Marlon Familton, MA LMHC
1601 116th Ave NE, Ste. 102
Bellevue, WA  98004
425-417-4700
Better Mental Health The attitude of gratitude is a powerful tool of change.


Download mp3 music to aid your meditations

The Power of Gratitude - Step 3

 

If you want to feel better more often, lower or recover quicker from moments of reactivity, and attract more good things in life, having the "attitude of gratitude" is a key tool to use. This is what we'll work on in step two.

If you watched Dr. Dispenza talk about being addicted to emotions in Step 1, hopefully you heard him mention the importance of interrupting old patterns of thinking. Using gratitude is one way to interrupt those negative thoughts. He also talked about how the cells in our bodies build more receptor sites for whatever emotions they are flooded with (addicted to) and thus, have fewer receptor sites for things like nutrition. Yikes, this causes us to age faster because our cells won't have everything they need to be strong and healthy.

So when you feel irritated, grumpy, upset, etc., the more you are aware of feeling that way, the more you can use it as a cue to do something.  Knowing that such a negative state will cause you to react, take self-defeating actions, push others away from you, create addictions to those feeling states and cause your body to age faster, can you use this a cue to shift to another thought? The thought of gratitude is perfect for this. An added benefit is that you will notice more positives in your life because you're building a radar for things for which you are grateful.

In that moment of feeling negative thoughts, if you can switch to a thought and feeling of gratitude for something, you will begin to change your thinking and change your life. However, you have to practice thinking and feeling this way, which is what step two is all about. Feeling grateful for something does not mean being satisfied.  Feeling grateful for a crummy old car doesn't mean you do not want a nicer car.  It just means you are grateful for having that car and the benefits it does bring you.

Exercise: Mediate on feeling grateful

After you spend a few minutes tapping, spend the next few minutes thinking of two to four persons, places or things in your life, or aspects of yourself for which you are grateful.  As you do this, and this is important, feel the feelings of gratitude for each of them.  use your mind's eye to see them and draw up the sensation of joy, happiness and gratitude for each.  If it helps, and I think you should try it, smile while you think these thoughts.  The next time you do this, use some of the same but also change a few each time.

The rest of the day, if you think a negative thought and/or have a negative emotion, remember to shift to thoughts and feelings of gratitude instead.   Place the word "gratitude" in a few places you'll see.  A post it note on your computer, in the bathroom, in your car.  Turn this into a habit and you will be amazed at how much better you just feel.

When you have added the "attitude of gratitude to your meditation for a few days, Email me and let me know how your experience has been with this exercise.

Intro page

Step 1 - EFT Tapping

Step 2 - Meditation

Step 4 - Affirmations

Step 5 - Visualizations

Step 6 - Putting it all together