There are many factors involved, but I think that one difference is the level of gratitude that a person carry's in their attitude day by day. How can we have gratitude in difficult times? We can be grateful that we are becoming better people with more compassion. We can be grateful that we can grow in character and integrity. We can also be grateful that we have the choice to pursue or passion or not.
Having health is as much a choice as not having health. Persevering and doing what it takes to be healthy is a choice that everyone has to make for themselves. There has to be many more reasons behind the decision to create action and behavior that cultivate proper health for the body.
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates vision for tomorrow (Melody Beattie)."
How do we cultivate gratitude and awe in life in spite of what could become boredom and dread? I have two exercises for you:
1. Play a game called "The Alien Game:" Get in touch with your inner child and your imagination. Imagine that you are an alien from a foreign planet and that this is your first day on planet earth. Investigate things that you have taken for granted. That co-worker who has a knack for cracking jokes, take them to lunch and allow yourself to laugh until you are crying. Your friend who you haven't seen or talked to in years, give them a call and recall great memories. Getting in touch with your inner child (or your inner Alien) can set you free to really live in the moment and to create moments of joy with everything that you have access to.
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| Living like an alien! The halloween that my friend Brittany and I decided to dress up and enter a costume contest! This is us taking crazy pictures! I am grateful for this memory! |
One thing that really helped me as an American to become more grateful for day to day moments was my 7-month stint in South Africa. Surrounded by poverty and need, I learned so much every day about what it means to be grateful for the simplicity of existence. It was the best thing for me. Now, you may not need to move to another country for 7-months in order to create gratitude in your life. However, maybe you do!! Maybe you need to do something drastic.
When I lived in South Africa, I heard a story about the man who started the non-profit orphanage and high school that I was working for and I was astounded. This man moved into the townships of South Africa and lived in a shack for over a year in order to experience what the ordinary person in South Africa experiences. He did this in order to gain compassion and to understand what exactly was needed in order to help.
This type of drastic decision changed his life forever. Sometimes we allow fear to keep us from pursuing that dream that we always wanted to pursue. So instead of going after our dreams, we settle for serving another person's dream that we do not believe in. It becomes difficult to be grateful because we are not being true to ourselves.
The most important exercise in gratitude and living the moment is to decide to be YOU and to follow what you want out of life. When your dreams that you believe in start to manifest, you will realize that all the hard work and the drastic decision to pursue that which is in your heart was completely worth it!!
What decision are you avoiding making out of fear? What situations in your life presently or from the past are you holding onto that are keeping you from being grateful for today? What would it mean to allow yourself to heal and to move forward with living?
Here is to a great day to practice living like an alien! Remember, aliens don't do "normal" things. Aliens do not know what a routine is. Aliens are excited about new things and creating new opportunities. Embrace life and shake things up a bit!
