Life has lately offered me some amazing lessons in gratitude and forgiveness. Ever since I studied the book,
5 GIFTS for an Abundant Life, I have expanded my gratitude (the G of the
5 GIFTS) and extended my willingness to forgive (the F). You'll have to get the book if you want to know what the I, T, and S stand for and the rest of the message.... This blog post is about something else: my epiphany that gratitude and forgiveness are new tools to strengthen my
Childhood Treasures of Trust and Independence.
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| AYFKM???? |
So, Gratitude.... I'm not much for things like gratitude journals but I gamely started one, as guided by the book. I made dutiful daily records for about 4 days before petering out...but only on the journaling. The gratitude just kept expanding, exponentially!
I started out just being grateful for
stuff -- a house, a TV, a savings account, and so on. Then, gratitude morphed into an "attitude antidote" to almost any feeling that impeded smooth and joyous living.
You'll have to reflect on your own, uniquely un-helpful feelings. My ego's go-to list of ugly includes a few of the less-familiar dwarves: Judgey, Impatient, Irritable, and Are You Freakin'
Kidding Me??? (also known as AYFKM). These emotional airs arise when I forget that, dang it all, I am
NOT the most important being on the planet (Whaaaat?? Are you sure?).
Here's how the gratitude antidote works for me:
