wrote in Jan and when I read them oh geez oh my god this happened how could I totally forget it you know that's a normal psychology of us that we keep talking about the phases that we didn't have a good experience in our lives on and on and on and just because the society talks more about the negative things all the time or negative experiences we have trained our minds to do the same and going to the weddings going to gatherings you'll hear people talking about things that didn't work out well in their lives all the time right in that way they are always only recollecting those memories or their side of the story that didn't work out well but how many times did anyone do talk naturally about great memories or the good times they had in their lives right not many do that so it's about us how we want to bring it back and what is that dvd player that we want to recollect when I was getting the mindfulness teacher training course this is one of the exercises we had to do and I absolutely loved it where you replay a good memory on and on train your brain to do that isn't it wonderful I thought about it you know uh the best gift I could give to myself yeah simple thing as like you know when you uh as a mother when I was giving birth to my child my eldest one um I was hearing everyone talking about things that could go wrong that you could panic like things how painful it is how many hours you are in pain and everything but I didn't hear many stories where they said the bliss feel the peace when you see your baby there in your arms um and you forget everything it's very little people talked about that part everyone had a memory of like how painful it is and everyone would jump in to share this story of how awful it was that made me think about no I'm not going to do that and um till today like you know I do accept it was not the most memorable thing uh it is definitely painful but my memory I chose to have the memory of when I was holding my babies and that is the best thing and beyond that the pain is incomparable and the memory is like no I don't want to be because thinking about it and lose any good moments with my children like you know the choice is always ours the choice of fit is ours and how we want to take it in is ours so think about it which one do you want to pick up the painful side or the less pain and a happy memory one like you know so pick it from there and go ahead and recreate so think about any instance that you had um no matter how painful it is like you know and think about like what could have been the other side what is the advantage or what is the blessing of it say for example even if someone is in a car crash um if they had some injuries you always say oh it's a good timing that you are saved you weren't killed or it wasn't too bad like you know we just need to pray for those angels that were minding you or something right so this is about like uplifting looking on the brighter side but it's not about denying that you were having a painful moment it's not definitely about ignoring that part of it but think about it how far are we going to stretch pull ourselves with that painful memories and what is that we are going to gain out of it i might be telling like after 14 years still like how painful my children's birth was but what am i gaining out of it like the relation is going to be impacted because you're only putting bridges in between rather than a smoother road like you know so anything any memory that you want to you can always change into a good dvd player or a good replay or a painful one again choose it choose wisely and think about it why you want to do it as well in that way even just the same with the life game right every move you take either makes you win or lose or play the game again um so it's not from the failures that we play much um i mean like failures are needed so you learn from it and that's a blessing again right and it just makes you like um overcome your obstacles and you go out and build your strength from it again being that side of the optimistic is the most important thing yeah and remember life always gives us a choice and a second chance and it's never over with one failure and being thankful for those failures that we had and how we learn from it and how we see it as a blessings and we overcome our obstacles is the most important thing yeah and definitely show gratitude to every moment of your life like you know i'm so grateful for that you are able to listen to me here i'm here in um washington state and i don't know where you're from listening in but we are going to be connected through the internet so i'm very grateful for that like you know um years ago when i was able to do my readings through the internet i was like oh wow this is amazing i can read the energies i can do the channeling through the internet like it was awesome so the distance doesn't matter at all and these technologies are amazing i was so grateful for and look like last year how much how many of us learned about zoo how many of us like are using it right i'm super super like we are grateful for it um just like in 1918 with the spanish flu as we heard about the history glad we had the technology now to be connected to i miss my family my friends i'm still able to be in touch um through the internet which is awesome right so being grateful for that helps us to be like stay with the peace side of it yeah so gratitude is knowing that everything is in perfect divine order as it should be right now but don't consider gratitude as a hope that it will all work out it is being thankful that it already has believe it in and to have it already happened and this is the part that i i have seen the shift when i was doing the gratitude journal with the secret so where we have to write about not only what today is about but also tomorrow what i'm wanting it to already see it to see it helps us to overcome any obstacles it also defines us do i really want it many of us want so many things but when it comes we don't know how to handle it so visualizing it seeing that helps us like do i really want it and am i able to handle it and you learn from just replaying that in your mind and you grab that opportunities and helps us to live fully in life right now like you know and it also helps us to overcome any regrets that we have in life as well no matter how small it is keep collecting these treasureful moments it could be a smile from a stranger or it could be a flower blossoming in your garden or a sunshine today um let it be anything a small thing or a big thing it doesn't uh totally work on how big the magnitude is it is about recognizing them that is the most important thing yeah and this helps us seeing the life from a totally different perspective and you know what the best thing that we are breathing absolutely the days that i run out of ideas what to be grateful for jeez i'm breathing how do i forget that like you know when i'm breathing i can do anything absolutely right you are so alive and that is the most important thing like you know and let that breathing come in and grow as infinity infinity sign and allow your cells and muscles to grow deep deep deep and recharge yourself yeah and that is the best thing that you can bring in and just say to yourself like you know i welcome my life fully with being present and only when you're present you have these amazing memories that you're going to create in your life and uh yeah what else do we need in life once we create them you go buy it and you live your life right um so as you're listening to this grab a journal grab a pen and a paper and write your grateful moments right now before you forget and cultivate this new habit if you haven't been practicing in um bring it along and also i have a meditation around the gratitude meditation i'll be sure sharing it in the show notes below so practice in bring it in and 21 days is great to create such habits and if you can do it for 21 days amazing do it with your family teach it to your children like you know it's easier when we teach kids kids to ask us back like you know how are we doing with it and we all can do we all take the accountability for each other that's the best thing about it yeah so i do teach um children meditation in schools um and that's what i say them this is the best thing especially around the december when the santa comes like you know i say hey before you write your list be grateful for what you already have it and write a list like they all say like oh my god this is so good like you know i can share that secret weapon to them and it's amazing how kids can take it in easily but we self-taught will it work will it not work like you know but hey give it a chance try it out like you know there is nothing absolutely you're going to lose by it and also if you haven't watched the movie or read the book do grab it the secret and you won't be disappointed with it you would love it i know there is a lot of depth in it but this is the main part that i took it away so you might take the same thing or something else as well like you know hey life is so beautiful life is so magical live by the principles of it like you know make it easier don't be hard on yourself don't be hard on yourself even the last year like you know going through so much chaos around the world i was only thinking about like no matter how deep the pains were i was thinking about being grateful like i'm in home with the family or at least we are all together or even like saving time on the traffic there is so much to look around and absolutely be in praise of like you know um that is the magic it's just we need to open up our eyes to see the beauty so go on bring in your list and share and share and drop in an email i love to hear how you're getting on with it be in touch um you can um review this podcast or even share it on one of uh facebook or on instagram go grab it and share your experience there take care and remember life is magical and enjoy that magic thank you