for and find gifts in any situation. Use these gifts to help you through your personal challenges. A challenge can bring either despair or opportunity. Choose opportunity. The size of the problem does not reflect your ability to come through. Focus strongly on what you can control, not what you can’t. Focus on what you have got, not what you haven’t. You may start to notice that you can lift other people around you with your positive attitude, as you begin to infect others with your sunny disposition.
(A beautiful example of a gratitude giant is motivational speaker Nick Vujicic. Born with Phocomelia, a rare disorder characterised by the absence of arms and legs, Nick faced many mental and physical challenges in his youth. Eventually he found a huge gift within these challenges, and now presents motivational speeches worldwide, to help others find hope and meaning in life. I highly recommend his book, Life Without Limits.)
By rising through these three levels, you too will rise. Gratitude is the gateway to our soul, to our silence, and to our peace. If we think about what makes us happy, we allow positive thoughts into our minds. We create small moments of stillness and calm. In stillness and calm, we develop the ability to hear our hearts and the whispers of our soul. The truth is we always have the answers; we just need to stand still long enough to hear them.
In our nakedness and in our stillness we have to follow our intuition because it’s the only thing that we have. Our intuition is a light guiding the way to our ‘calling’ in life; a gift waiting only to be discovered in our nakedness. Other people may try to help and guide us with their words only to find our mind seemingly impenetrable. But when we’re stripped right back, our wisdom comes from our soul. It speaks louder than the voices of those around us. It doesn’t need to penetrate our mind because it’s already there.
As small children we listened to our ‘inside words’, and lived guided by our intuition. Watching a tiny child play is an incredibly valuable experience. Notice how their soul shines from their eyes as they do what makes them happy: playing with friends, doing things that make them feel good, relishing time outdoors rolling in grass or splashing in muddy puddles. Small children ask ‘why’ until they understand, refuse to do things that they don’t enjoy, and live unashamedly from their hearts. Their soul, so bright, dazzles everyone around them with its presence. They accept nothing less than being truly alive.
As a young child, many years ago, I would visit my grandmother, and on countless occasions she would lovingly pinch my cheek with her soft, warm hand. “You’re rich you are!” she’d say. Years later, following her passing I began to reflect on memories, and these words that she seemed so fond of. What did she mean by rich? As an adult with children of my own, I now know that being rich is about being truly alive, and seeing the world through the eyes of opportunity, possibility and love. It’s about living as who we really are, unashamedly and proud.
Being rich is looking at life through open eyes and recognising that the relationships that you form are your greatest riches, and that your true wealth lies in that which you create.
Only a short time ago, I took my two-year-old nephew to a beautiful beach close by. After spending an hour trying to keep up with him rolling down the sand dunes, I decided it was time to go home. Walking back across the beach, he became captivated by a tiny stream that ran towards the sea. He squatted down beside it throwing tiny pieces of wood, or ‘boats’, into the water before watching them float away. After allowing him a little time to play, I tried encouraging him to start walking back to the car. He simply and very determinedly refused and continued to squat in his tiny bright red wellingtons, toes touching the stream. Two more attempts followed but to no avail, so I took the ‘if you can’t beat them join them’ attitude, to figure out what he found so fascinating. Crouching beside him, I sat in stillness (just as he was) and allowed my gaze to wander to the water. It wasn’t long at all before I joined Jack in his world and became completely transfixed not only by the rivulets of water passing us by, but by the beautiful silence, stillness and peace of doing absolutely nothing. My nephew, totally oblivious to my thoughts, taught me a very important lesson that day. And I was grateful.
The key to gratitude is to learn to live in the moment. Allow yourself time to be still and allow your attention to focus on what makes you smile. Focus on what makes you happy. Joy can be found in many thing such as tiny flowers, vibrant sunsets or the feeling of warm sand between your toes.
CHANGING ROOM TIP
Get Snap Happy
One of the most effective and rewarding ways to learn to live in the moment is to get snap happy. Literally. Find yourself a camera, and wander aimlessly in a place of natural beauty. Photography will give you respite from your internal worries, as you become receptive to the beauty that surrounds you. Plans or expectations will become irrelevant, as you allow yourself to just ‘be’. Focusing a camera lens on the tiny petal of a buttercup or a butterfly at rest allows you to focus your attention, and you will be able to rest too. Photography will expand the way that you see, and what you see. Taking pictures allows space in your mind. With space, your mind can begin to see your circumstances in a new light. Allow yourself to snap and be happy.
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
Thornton Wilder
CHANGE YOUR
EXPECTATION FOR
APPRECIATION
AND YOUR WORLD
CHANGES INSTANTLY.
TONY ROBBINS
MOVING WITH MAGIC
In my moment of gratefulness, changes began to occur as if by magic. Seconds after my revelation my legs took me over to a rather crumpled edition of the Yellow Pages (yes, it still existed in those days). I flicked through, looking for a local college. It seemed to happen instantly without a thought. Was I in control? Was I out of control? What was happening to me? Confusion set aside, I called the college straight away, knowing that for me to find myself something needed to change. I sobbed into the hand-set as I spoke to the receptionist. I told her my story with tears pouring down my face, and snot leaking from my nose. I doubt that therapy was in her job description, but I didn’t really give her much choice. Through sniffs and wails, I explained to her that I needed something new to focus on, other than myself. I told her that I thought that learning something new would give me that focus. What I had totally failed to do prior to this call was decide what I actually wanted to learn. When she asked, I didn’t have a clue. I was lost, hopelessly lost. Sensing my confusion, the receptionist asked me one very specific question that opened the door to change a little wider:
“What have you always enjoyed doing?”
Giving myself a short time to sort my thoughts, my life flashed before my eyes. In a split second I recalled secondary school memories of blasting up the hockey pitch as team captain with a huge grin on my face. I remembered how good it felt to run, and to run a long way. Memories of swimming, football, and athletics came flooding back, in a moment of inspiration.
“Sport,” I said immediately, “I’ve always enjoyed sport.” I was informed that there was a fitness instructor course starting in two weeks. Knowing nothing else other than I was moving forwards, and praying that I had enough money in my depleted bank account, I booked onto the course there and then. Putting the phone back on the hook and taking a deep breath, I let out a sigh of relief. Sensing movement replacing stagnation, I became aware that a shift had occurred, but was unaware that I’d stepped deeply into the changing room.
CHANGING ROOM TIP
Use
