Today in yoga class, my teacher shared the following mantra:
Dhanya Vad – I feel gratitude. When I’m grateful, I find grace. By looking for the blessings in my life, I open up a space of light in every experience; I open up the path for grace to flow. I make room in the middle of everything for gratitude.
This mantra truly resonated with me, especially as we move into my favorite season. The essence of Thanksgiving serves as a reminder to be grateful, but gratitude is more than a one day event. As an elementary school Principal, the school motto we created included the mantra, “have an attitude of gratitude.” It is something we sought to instill in our students, staff and selves. As much as I engaged in this worked, it was not always easy to truly stay in an attitude of gratitude.
Last year when my husband was very sick, I was struggling to balance work and his illness, which made it very difficult to maintain my focus on gratitude. Being at my unhealthiest definitely didn’t help either; in truth, it felt like whatever could go wrong, did. My attitude of gratitude was slipping away and in its place an attitude of complacency seeped in. I didn’t care what I ate, what I drank, how little I slept or moved. I didn’t care anymore about getting healthy, in fact I decided I hated healthy living. Que sera became my new mantra and I felt I’d just take life as it came, one day at a time.
It’s funny that I didn’t notice at the time, but the more I walked away from my attitude of gratitude, the more negative my life felt. When my trainer told me to create a gratitude journal and write in it each day, I laughed. I mean, really? She needed to tell me that? After all the work I had done around the importance of gratitude, someone needed to remind me of the power of it. Well, yes, I actually needed that reminder.
In the summer, I pulled out an empty journal I had here and decided to begin writing in it each morning. I kept things simple and followed the same pattern each day on a new page. First, I wrote about my why; why I wanted a healthy lifestyle and why I was on this path. I wrote three positive statements about myself each day. Finally, I wrote one power statement – what I hoped I would accomplish as a result of this lifestyle. I wrote these things every single day. It took about two months before I started to feel the power of them seeping into my soul and each week I felt myself growing emotionally stronger.
The truth is, I have so very much to be grateful for. Despite all I went through, I’ve found a way to get some traction again. I need to hold on to that and continue moving forward. I share all this, to remind you of the importance of gratitude. When I look around, as the mantra says, I see the blessings of my life. This has helped me find and give myself some grace. It has opened me up to new possibilities, that I would not have engaged in had I stayed focused on the negativity.
If you are feeling stuck, perhaps you can look at the blessings of your life. Believe me, sometimes I know they are hard to find, but I promise they are there. Perhaps begin with a journal as I did. Keep it simple. Take a breath and give yourself the grace you deserve. I hope this week brings you the will to start again and join me on this quest to reclaim our health.
Reclaiming My Health 