Dear Friends of Change,
The Christmas season has offered us a wonderful opportunity to invite the magic of gratitude into our lives. Now, as we move towards the New Year, I’d like to talk with you about how we can deepen these insights and transition into a realignment that provides us with stability, trust, and security.
Self-Compassion as a Foundation
People who are often critical of themselves find it difficult to feel gratitude. Developing self-compassion is an important step in becoming more open to gratitude. Imagine treating yourself with the same love and patience that you would offer a good friend. When you notice that you’re being self-critical, pause and remind yourself that you deserve the same compassion and understanding. In the last blog, you learned an exercise that allows you to gift yourself a smile of satisfaction. Allow yourself to accept your weaknesses and recognize that they are part of your human experience. You can be grateful for these experiences. They are collections of events that, like figures in a display case, are part of your life. Some may look funny, some rather disheveled, angry, or sad. You might like some more than others. And yet, the collection wouldn’t be complete if they weren’t all there.
The Paradox of Gratitude
Gratitude is a strange phenomenon. We often feel it most strongly when it’s neither expected nor forced. True gratitude arises in moments of calm and reflection when we see things as they truly are, without the pressure to be thankful. You might recognize the feeling when you’re suddenly filled with deep peace and unexpected joy simply because you notice a special moment – be it a sunset, the smile of a loved one, or the scent of freshly fallen snow. Perceive this moment as it is. This feeling you have doesn’t need to change. It can’t change, because in the moment you gift this moment with satisfaction, it changes on its own. Just as an empty display case simply provides the basic structure for your collection, satisfaction is the basic structure of our being. Not all the figures collected need to influence every moment of life. You decide which figures you use and which are just there because they represent an experience of yours.
Gratitude as a Key to Healing and Inner Peace
Gratitude can be a powerful key to healing and inner peace, but only when it arises from an authentic feeling. Think about what experiences you wouldn’t have had if what challenges you right now, perhaps an illness or the path you’ve taken with pain, hadn’t happened. What connections do these aspects and events have to others? Are there any you wouldn’t want to miss for anything? Are there some for which you can feel gratitude from this perspective?
It’s important to give yourself the time and space to discover and cultivate these feelings without pressuring yourself. Be gentle with yourself and allow gratitude to find its own pace. Sometimes, creating small daily rituals of gratitude can help remind you to appreciate the beauty and good in your life.
Realignment in the New Year
The gratitude rituals we’ve learned during the Christmas season can help us find stability, trust, and security in the New Year. Start the year with a clear intention: What do you want to change in your life? And gift this vision, this emotion, a smile and satisfaction as if the change has already happened. In the energy field, it has already occurred. Just as Jesus conveyed this understanding.
Immersing in Love and Satisfaction
The Christmas season reminds us how important it is to immerse ourselves in love and satisfaction. These days were originally a celebration of joy, the birth of something new and special. Let’s carry this meaning into our daily lives. What can be special in your life? What feelings do you need to recognize and enjoy this specialness?
It’s about living the moment, appreciating the little joys of everyday life, and cultivating an attitude of gratitude that carries us through life’s ups and downs. This attitude can help us find a deeper connection with ourselves and with those around us, enabling us to move through life with more peace and joy.
I hope these thoughts help you begin the New Year with an open heart and a sense of gratitude. The next blog on Friday, January 5, will focus on “New Year, New Beginnings – How to Let Go of Pain and Redesign Your Life.” Together, we will continue on the path of healing and inner peace.
Thank you for being here and sharing this moment with me. May the New Year bring you peace, love, and deep satisfaction. Have a wonderful start to 2025.
With love,
Andrea
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