When Gratitude Changes Your Attitude

There are a lot of things that stress us out in life. Grown-uping is hard. Parenting is harder. Life in general is hard. There are jobs to get, bills to pay, decisions to make, kids to care for, parents to care for, life to live. And in all that we can get overwhelmed and feel uneasy with where we are or who we are in life. And if you are a seeker or someone who loves to grow and change and push yourself? The stress can be even more intense.
 
That is when the simple principle that is talked about so often it can be dismissed as too simple comes to play: gratitude.
 
In The Melody Method Life Readiness Lessons (based on the fun, jazzy Melodies songs  for preschoolers!) we use Gratitude to Change our Attitude, helping kids turn whining into gratefulness. We can use this same idea to take the power out of our own adult worries and move into a state of mindfulness as life throws its challenges our way.
 
On the base side of using gratitude, we can just name a few things we are grateful for or write in a gratitude journal. This works to help us feel better for a moment and change our attitude toward life. But what if we really wanted to release some stress? What if we really wanted to change how we see an issue and totally take the power out of it as it stares us in the face challenges us to be worried? That’s when we go deeper.
 
3 steps is all it takes. But the results last a lifetime!
 
1. Breathe.
We love our breathing! Breathing helps us move out of that fight or flee and into a state of relaxed safety. When we breathe we are telling our bodies, it’s all okay. We are good! So yes, breathe.
 
- Take a few deep breaths in and release them very slowly. Rest and settle into where you are right here, right now.
 
2. Imagine.
We often thing imagining is for kids. It is not! It is a magical tool of using the power of our minds to envision a different world than the one our 5 sense are seeing.
 
- Imagine one thing in your life that is stressing you out. Think about what it is that you worry will happen. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Just think about what is the root of what is stressing you out.
 
3. Use Gratitude.
Take back your power! Using gratitude to create your own boundaries and find the help that is available in your life to support you.
 
- Imagine that this thing that is stressing you out has already happened… but it has turned out great! It is amazing! It is awesome! It is better than you ever thought and you have a huge sigh of relief. It all turned out amazing.
 
Feel into this feeling of relief. Feel into this great outcome of that which is now stressing you out. What are you grateful for about how this turned out so well?
List it here if you wish!
 
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Our survival self is always looking for the dangers ahead to help protect and keep us safe. But this can cause us great stress in our lives always looking for the worst. This tool of using gratitude and our imagination to envision the best that could happen can not only ease our anxiety in the moment, but help us create and attract that great, best, things to come!
 
Here’s to the joys, the wonders, and the amazing joys that are to come living a mindful life full of possibility.
 
- Jeannine Proulx
Author, Creative, Possibilities Life Coach, Creator of The Melodies in Motion and The Possibility Path, Supporter of Moms and Kids Everywhere, and Founder of MindfulnessMothers.com
 
 
*Honored to be able to announce that The Melodies in Motion is going to be taught at the Mindvalley University event in Croatia this summer! And the complete curriculum for preschools, yoga studios, homeschools, and parents will be available to the public by fall! If you are interested, please email me and I’d be happy to share more @ it and how you can bring harmony to your home!


Explore. Discover. Be mindful of the moments that make up our lives!
www.mindfulnessmothers.com

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