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Whatever you want more of, be grateful for what you have already.

• If you want more time, be grateful for the time you have carved out already.
• If you want more relationships, be grateful for the people who are already in your life.
• If you want more money, be grateful for everything that you already have affords you to do.
• If you want a bigger house, be grateful for the one you have right now.

When you are not expressing gratitude, you are creating resistance which puts you in a lower vibrational frequency which allows you to attract more events in your life that are not what you want. Resistance is placing focus on what you would NOT want to have happen in your life – and in essence generating more of it. Gratitude on the other hand is accepting what the outcome is and generating more of that.

Make a list of 5 things to be grateful for every evening before you go to sleep.

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Some Ways to Practice Gratitude

Keep a gratitude journal in which you list things for which you are thankful. You can make daily, weekly or monthly lists. Greater frequency may be better for creating a new habit, but just keeping that journal where you can see it will remind you to think in a grateful way.

Make a gratitude collage by drawing or pasting pictures.

Practice gratitude around the dinner table or make it part of your nighttime routine.

Make a game of finding the hidden blessing in a challenging situation.

When you feel like complaining, make a gratitude list instead. You may be amazed by how much better you feel.

Notice how gratitude is impacting your life. Write about it, sing about it, express thanks for gratitude.

As you practice, an inner shift begins to occur, and you may be delighted to discover how content and hopeful you are feeling. That sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work.

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The practice of gratitude as a tool for happiness has been in the mainstream for years. Long-term studies support gratitude’s effectiveness, suggesting that a positive, appreciative attitude contributes to greater success in work, greater health, peak performance in sports and business, a higher sense of well-being, and a faster rate of recovery from surgery.

But while we may acknowledge gratitude’s many benefits, it still can be difficult to sustain. So many of us are trained to notice what is broken, undone or lacking in our lives. And for gratitude to meet its full healing potential in our lives, it needs to become more than just a Thanksgiving word. We have to learn a new way of looking at things, a new habit. And that can take some time.

That’s why practicing gratitude makes so much sense. When we practice giving thanks for all we have, instead of complaining about what we lack, we give ourselves the chance to see all of life as an opportunity and a blessing.

Remember that gratitude isn’t a blindly optimistic approach in which the bad things in life are whitewashed or ignored. It’s more a matter of where we put our focus and attention. Pain and injustice exist in this world, but when we focus on the gifts of life, we gain a feeling of well-being. Gratitude balances us and gives us hope.

There are many things to be grateful for: colorful autumn leaves, legs that work, friends who listen and really hear, chocolate, fresh eggs, warm jackets, tomatoes, the ability to read, roses, our health, butterflies. What’s on your list?

Take good care of existing relationships and don’t take them for granted, especially relationships with loved ones, family, and friends. Don’t let there be a gap between how you feel and what you do. Let others have the experience of knowing how much they mean to you.

In honor of my mother who would have been 75 today, here are some simple ways you can let someone know you how much you care:

• Call just to say hello
• Ask them about their day, and then listen without interrupting
• Create a handmade card
• Write a thank you note
• Give your undivided attention
• Put a smile on their face
• Listen to their favorite music with them
• Send an email
• Give a compliment
• Give them something of yours
• Ask what you can do to help them today
• Prepare dinner
• Ask them to retell their favorite story
• Send them a picture of the two of you together
• Hug (for a long time)
• Be quick to apologize
• Forgive them
• Tell them you care
• Watch a movie together
• Remember their birthday
• Dedicate a blog post to them

Happy Birthday Mom!

The challenge today is that parents are trying to get the best behavior out of their children possible while having to complete with outside influences, like TV, friends, and the internet. Following a few simple techniques will have kids repeating desired behaviors in no time.

• First, mirror back your child’s strengths back to them by appreciating them. Say, “I appreciate you for….” The trick here is to be specific. Being general and just saying I appreciate you won’t have the impact you’re looking for.
• Next, be sure you do this every day, at least once a day. Make it a habit, a natural, daily part of your communication with your son or daughter.
• Finally, be timely. Give appreciations as quickly as possible after you see a desired behavior. Better yet, appreciate while they’re doing what you want them to do.

Using these simple, yet effective techniques will have you creating desired results in no time.

For these and other tips visit: in Life AWARENESS on Facebook.

Watching the cleanup of the Chicago Blizzard of 2011 and hearing the relief of my friend who was worried about family members that have successfully come through a life threatening situation, I find myself contemplating….

It’s in our darkest hour and when we are presented with our greatest challenges, we learn what we are truly capable of and we understand gratitude beyond measure.

When life seems most uncertain, it seems that we dig down deep into ourselves and allow ourselves to be more than we’ve ever allowed ourselves to be up until that point in time.

And what we find, is simply extraordinary….

When I discover the extraordinary for myself, I notice that I’m grateful for the gift of life’s challenges so that I can understand gratitude beyond measure and so that I can understand my own strength, my own resilience, and…..my own extraordinary.

What is your extraordinary?

For more tips visit: in Life AWARENESS on Facebook

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We review in detail how to create your own in our Tune-In To Abundance and Prosperity System. Check it out today!

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I recently met someone through Twitter and even though he barely knew me, he GAVE to me because he saw that we might have a synergy.  He, without hesitation, gave inbound links to my blog.  He didn’t know whether or not he would receive any back, and gave anyway. 

Wow! 

So I ask myself the question: Have I provided inbound links to everyone I know?  Answer: No.  This virtual stranger, now friend, didn’t even think twice before saying here Cathy, my gift to you!  As I think about it, I notice that I have provided inbound links to some of my friends, but I have not considered giving to complete strangers before.  Why not?  What about ALL of my friends and acquaintances and not just some?  I don’t know!  I’m not sure!  Todd Weiss brought value to me without knowing for certain whether I could or would bring value to him.

My lesson for today begs the question, “Am I giving?”  Am I participating in the cycle of abundance by giving and receiving in as many opportunities as possible?  Am I giving a pinch or is the giving oozing and overflowing out of who I am being?  Am I waiting for the “right” moment to give?  Am I making my giving conditional?  Am I waiting to see what I get before I give fully?  Am I giving and then thinking, that’s enough for you, and that’s enough for you, and that’s enough for you…? 

My mind is being flooded with so many people in my life – time to get busy giving!

I just finished reading an article today on Integral Life, called Gratefulness and the Spirit of Thanksgiving.  One passage in particular that struck me was:

Our gratitude is the immediate and effortless response to the radical abundance offered to us at every moment, an abundance that surrounds us even during our darkest times, whether we can see it or not. But not only do we express our gratefulness for abundance—as we offer our devout appreciation, we can also feel “great-fullness” as abundance.  That is, in the act of offering gratitude we actually become the source of all abundance, feeling the infinite love pouring through our hearts like sweet syrup, an inexhaustible warmth that floods the galaxies swirling behind our eyelids.

When I read this, I thought….and as the source of abundance I can be responsible for abundance showing up not only in my daily life, but also in the world. 

How cool is that?!?!  

So when I’m having thoughts about money, or thinking about getting more of something, (like clients or enrollment in trainings) or any kind of “lacking” thoughts I will stop for a moment and do an inventory of my gratitude practices.

1. Make a list of places I have gone in the last seven days.  Where was I?  On the bus, at the airport, in a taxi, at the gas station, grocery store, hair salon, work, someone’s house, hotel, coffee shop, restaurant, fast food, park, soccer game, doctor, dentist, shopping, with my daughter, spouse, friend’s house.  List everything.
2. Next make a list of everyone that I interacted with.
3. How many of those people did I express gratitude and appreciation?
4. Call or email everyone on the list that I missed.

If I am the source of abundance and I create abundance as I offer gratitude, I will offer gratitude and rest in abundance as a way of being.  Starting today I commit to grounding and re-grounding when necessary in this practice of expressing gratitude and appreciation with everyone in my life – not just a select few.  I will not hold on as if…. if I give gratitude and appreciation away I will not have any left over for the next person.  I will give it away as if, the more I give the more that will be available to give! 

I am the source of abundance!