I mentioned last week about the fact that today was Blog Action Day. Well this year it's about Poverty.
I said... "I definitely have my views on this subject... but maybe not the sort you might think...! "
Well that's because I'm NOT going to talk about Poverty and ask you to think about giving more and caring more for those less fortunate than others!
"Then what ARE you going to talk about?" I hear you enquire.
Well... I'm going to talk about the COMPLETE OPPOSITE!
"Why?" you ask.
Because all the time we Talk, Think and Act about Poverty it is our focus of attention and the more you focus on something, the more of it you get.
I have talked about "The Secret" (see this post and the link within the post) which is about the Law of Attraction. And the Law of Attraction says that if you focus on something, you eventually get it! Good OR bad.
If we focus our attention on Poverty, we will get more of it! What we should be doing is focusing on the opposite... abundance. That may be very difficult for those who are poverty stricken at the moment, but people have pulled themselves from the gutter, ie homelessness, using this Law.
Even if you don't consider yourself in Poverty, and let's face it, if you are sitting in the comfort of your home, sitting at a computer reading this... then I don't think you are!, you could improve your life by doing ONE simple thing.
Want to know what it is?
Gratitude
We constantly remind our children to say thank you, but why? Because it is polite to do so, right? Well actually there is a LOT more to "thank you" than mere courtesy.
I'm not going to preach to you here, instead I will tell you of my own experience.
Since learning about the Law of Attraction around this time last year, materially I do not appear to be any better off.
But inside... I am a LOT better off. I have much more peace, so much so that people have commented on how much more confident and happier I look on the outside.
Now there are a number of reasons for this, but one of the things up there on the top of the list is that I have learnt to FEEL gratitude.
I don't just enjoy the blue sky and sunshine, or the beauty of a flower, I say thank you for it. And not to God, I am not a religious person, but I just say thank you and really feel it in my heart. I am fully in that feeling, maybe for only a fleeting moment, but it is there.
It was hard for me to know what it actually felt like at first, and I still can't hold on to the feelings for long, but it is starting to become automatic now that I can "really" appreciate things.
I think that one reason I didn't allow myself to "feel" gratitude in the past (and why it's still hard for me now because it is an ingrained habit) is that to feel grateful meant I was to feel vulnerable. It meant that I was weaker for opening up to this feeling. I realise now that maybe I was only subconsciously trying to protect myself from hurt, possibly a childhood habit that no longer serves me.
We are supposed to "appreciate what we have, while we strive to achieve what we want". And now I understand what that means...
Don't forget, or push to one side in your mind, the good that you already have around you, don't begrudge where you are now because it's not where you want to be. Embrace where you are right now, right this minute. Look around you, you will start to see all the things to be thankful for.
Even if you are reading this in a library, because you don't have a home PC, or even a home... be really thankful that the library has a PC for you to use, that you have your health, the clothes you are wearing.
If you know someone who is "on their knees" physically, mentally, or spiritually, ask them to identify something to be grateful for... the clothes on their back maybe, that they have a friend in you? If it's a beautiful day, they can feel "thank you" for the blue skies... if it's a rainy day, say thank you for the beauty in a raindrop. It's all there if we can but see it the right way.
Joe Vitale (Google him he's all over the place!LOL) said that when he was really struggling and in dire straights, he felt he had nothing to be thankful for, then he realised that he could be thankful for the pencil he was holding in his hand, that potentially he could write a masterpiece with it, that he could write his CV with it and get a job, etc. He is now a multi-millionaire... but he had to start somewhere.
When in Poverty there is more of an incentive to focus on improvement, but being "just ok" can be improved on too.
So be grateful today and always that you are not in poverty by being grateful that you are where you are, that you have good things all around you everyday. Be grateful for what you have now and you will attract more things to be grateful for.
And so to scrapbooking..? Time to start scrapbooking those things to be grateful for now. This is a great way to start a
Random Mini Album (see SimplyScrapbookingNow.com website for article) because you can be grateful about all sorts of things, using different shapes and sizes of paper and other stash to show the diversification of all things around you.
I may have waffled a bit here, but I do hope it has made you think, even if for just a moment.
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