3 Powerful Ways to Set Your Heart Space to Thankfulness
Gratitude is my happy place! I discovered through living that I held the power of setting my heart space to thankfulness. Singing my soul into positive perspectives gave me a sunny-side-up disposition.
My life has been filled with an emotional rollercoaster of facing my mortality, career highs and lows, heartbreak, and reimagining my world while kicking and screaming. In the midst of it all, gratitude has been my saving grace.
Change can be a struggle to navigate. I have learned how to accept the sour with the sweet so that I can transform moments of defeat.
I have chosen to use my agency by intentionally developing a practice of gratitude. It has been a process that has evolved out of every circumstance giving me a new imprinted love lesson of thankfulness. I want to share three ways to motivate you.
#1 Prayer
I am a dead woman walking in this life. Seventeen years ago, my ER Doctor told me I had a 30% chance of survival. 70% of me has died, whoa! In shock, I began processing what this bad news meant.
What helped was drawing upon promises in Scripture I identified with and praying. Scripture points us to rejoice in waking in the morning, give thanks with a grateful heart, and trust that our God will find the good in every situation we encounter. My practice is to search for a passage that resonates with me for the journey and meditate on it throughout my day. Reflection matters.
Although my mind shut down when I first heard the news, it opened to being present. I longed to fight for my present and future, healing, and time with my loved ones. So I chose words that spilled out thankfulness and appreciation for my life.
Whatever you’re going through today, I challenge you to find a promise of God or a quote that will pull you out of tragedy or keep you reflective in your space of victory.
#2 Mindful thoughts
Developing a life of appreciation is golden! November is not only the month we celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s also National Gratitude Month. The start of the holiday season, when we begin seeing warm images of the holidays and increased smiles extended, is also the time of year we’re most grateful.
But have you ever considered embracing the act of mindful thoughts year-round? Gratitude 365. I call it finding purpose in the thoughts you have.
When we think about good thoughts, we usually have a lighter disposition or approach to our day or work life. We can feel down or not in the mood for anything when we think about negative thoughts.
I began noticing my personality in both instances and built an internal game plan to hold on to being mindful of my thoughts. During my medical scare, I had to toss out all the toxic, limiting, defeating, and negative self-talk that ran through my heart and mind. Then, slowly I began pouring positive reinforcement into my soul grounded in encouragement, love, and compassion for me.
When the road to recovery stretched long before me, I paused my thoughts by asking, “What purpose does this serve?” Then, I moved forward with kindness.
I challenge you to explore a conscious level of mindful thinking that propels you toward internal harmony. It’s possible to change, but you must put in the self-work.
#3 Expressing appreciation
Expressing appreciation is a huge part of living in a state of gratitude. We have been socialized to say “thank you” or “I appreciate you” to others. Do you say this to yourself? When life is serving you lemonade and lemons, we can miss opportunities to recognize how gratitude shows up.
On my medical journey, I returned to my first love, journaling. In a series of journals, I shared my emotions, tears, fears, and all that had shifted in my world. I looked at a few of my entries one day and got so fed up with sorrow. I could not understand how my life as I knew it ended. My perspective changed to gratefulness, however, when I traced my hand writing in all the good stuff I had to be thankful for.
How can you express your gratitude today? Whether it’s aloud in front of a mirror or in a journal, I challenge you to show yourself some appreciation today.
Meet Wanda Green
Wanda Green was born and raised in Hollywood and is a loving ten-year family caregiver. She is featured in anthologies with the Community Writers Group of Los Angeles. Wanda is also a support group facilitator and a blogger for the Lupus Foundation of America SoCal community as a volunteer, where she raises awareness and funding for a cure to save lives. She serves on various nonprofits and community groups to give back.
Wanda has legislated for change in our world, using her voice by sharing her experiences. This has led to the launch of Empowering Patients & Caregivers in a curated effort to offer a community empowered by storytelling, resources, and togetherness.
Where to find her . . .
Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.
If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.
Creating Ripples
If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.
2 Comments
Anonymous
Great reminder of what matters!
twyla
Wanda’s story sure inspired me too! Thanks for reading.