You can shape your life as you choose, this is the gift of free will. Humans are the only species on earth that have this opportunity. This is a major gift to be grateful for. Go deeper than lip service when giving thanks, let it penetrate deep in your heart and flow into all your words and actions. Gratitude helps accentuate the positive in your life and attract even more reasons to be grateful. When it appears that life is going against you and nothing goes as planned, it can be difficult to find a reason to be grateful. If you are in this situation, simplify things by just watching your breath as it moves in and out of your lungs. Feel the gratitude for this life force that keeps you alive in the human body.

 It is easy to take for granted essential things you need for survival such as air, water, food, clothing and shelter. We have moved a long way from our hunter gatherer forbearers and our focus in the modern world is on the accumulation of material comforts and emotional security. Material forms are just objects and hold no real value unless you have an emotional attachment to them. This is the reason you find yourself holding onto old items that have no practical use but are of sentimental value. Material forms in themselves do not bring joy and fulfilment. It is their association with certain people or events that places value on them.

 Perhaps you think you need some object to bring you contentment but it is out of your reach. Not having the object of your desire arises out of resentment, annoyance and unhappiness. It could be a house, a car or perhaps attention from a certain person. You believe if you could acquire the object of your desire, you would be happy. This way of thinking puts terms and conditions on happiness and emotional wellbeing. You are associating objects and certain people with feelings of happiness. This erroneous belief has you constantly chasing a person or material things to find happiness. Everything starts from within. First, connect to your feeling of joy and it attracts more reasons to be joyful. Joy cannot be bought because it is an intrinsic part of your being, stemming from the universal field of awareness.

 You cannot put a price or condition on wellbeing. Set your intention to feel joy, to feel love, and to feel free. When you invoke these positive feelings within, you attract more reasons to be joyful. When you are aligned with vibrations of joy, gratitude is natural. It exudes from the core of your being for this phenomenal experience we call life. Your intention to be grateful allows universal power to infuse you with gratitude. Feelings of gratitude are reflected in the world around you. You behold joy in simple things and gratitude emanates from you. You begin to realise feeling good is what is most important and not the things you possess. What you have is relative to how you feel but it is not the cause. The cause is your connection to joy and gratitude.

From ‘In Quest of Love’ by Collette O’Mahony

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