Rachel’s 40 Days of Gratitude

Today is the beginning of Lent and like many, I will be observing by giving up a few things.  The tradition is to give up either luxuries (like sweets or Starbucks) which helps you to connect with self-sacrifice energy of Christ, or “bad” stuff that prevents you from being your best (like booze or swearing).

40-day intentions are not only a Christian practice, they are also part of the yogic traditions that I follow; the idea being that 40 days of practice is the minimum time it takes to develop a new habit. So a couple of years ago I decided that in addition to the traditional “giving stuff up” I would set an intention to add a positive habit to my observance of Lent.  The first year I added trying something new, since I tend to be a creature of habit and could sometimes be closed off to possibility.

This year I’ve decided to focus on Gratitude and I thought I would invite you along.

For the next 40 days, I am going to really practice feeling grateful for everything in my life and I will focus on one thing in particular each day.

I’d like to point out that FEELING is different than THINKING.  You can tell if you are really feeling it by, well, feeling it – in your heart and maybe in your body; for me, gratitude feels warm and fluttery in my heart, sometimes all over, like love and it makes me smile.  If I’m only THINKING gratitude, the only part of me involved is my brain and more often than not, the inner dialogue sounds like I’m convincing myself to be thankful instead of actually FEELING grateful. 

The other day a friend of mine pinned a sign on Pinterest that read:

What if you woke up Today with the only things that you thanked God for yesterday?

Really makes you think…

Today I am thankful for water:

I love it for drinking and bathing.  The human body is composed of mostly water and needs water for all of processes.  Water helps keep my house sanitary: washing dishes, mopping floor, flushing toilet… Water is needed in growing stuff including food and flowers.  Water assists in many manufacturing processes.  Water cools my car engine, which helps my car to get me places and I’m sure it cools a bunch of other machinery to help functioning and safety. Large bodies of water are often beautiful and inspiring.  Water is used in many ceremonies to help us connect to God.  So, thank you Water!

And THANK YOU for joining me!

Love,

Rachel