There has been so much written on gratitude, but some people
still say they have little to be grateful for. So how do you set
yourself up to have the right attitude to bring things to be grateful
for? What situations or people in your life instill the feeling
of gratitude into your heart? Nurture these and you can be on your
way to happiness.
Think of your brain as two dogs that are always fighting for supremacy.
One dog represents the ideas of what you desire more than anything
else and the other dog the ideas of what you wish to avoid more
than anything else. The winner could be easily determined by feeding
one and withholding food from the other. Think of the food is your
attention and what you feed is where you place your attention.
If you are getting what you are not grateful for, it’s because
you are withholding food from that which you would be grateful
for.
“I would be really grateful for a large salary. I would be
really - really grateful for the perfect partner, but I don’t
have these things right now. My car is an old worn out rattle trap
and my relationship is terrible and abusive” By focusing
on what you have that you don’t want, the worn out rattle
trap car, or the abusive mate, you will get more repairs on the
rattle trap and more abuse from the abuser. The universe is set
up to bring what ever you focus on, not what you verbalize that
you want. Emotion, attention, and action create our life’s
experience.
It is said “You can not serve two masters.” This is
the same idea as where you place your attention. Having an attitude
of gratitude is more than just being grateful. It’s showing
where you put your attention. To be grateful reflects love. To
love means to be happy with. We are only really grateful for what
we are happy with. When you are “happy with” something,
you bring more of what you are happy with. Therefore we need to
look for opportunities to be happy in all things. If the old jalopy
belches smoke and is about to give up, we can still be grateful
for arriving at our destination feeling only the positive things
about our vehicle.
Because we are in this third dimension earth plane reality, we
are pre-programmed through the collective unconscious to believe
that things wear out and there is nothing we can do. I am here
to tell you that that is as much an illusion as the rest of this
universe. You know that the atoms in your body have as much space
between them, in comparison to size, as the planets that revolve
around the sun, so the illusion is that you are solid. Yes it is
all an illusion, so quit buying into the illusion that you cannot
heal your car, your relationship, your job or anything you want
to change to make you more thankful. “Well,” you say, “I
just don’t feel good. My life is mud pies and cow patties.” Which
dog is that? Why are you feeding it? If you don’t feel good,
then “Fake it ‘til you make it.” It shouldn’t
be hard. After all, you live in the biggest illusion that could possibly
exist. You are doing it already just by living! Feeling good is a
BIG part of feeding the correct dog. It just makes you more positive
which brings the things that make us grateful. Happiness is an attitude,
a state of mind. It really is YOUR CHOICE as to which dog you feed.
It really is YOUR CHOICE as to your attitude of gratitude. Choose
wisely. Feed the gratitude dog.
You can start being grateful right now and change things. Remember
the dog you feed wins the fight. Grumbling and feeling resentful
because the car needs repair brings more patching and feeling ungrateful.
It might even completely break down leaving you with no car at
all. Treating your car as if it were brand new, servicing it regularly,
keeping it clean and polished, so it will look new longer really
does work. Feeling grateful for dependable transportation feeds
the gratitude dog, your subconscious mind and the collective unconscious.
The entire collective unconscious mind will support you and your
car reflecting your attitude of gratitude to make the car reflect
what’s in your mind. Being creators, we can create a new
attitude of gratitude toward the vehicle that is going to evolve
in a positive way as we pay attention to it and to it’s positive
attributes. Energy flows where attention goes.
One of my students saw a marked improvement in her car after changing
mechanics. This was not because the first mechanic was not good
at his job. He regularly changed the car’s fluids and performed
regular service on the car. When the car started to use some oil,
he told her that she should expect to replace the engine soon because
this model of engine was not noted for its longevity. Rather than
take his word for it, she got a second opinion from a different
mechanic. The second mechanic had a very high opinion of this model
and sang its praises to her. He told her that her particular car
could last almost forever if it had proper maintenance and that
she should just check the oil every time she filled up with gas
(she was already doing this). She drove away happy and grateful.
Within a month, she noticed that the car was actually using less
oil!
You may say “well, that’s all well and good for a car,
but what about my relationship?” That’s an illusion
also, because we are all just one being and even though that is
difficult to understand, understand this: there are two dogs fighting
in your mind. One says it is a good relationship and the other
says that it is a horrid relationship, codependent with the “break
up to make up drama” dog being fed. Which one do you want
to win? Which one are you feeding? Here is an example of a negative
situation of neglect of a relationship. Several hours after a baseball
game was over, the wife of the team owner called the locker room
and left the following message “I’m here at home alone;
Play me or trade me.” Which dog was he feeding? He was allowing
the appreciation for his wife, the gratitude dog, to go hungry.
Think about it with all aspects of your life, your job, family,
friends, etc. You can change your life with an attitude of gratitude.
You can be grateful for all in your life by putting your attention
on what you want to be grateful for. What do you have to lose,
a broken down car, an abusive relationship, or a horrid job? Even
if everything in your life is O.K. you may still have things that
you wish to improve, maybe it’s your physical appearance
or stamina, your tennis or golf game. You may just want to get
the crab grass out of your lawn. For more help on how to strengthen
your attitude of gratitude and learn how to feed the correct dog
check out Ask And It Is Given by Ester Hicks who channels Abraham.
John
Henderson is a Hypnotherapist at The inner Space specializing in
manifesting. He is grateful that you read this column. He has a free
group every Sunday called Manifest it Now. It meets at The Inner
Space at 11:30 AM Sunday.
John
Henderson is a Hypnotherapist at The inner Space specializing in
manifesting. He is grateful that you read this column. He has a free
group every Sunday called Manifest it Now. It meets at The Inner
Space at 11:30 AM Sunday. 
