Trumping the Grumps

Trumping the Grumps

Gratitude, shmatitude. Why are you always going on and on about gratitude anyway, especially when you are always talking about how we deserve good stuff? Why should I feel gratitude about getting what I should be getting?

Gratitude is kind of like cleaning up your house. When our house is clean, everything seems a little easier, a little more comfortable.When we spend time feeling grateful and appreciative, the world is a little nicer, our lives are a bit brighter.

When I am focused on feeling grateful, I am not whining. I can’t feel grateful and complain at the same time. For example, when I am irritated at the birds outside my window for waking me up at 4 am, I can go to grateful that I can hear, that I live where there are birds to sing. That I have a window and a bed. That totally trumps the grumps.

When I am focused on feeling appreciative, I am not a victim or a martyr. I’m not angry or scared. I am not trying to live in the past or in the future. I am present, I am blessed. And from that place, it’s just a hop, skip and jump to my natural life.

Why am I grateful? What makes me enjoy? Why am I satisfied?

When I am feeling grateful, I am choosing to appreciate my life as it is, not as I think it should be. I may have issues, we all do, and they may be intense, but I can still give myself a gratitude break.

I have set myself the goal of writing out some appreciations first thing every morning, while I drink my first cup of hot whatever. Some mornings, I have to make myself stop writing because I could go on forever because I feel so full of appreciation and love for my life, my surroundings, my loved ones. Some mornings I have to think a bit, but like priming a pump, which I’ve actually done several times, once I find something, more things flow forth.

Some mornings, finding something to appreciate, to be grateful for, feels like looking for the last dodo. I am crabby or sad or blue, and my life is devoid of anything that could ever bring me joy again. (Not that I EVER get dramatic about stuff.)

Here’s what happens. Because I have made a commitment to write out appreciations every day, I need to find some damn thing to write down. I remember that when I am not feeling crappy, I have easily found stuff to be grateful for, and that my feeling of there being nothing is a lie. It may piss me off, but at least it reminds me that everything I’m feeling isn’t true, doesn’t need to be aired and shared, and some feelings do best to be let go.

When I just need to get started, I have tried looking back at my old entries, but if I’m not feeling it, they all look dumb. I bet you know where I go next. Yeah. Creative Questions.

How do I feel when I appreciate? How do I feel when I am grateful? What makes me feel blessed? These feelings open my heart. When my heart is open, I live my life better, at a higher vibration, with more compassion, more generosity, more joy.

You gotta like that.

How have I changed from grumbling about it to enjoying my gratitude?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 05062014

What do you appreciate right at this moment? How do you feel blessed?

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