GRATITUDE REALLY? FOR WHAT?

         GRATITUDE REALLY? FOR WHAT?

“Change your thoughts, change your life.” (Dr. Wayne Dwyer)

I was contacted by one of my clients recently who was feeling overwhelmed and not in a good space. She told me that cleaning house constantly was a very ungratifying job and she was very close to using the “H” word to describe her feelings on the subject. She then asked me what to do to turn that around for her. My response was to do it with gratitude, do it as a service of love, as a gift for life.

She stopped talking and just looked at me for a moment. Finely she blurted out, “Gratitude? Really? For what? A service of love? A gift for life? You’re joking right?

I asked her what her least favorite chore is and laundry was the answer. I instructed her to consider what goes into doing the laundry. She still didn’t see what I meant, and she told me to break it down for her, so I did.

“Be grateful for the fact that you have the physical ability to do the job. Be grateful for the fact that you have a washer and dryer to help you (I’ve had to do it all by hand and that is not an easy task). Be grateful for the fact that you can afford to pay for the soap, water and electricity to run the appliances that help you. Be grateful that you have the clothes and linens to wash and someone to wash them for. Be grateful for the fact that you have a home to house the appliances that wash and dry the clothes, and the storage containers that you keep them in, and those you wash them for. Consider that you really love the people for whom you are doing this service and, that to them, it is a gift from you to make their life better …do you see now what I am talking about?” I asked her.

I was met with a long silence and then she said “Oh, now I get it, I think maybe laundry just might be my favorite gift of love for my family, thanks.” I answered, “You are welcome.”

This will work with anything you are feeling bad about, anything at all. The reason it works is because as you change the way you think about something, the way you think changes. You actually create changes in your brain chemistry for the better. As your chemistry changes, shooting ‘grateful chemicals’ into your system, your feelings change, your attitude changes and you feel better about what you’re doing. These changes in you will spill over on those around you so that everyone benefits from this seemingly unimportant decision. Why not give it a try and experience the Bright Blessings, Love, service and gratitude that comes with that change of mind, C. S. Roberts

© Chessie Roberts 2011, all rights reserved