Gratitude = Happiness Blog #20
This week our hot water heater blew and flooded our laundry room/garage.
So grateful we were home and caught it quickly. Now we get to get a new
hot water heater, furnace air/heating unit and the insurance is covering the repairs and taking out the asbestos. Yay!! We all go through this stuff in life, it is an amazing wild ride. :)
Been thinking a lot about how grateful I am and what affects my happiness. So grateful and thankful for my health, family, friends, pets, spiritual growth, abundance and…
Buddha taught, one important key to happiness is gratitude for everything in life.
A fun thing to do is take a look at what makes you happy?
First ground yourself to the center of the Earth as though your sitting on to top of a hollow tree trunk. Ground off anything that is keeping you from your happiness, worry fear, doubts… and see it all going down the grounding like little pebbles. Just let it all go.
Be nice and centered and ask yourself what makes you happy? Create a list of 7 things that make you happy; a certain color or a sunset, just relaxing, watching butterflies, cloud formations, my husband, kitties and puppies make me happy, meditating makes me happy, hugging a tree makes me happy (feeling the amazing energy flowing), reading and studying, and seeing life as a grand adventure makes me happy.
Now read your list out loud to yourself, notice how positive and happy it makes you feel just hearing it.
Think of 7 things you are happy with about your life and make a list. You know the things you are unhappy about, but what are you happy about in your life? Your marriage, your career, your body, your children, your spiritual growth, your closets are organized or maybe just one drawer is, or your hair, your tennis game, or your love for being creative…
According to the happiness experts the pursuit of happiness isn’t out there somewhere-it’s an inside job –if you are happy within, you go out and express it in the world. It’s a choice!
Now add 5 more things to your list that would make your life even more happy. Maybe being more gentle and kind with yourself, more positive, treat yourself to something special every week. Be more social, not complaining so much or just have more fun and gratitude.
Happiness test from Happiness expert Dr. Robert Holden (Author of Be Happy)
How happy are you?
Answer and rate each question 1-7 (7 being the most happy)
In most ways my life is close to ideal?
The conditions of my life are excellent?
I am satisfied with my life?
So far I have gotten the important things I want in life?
If I could live my life over I would change almost nothing?
Add up your score
35 Extremely Happy!
30+ Doing Great!
15 need to work on it
5 you really need some support
Happiness experts say:
1. Setting an intention daily to enjoy your day and being neutral to the challenges of life so you can be present and have more enjoyment.
2. Acceptance and appreciation for yourself and for others is key.
3. Finding appreciation every day. Chose one day and walk thru it with the eyes of a child with awe and wonder about the world.
4. Stop complaining. Complaining is a very low vibration and also makes you focus on what you don’t want instead of what you do want. Flip it; if you start to complain find something to be thankful for.
5. Forgiveness: release and forgive your past and appreciate and accept what you have learned in this life. Have deep love and appreciation for the amazing incredible person that you are right here and now.
Being grateful is so powerful! When gratitude goes up criticism and judgement comes down, like a teeter totter.
I like to have a thank you day every week; thankful for everything in my life, starting when I wake up in the morning; saying hello and thank you to God, thanking my body, my bed, my shower, thanking my husband and my pets… I continue all day long until I lay my head on my pillow that night in sweet gratitude for an awesome day! I go to sleep with a big smile on my face.
Sharing love, joy and miracles makes me happy!
So as the new saying and song goes: Don’t Worry, BE HAPPY!
And share your joy!
So grateful for ALL of YOU, you make me happy!