S1E6 Embracing Gratitude: Reshaping Reality Through Sincere Appreciation

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As we celebrate the first transformative month of Balance Baby, I want to extend a heartfelt thank-you to you, the listeners, for embarking on this journey of self-improvement with me, Harkaren. Our voyage through the mental seas has taught us how to navigate the tumultuous waves of thoughts and emotions, steering us towards the tranquil waters of positivity. We've anchored ourselves in practices that question our beliefs, retrain our subconscious, and embrace the stillness of meditation. Now, we harness the transformative power of gratitude—a force that not only impacts our mental and physical health but also reshapes our very reality. Imagine a life where your deepest thanks elevates you to new heights, diminishing the shadows of doubt and aligning you with the abundance of the universe. 

In this heartfelt gathering of souls, we're not just forming a community; we are the architects of a sanctuary where love and acceptance are the pillars. Gratitude is our torch in the darkness, illuminating the path for ourselves and for others to discover their boundless potential. It's an act of courage to face life's challenges with a heart full of grace, to trust in the grand design the universe has penned for us. By embracing gratitude, we empower ourselves to live a life replete with fulfillment and divine synchronicity. So, follow along, subscribe, and let's continue to cultivate this spirit of grateful living that promises to transform our lives and the world around us—one thankful heartbeat at a time.

Join our community of radiant souls. Subscribe and tune in every Wednesday to hear the latest episode. Be a part of a vibrant tribe that supports, inspires, and grows together.

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Episode Transcript

Harkaren (00:03):
Hello everyone and welcome to Balance Baby, the
podcast designed to help youconsistently show up as the best
version of yourself.
My name is Harkaren and I'll beyour host.
I'll be here every week sharingstories and teaching you
techniques to prioritize theonly thing we have any control

(00:25):
over in this world Ourselves.
I can't believe that it'salready been a month since I
launched my podcast.
I'm honestly so grateful tohave this platform where I can
share things that I'm passionateabout, and we've already
covered a lot, and we're goingto continue building on this

(00:46):
foundation of understanding aswe continue on our journey to
our best selves.
I want to recap some of what welearned last month.
So, if you've been implementingeverything that you've learned,
you'd be questioning yourthoughts and behaviors and
trying to better understand theroot of your beliefs.
You would be reprogramming yoursubconscious mind through steps

(01:09):
like cognitive restructuringand reciting a mantra and
positive self-talk.
You would have incorporatedmeditation and mindfulness into
your daily life.
You would be consciously makingkinder decisions, which would
cause positive ripples to flowthrough your life.
You would limit your exposureto negative people and you'd

(01:31):
become aware that you have theability to be an uplifter.
Implementing all that you'velearned in January alone and
carrying those practices withyou through the rest of 2024
would cause a noticeablepositive change in your life.
But I want to supercharge allof this for you by introducing

(01:53):
the importance of gratitude.
Psychologists have successfullyproven that one of the key
factors of how happy you are inlife is directly related to how
much gratitude you show.
Gratitude is beneficial for ourmental and emotional well-being
.
Numerous scientific studieshave demonstrated the positive

(02:16):
effects of gratitude on variousaspects of psychological and
physical health.
Gratitude practices have beenshown to enhance mental
resilience, emotional regulationand overall life satisfaction.
Gratitude has been linked toreducing symptoms of depression,
anxiety and stress.

(02:37):
Grateful individuals tend to bemore empathetic, more
compassionate and moresupportive, which contributes to
healthier and more fulfillingrelationships.
Gratitude cultivates a sense ofoptimism and resilience in the
face of adversity.
Grateful people are better ableto find meaning and purpose in

(03:00):
difficult circumstances, leadingto greater psychological
resilience and coping abilities.
Gratitude practices have beenassociated with a range of
physical health benefits,including improved immune
function, better sleep qualityand reduced inflammation.
By focusing on the positiveaspects of life and

(03:23):
acknowledging blessings, you canexperience greater happiness,
fulfillment and overall lifesatisfaction.
Just as regular exercise isessential for maintaining
physical and mental health.
Incorporating gratitudepractices into daily life can
contribute to a healthier, morebalanced and fulfilling life.

(03:47):
If you remember from episode one, we discussed that the
subconscious mind makes upapproximately 95% of our brain
activity.
This includes the functions ofthe body.
Our emotions are felt in ourbody, but our bodies don't know
the difference between anemotion created from an

(04:07):
experience or the emotionsyou're creating from thought
alone.
So this means you can stopwaiting for external factors to
make you feel grateful.
When you consciously cultivatefeelings of gratitude through
your thoughts and intentions,your body responds as if those
experiences were alreadyhappening.

(04:28):
This is because the mind-bodyconnection is so deeply
intertwined that our thoughtsand emotions have a direct
impact on our physiologicalstate.
By consistently practicinggratitude, you're essentially
programming your body to alignwith frequencies of abundance

(04:49):
and positivity and, as a result,you become a magnet attracting
elevated experiences into yourlife that resonate with the
energy of gratitude you'reemitting.
It's a powerful principlegrounded in the science of
neuroplasticity and quantumphysics.
As you shift your internalstate to one of gratitude and

(05:12):
abundance, you transform yourexternal reality, drawing in
more blessings, opportunitiesand synchronicities that reflect
your elevated vibration.
So, instead of waiting forexternal circumstances to
dictate your level of gratitude,take charge of your emotional
state and become the architectof your own reality, manifesting

(05:37):
a life filled with abundance,joy and fulfillment.
Something amazing that I'velearned is that you cannot feel
gratitude and lack at the sametime, so the more you get
yourself into a state ofgratitude, the less effective
your limiting beliefs become.

(05:58):
Gratitude acts as a powerfulcure for feelings of scarcity or
lack, by shifting our focusfrom what we don't have to what
we do have.
When we cultivate gratitude, wetrain our minds to recognize
and appreciate the abundancethat surrounds us, whether it's
the love of family and friends,the beauty of nature or the

(06:20):
simple joys of everyday life.
In order to do so, we create apositive feedback loop that
reinforces feelings of abundanceand diminishes the grip of
limiting beliefs rooted inscarcity.
By consistently practicinggratitude, we rewire our brains
to perceive opportunities ratherthan obstacles, abundance

(06:45):
rather than scarcity, andpossibilities rather than
limitations.
As a result, we become moreresilient, more resourceful and
open to the infinitepossibilities that life has to
offer.
In episode 4, we talked aboutthe vibrational scale of
alignment.

(07:05):
You'll hear me talk about thisquite a bit, because it's one of
my favorite things to talkabout and it's an essential tool
to understand where we are onour path of alignment.
I let you know that our goal isnot to jump from the bottom to
the top of the scale, butinstead to gradually and
sustainably increase ourvibrations through inspired

(07:27):
action.
We use the vibrational scale asa guide, reminding us where we
started and where we are now.
Joy, appreciation and gratitudeare at the top end of the scale
, the absolute best feelings youcan feel as a human being.
Expressing gratitude is one ofthe only ways you can boost

(07:50):
yourself up the scale ofalignment, bypassing the need to
gradually increase yourvibration and increments.
It's like a secret shortcut tothe top.
When you're in a state ofgratitude, you are directly
connected to the highest versionof yourself.
Unfortunately, gratitude hasbecome somewhat of a buzzword.

(08:12):
It's a little disappointingbecause it's lost a lot of its
meaning in all of the buzzing.
In our fast-paced,consumer-driven society,
gratitude has been reduced to asuperficial gesture or a social
media trend, rather than beingdeeply rooted in genuine
appreciation and mindfulness.

(08:33):
It's become all too common tosee hashtag greatfall posts
accompanied by curated images ofmaterial possessions or
fleeting moments of success,rather than heartfelt
expressions of thanks for thesimple joys and blessings of
everyday life.
This not only dilutes the trueessence of gratitude, but also

(08:57):
perpetuates a culture ofcomparison and entitlement,
where the focus is more on whatwe lack rather than what we have
.
As a result, the transformativepower of gratitude to cultivate
inner peace, resilience andconnection is often overlooked
or overshadowed by emptygestures and superficial

(09:19):
displays.
But it's time to reclaim thetrue meaning of gratitude, to
cultivate a deeper sense ofappreciation for the richness
and beauty of life, and toexpress thanks not just in words
, but in actions that reflectour genuine appreciation and
mindfulness of the presentmoment.

(09:43):
Gratitude is not about forcingappreciation for unpleasant
things in your life.
It's choosing to instead bringyour focus to all of the
positive aspects of your life.
When we are truly grateful forsomething or someone, our body
rewards us by flooding our brainwith dopamine, creating a

(10:03):
natural high.
And because it feels so good,we're motivated to feel it again
and again and again.
The more gratitude you express,the more you have to be
grateful for.
So what are some ways you canimplement gratitude into your
daily life?
The most common method that youmight already be familiar with

(10:27):
is by writing a gratitudejournal.
These days, you can't go to abookstore without walking past a
whole section of gratitudejournals.
But this is actually my leastfavorite way to practice
gratitude.
Don't get me wrong.
It's a great way to get started.
It's definitely better thandoing nothing.
By writing down what you'regrateful for, you bring

(10:50):
conscious awareness to thepositive aspects of your life,
which can have a profound impacton your mood and mindset.
However, I find that gratitudejournals can sometimes feel
repetitive or forced, especiallyif you're simply listing the
same things each day withouttruly feeling the gratitude
behind them.

(11:10):
They can feel superficial if wesimply list generic blessings
without truly connecting withtheir significance.
To truly harness the power ofgratitude, specificity is key.
Consider the difference betweensaying I'm grateful for my dog

(11:31):
versus I'm grateful for my dogbecause he adds happiness to my
life every day, encourages me toget out for walks and provides
companionship when I need it themost.
By being specific, there's anotable shift in energy and it
creates a deeper sense ofgratitude, going beyond
superficial gratitude.

(11:52):
This specificity not onlyenhances our emotional
connection to the blessings inour lives, but also amplifies
their impact on our overallwell-being.
By acknowledging the details ofwhat we're grateful for, we
cultivate a heightened awarenessof the abundance and richness
that surrounds us.

(12:14):
But talking about or writingabout gratitude is not the same
as actively feeling it.
For me, gratitude feels likeshimmery gold energy radiating
from the center of my body.
It's as if every cell isinfused with warmth and light,
like the feeling of the suntouching every part of my skin.

(12:37):
It fills me up with a sense ofpeace.
That's what gratitude feelslike to me an inner radiance
that illuminates my being fromthe inside out.
I want you to learn to connectwith where you feel gratitude in
your body and what it feelslike.
Be specific.

(13:00):
Next time you feel gratitude,try to fully immerse yourself in
that moment by practicingmindfulness.
I often do this when I'm at thebeach, which is my happy place.
I tune into the sounds of theseagulls and the waves crashing,
the sensation of the sun on myface and the sand under my feet.

(13:22):
I visualize capturing thismoment and all of the associated
sensations in a jar to open andrelive whenever I may want to.
This helps me practice the goodfeelings that I want to feel.
I try to connect as many of mysenses as possible with the

(13:45):
memories that spark the mostgratitude within me, when you
can get your thoughts andintentions to align with the
feelings of joy and gratitude.
You attract the absolute bestexperiences into your life.
You begin to actively createyour life experiences.
We'll talk more about this infuture episodes.

(14:07):
For now, I want to leave youwith another technique to help
you deepen your gratitudepractice.
To do this, you want to combinemindfulness and gratitude.
Combining mindfulness andgratitude can be a
transformative practice,allowing us to deepen our
appreciation for life's momentsby engaging in all five senses,

(14:33):
such like the example of beingat the beach, where we tune into
sights, sounds and sensationsaround us.
We can extend this practice byintentionally recalling and
reliving memories of gratitudeassociated with each of our
senses.
Starting with the sense ofsight, we can express our

(14:54):
gratitude for the breathtakingsights that have touched our
hearts.
It could be the memory ofwitnessing a radiant sunset
painting the sky in hues of pinkand yellow.
Moving on to our sense ofhearing, we can recall moments
where music or sounds haveuplifted our spirits and filled
us with joy, like your favoriteband playing in concert live or

(15:20):
the simple pleasures oflistening to the laughter of
someone you love.
Next, we can focus on the senseof touch and express gratitude
for the comforting sensationsthat have brought us peace and
comfort.
This might include the memoryof hugging your favorite person,
feeling their warmth andpresence surrounding us and

(15:41):
cocooning us in love andsecurity.
Or it could be the sensation ofsinking into a cozy blanket on
a cold winter's night, wrappingourselves in the softness and
feeling the sense of comfort andbelonging.
Moving on to the sense of smell, it could be the aroma of
freshly brewed coffee in themorning, signalling the start of

(16:03):
a new day filled withpossibilities and opportunities.
Lastly, we can explore thesense of taste and express
gratitude for the flavors thathave delighted our pellets and
nourished our bodies.
This might include the memoryof savoring a delicious meal
prepared with love, or it couldbe the simple pleasure of

(16:24):
indulging in our favorite treat,allowing ourselves to fully
enjoy the moment.
By intentionally recalling andreliving memories of gratitude
associated with our senses, weexpand our awareness and deepen
our appreciation for therichness and abundance of life.
This practice invites us tosavor the present moment,

(16:48):
celebrating the beauty andwonder that surrounds us in all
its sensory dimensions andcultivating a profound sense of
gratitude for the gift of beingalive.
Remember to be specific withyour gratitude.
Close your eyes and embody eachof those memories as if you
were reliving it.

(17:08):
Don't just write it and speakit.
Time to feel it.
Thank you so much for tuning into my sixth episode.
When you cultivate gratitude asa way of life, you embody the
highest version of yourself, aradiant and empowered being who

(17:29):
is aligned with the divine flowof life.
You become a channel for loveand light, inspiring others to
awaken to their own greatnessand to live with open hearts and
minds.
In this state of alignment, yourealize that gratitude is not
just an emotion but a state ofbeing, an expression of your

(17:53):
true nature as a divine beinghaving a human experience.
It empowers you to transcendfear and negativity, enabling
you to rise above challengeswith grace and resilience.
It fosters a deep sense oftrust and surrender, cultivating
a deep knowing that everythingis always working out for you.

(18:16):
Be sure to hit follow orsubscribe so you can continue
with us on this journey ofbecoming the best version of
ourselves.
Together, here we're creating acommunity of beautiful souls,
ready to uplift each other,ready to experience all the joy
that this life has to offer us.

(18:38):
And don't forget life is allabout balance, baby.