A Season for Gratitude
Giving Thanks

November is the Start of the
Holiday Season...

I wish you and yours a wonderful and...
Happy Thanksgiving...
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blogs... Use the “comments” button on the bottom of this months blog... or email me at: TheUrbanShaman@aol.com
Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure!
ENJOY!
Much love to you all...
Love n' Light,
Gail Oliver

A Season For Gratitude...

Gratitude is the substance of a heart ready to show appreciation, or thankfulness; it is not simply an emotion, which involves a pleasant feeling that can occur when we receive a favor or benefit from another person but rather the combination of a state of being and an emotion; often accompanied by a desire to thank them, or to reciprocate for a favor they have done for you.

When you live charged with gratitude, you will give thanks for anything or anyone who has benefited you, whether they meant to or not. Imagine a giving thanks when the driver in the car next to you lets you merge without protest, or when the water flows from the tap, or you have a place of shelter on a cold night.

When you open up to the trait of gratitude, you see clearly and accurately how much good there is in your life. Gratitude affirms. Those things you are lacking are still there, and in reaching for gratitude no one is saying you ought to ignore or those shortcomings. But most of us tend to focus so heavily on the deficiencies in our lives that we barely acknowledge the good that balances them.

When gratitude is established, it is a sign of a heart that has been made right and whole. Gratitude opens the heart. Gratitude can't coexist with arrogance, resentment, and selfishness.

A simple and effective way to practice gratitude is by making giving thanks part of your everyday life.

Giving Thanks

Do you take many things in your life for granted? By looking at the world a little differently, you just might realize how much you have to be thankful for. Here's how to stop and smell the roses.

The Steps...

• Pay attention to the people around you. You will find that everybody has
something to worry or complain about, not just you. It's easy to focus on those who seem to have it all, but you never know what's going on inside. They might look happy, but they might be miserable as well. Don't look at others and think "I should have it like they do." Look at those who aren't as fortunate as you are and take note of blessed you are. Count your blessings. If it helps, consider volunteering or start a relationship with someone who is not as fortunate and find small or gradual ways to help them.

• Practice acceptance. Stop dwelling on how things should be, what could've been, and what you don't have. Recognize what you do have--whether you like it or not, it's yours to keep or to change. Accepting your lot in life is not about resigning yourself to unhappiness. It's about not wasting time wishing for what you don't have.

• Become a problem solver. Use your lemons to make lemonade. Get in the habit of asking yourself how you can turn the negative into a positive. The most successful people in life, and those who have the most to be grateful for, are also those who've endured tremendous trials and managed to persevere and turn it all around.

• Learn to see hardship as a chance to develop character. Imagine yourself looking back ten years from now and recounting your difficult circumstances, and being proud of how you handled it and worked through it.

• Develop a gratitude journal. It's pretty simple. At the end of every day, write down five things that have made you happy or appreciative that day; not necessarily big things, even small ones count.
For example: 1) nice weather, 2) being thanked by a customer at work, 3) my pet, 4) having people who love me, 5) a funny joke or a song you like.

• Take joy in the small things. Blow bubbles. Walk the dog. Get lost in the park. Goof off or watch a funny movie and have a good laugh. Life's treasures are the small pleasures; give thanks for each small gift you receive!

Tips

• Avoid negative people whose social interaction consists of comparing their lives and competing for who has it worse.

• Volunteering to help those in need will help put things in perspective.

Warnings

• Variation is a part of life; the seasons, day and night, hilltops and valleys, light and darkness.

• No matter how positive and thankful you are, remember that life will always have its ups and downs. You're going to have to take the good with the bad.
wikihow.com

Recipe for Feelin’ Groovy...

This appeared in a Dear Abby column from a newspaper dated May 1961. Here is a wonderful recipe for feeling good written by a woman named Maxine.

Recipe for Happiness
2 heaping cups of patience
1 heart full of love
2 handfuls of generosity
Dash of laughter
1 head of understanding
Sprinkle generously with kindness
Add plenty of faith and mix well.
Spread over a period of a lifetime and serve everybody you meet.

If you were to implement this recipe during the holidays as you interact with your family, you would be contributing to heaven on earth. If you were to commit to feeling good every moment, what a contribution to peace on the planet that would be! There is no greater gift.

Have a Happy and Joyous Thanksgiving.
Love and Light to you all!