Gratitude is always the answer!
Sounds so cliché! So simple! And most of all so very true!
When I find myself in a space of lack and fear - that space where I feel like I need to withdraw into a state of protection, to climb into the box I have prepared for times just like these. That ever so convenient box where I can focus on those things that I am afraid of , where I hear all of the reasons my logical mind wants me to hear in justification of fear, lack and scarcity!
Inside of the box, I feel safe because it is familiar...the stories I tell myself there I have heard over and over - they are memorized and very clear and concise. Most of all they are convincing me that I have made a good choice to withdraw into the box... and focus on all that scares me, all that "could" go wrong and all that "might" happen if I step outside.
So what does gratitude have to do with the box???? Gratitude is the lifeline that helps me shift my perspective from a space of gloom and doom to a space of maybe....just MAYBE these stories I have been telling myself are BS! Or at least Bothersome Stories. Gratitude acts like a bridge to shift my thinking from the place of fear to the place of LOVE. And my favorite place to be is in LOVE!
Is it instant? - I WISH! No, but it is a bridge- a very valuable bridge. A space in which I have the opportunity to replace the stories of fear and lack with stories of GRATITUDE and LOVE. As I remind myself that gratitude has bailed me out before and that I ALWAYS have something to be grateful for, I step onto the bridge.
Then I remind myself that there is more to find in the space of gratitude and I take another step across the bridge and I keep repeating this process until finally I am able to walk across the span of the bridge to a place where I first see the other side. Where I appreciate that the light is shining, welcoming me and offering me a new sanctuary, a place that is much preferred over the darkness of "the box". Before I know it, as I continue to focus my thoughts on gratitude, I reach the other side!
And here, I bask in LOVE. A warm, gentle, open, light filled space of possibility. a space of unlimited opportunity! And for awhile I feel at home.... until the next time that my humanness steps up and I am reminded that we live in a world of duality.
I challenge you to utilize the bridge of gratitude the next time you find yourself sitting inside of your box! It is simple and begins with awareness - awareness that regardless of the space you are standing there is a lifeline available for you and there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for!
Lonnie Taylor - January 12, 2020
