April 13, 2023 • 21 mins
Blessed can be a sign that you hang on your wall, but isn't really thought of as much more than a decoration for others to see. But what would your life look like if you actually were putting that sign into action?
When you're trying to do all the things and stuck in "doing" mode, it can be real easy to begin to live in a trance of negativity or even blame because life feels so full and heavy.
An intentional gratitude practice can help. Gratitude is not only the practice of identifying blessings, but also actively honoring them.
Grab the full show notes and resources at www.cairnyogawellness.com/podcast75 and subscribe and listen wherever you catch your podcasts:
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Resources:
Daily Rhythms Tracker
Book: Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown
Counting My Little Blessings Blog
More Episodes Like This One:
#19: Cultivating Gratitude
#52: Intention-setting for Focus in Life, Energetic Rhythms Phase 1
#54: Taking Action and Letting It Go, Energetic Rhythms Phase 4
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cathy (00:00):
Blessed can be a sign that you hang on the wall, but
isn't really thought of as morethan just a decoration for
others to see.
But what would your life looklike if you actually were
putting that sign into action?
(01:23):
Hey friends.
Welcome to episode 75.
Oh, my goodness.
I am super pumped and excitedthat I am bringing you episode
75 today.
I.
Can't believe it actually.
Well, I can.
Um, but it's been a lot ofepisodes and it seems like since
I relaunched the podcast back inAugust, that this time has gone
(01:47):
so quickly and to get fromepisode 38, all the way to
episode 75.
Is, I can't believe how fasttime has gone.
It is blowing my mind.
Um, so welcome and just a littlebit of a celebration for that
today.
So thanks for being here.
Thanks for continuing to listenand continuing to support the
podcast.
And I'm excited for.
(02:07):
Um, what's to come with with mybusiness and what's to come with
this podcast.
So.
Uh, Keep sharing, keeplistening.
And sending this on to peoplewho, you know, might also
benefit from it.
So today we are talking.
All about.
Gratitude and how.
(02:28):
So often we see that blessedsign or shirt or whatever it may
be wherever that that word isprinted.
And we don't necessarily alwaysembody it.
And the reason I wanted to bringthis to attention or talk about
gratitude today a little bitmore is because gratitude is
something that has been directlylinked to your.
(02:52):
Experience of joy in life.
And so when we can expressgratitudes, We begin to take
action on that saying or thatword of being blessed and we
start to move into actuallyembodying it.
I bring this up because it'seasy to get wrapped up in life
(03:13):
when everything is busy aroundyou.
When you're trying to do all thethings you get stuck in that
doing mode, and it can be reallyeasy to begin to live in the
trance of negativity or evenblame because life might feel so
heavy or full.
Gratitude is one way to come outof that and to begin to shift
(03:36):
your mindset away from thatfeeling of life, being full of
heaviness and instead full oflightness or full of joy.
And a way of softening yourheart a little bit.
Now I started a gratitudepractice.
Way back.
I guess an intentional gratitudepractice.
(03:58):
I think it must have been around2011.
Um, shortly after my grandmadied.
My grandma on my dad's sidealways, always told us whenever
we got off the phone with her,whenever we left her house.
And she was my grandma thatlived only a mile away from us.
So we saw her all the time.
We were at our house.
(04:19):
Um, growing up before school orafter school, we mowed her lawn.
She was the one that, um, wasreally there and present.
Because we lived so close toher.
And it was beautiful.
But she always told us andalways reminded us whenever we
set our goodbyes to count ourblessings.
We could come to her with, um,being down about something or
(04:43):
frustrated about life.
And she would always remind usto count our blessings.
And so actually it was back thenthat I started this little, um,
counting.
I can't even remember what it'scalled now.
Counting your little blessingsblog.
I think if I can locate it, Iwill link to it in the show
(05:04):
notes.
But it was all about beginningto do just that count my
blessings.
Um, and before I started theblog I, where I was going with
this initially was that Iactually started, um, a
gratitude journal or a blessingjournal where every day I would
write down three things that Iwas grateful for or three
blessings from the day.
(05:24):
They didn't always have to bepositive.
They weren't always positivebecause it's sometimes in
recognizing the challenges inlife that we find them as
blessings and they can changeour hearts.
And soften our hearts and turnour hearts towards joy and
gratefulness.
Really.
So we begin to embody thatblessed sign, that it seems
(05:46):
everybody has everywhere and I'mnot dissing on this.
Okay.
I don't think that I have ablessed sign anywhere in my
presence or anywhere in my houseor a shirt or anything.
If you do.
I'm not being negative on it.
I am just extending theinvitation to begin to, if you
don't already, put that blessedword into action with this
(06:09):
podcast.
With this practice of gratitude.
Now.
I have created a beautiful toolto help you do this.
Believe it or not.
Right in the daily rhythmstracker that you can use to
uncover your energetic rhythms,there is a section in there for
jotting down your blessings fromthe day.
Now, this daily rhythms tracker,as I've told you about before.
(06:32):
Is not just about finding yourrhythms, but it's also a little
journal of sorts to be able tojust kind of be more intentional
about your life and to, um, Tocheck in with some of those
areas that we might sometimesbegin to neglect because life
does get busy and full.
So the daily rhythms tracker,there's a link to it in the show
(06:54):
notes for you.
The other thing, as I wasplanning, this podcast that I
came across or remembered isthat I have a podcast from way
back.
The first time I launched thepodcast.
Um, episode 19, that is allabout five ways to cultivate
gratitude in your life.
Sometimes we only think aboutgratitude in November, around
(07:17):
Thanksgiving.
But gratitude is a practicethat.
Is really beneficial year round.
Because, as I said, a momentago, Gratitude has been
scientifically shown to directlycorrelate with increasing your
(07:38):
joy.
In life.
It's a way of taking stock ofwhat you appreciate in life.
What you're thankful for.
Without shame or guilt attachedto it.
Now I say that because.
It may be that you were broughtup.
Or conditioned to Feel guiltyabout being grateful for
(08:00):
something or having somethingthat maybe others don't have.
Well being grateful is not justabout the things that you have
in your life.
But it is about something largerthan that.
It's about not only beinggrateful for what's in your
life.
But it's being grateful forwhat's all around you as well.
(08:22):
And how everything is indeedinterconnected.
It's about being grateful formaybe a warm breeze or the
sunshine.
Or The simplicity of knowingthat you got a message from
someone today who was thinkingabout you and they expressed it.
Um, by just sending you a helloin a message.
(08:44):
It's.
Can be those little things, aswell as the big things in life
and all of those things.
Makeup your blessings.
Right so that you truly can hangthat blessed sign and feel like
it actually means something.
Sometimes we hang that thedecorations and the things in
our lives.
Um, on the walls for others tosee.
(09:07):
But then we forget about them.
And we forget to embody them andto truly walk the talk and live
them out.
And it's super easy to do that.
When you're wrapped up in life,when you fall into the
negativity spiral, or trance ofnegativity and blame.
And.
(09:28):
And so gratitude is a way tohelp you move out of that.
It's about opening your heart.
It's easy to get caught up inthe busy-ness of the world and
say that we're grateful forvarious opportunities or things
in life, but because life can beso full and busy, it can be hard
to actually make the time tocultivate a gratitude practice
(09:48):
in your life.
So you can hang this blessedsign in your house.
But it does actually take workto embody that one little word.
Blessed is often put in the samebreath as being grateful.
In a sense they do go together.
But as you've heard me say,gratitude is not only the
(10:08):
practice of identifying thoseblessings.
But also of actively honoringthem.
And in order to do thatreflection is necessary.
Now reflection.
When I think of that, it bringsto mind your energetic rhythms,
right?
Because reflection is a keyelement of, knowing your
energetic rhythms and, and ofaligning with them.
(10:31):
And our reflection comes in inphase four and phase one of your
energetic rhythms orproductivity cycle.
It's the opportunity to pauseand consider what there is to
celebrate, which is what we doin phase four.
And then in phase one, Whichcomes right after phase four.
We reflect so that we can setintentions and begin to move
(10:54):
forward.
And if you're going all the timeand not ever pausing or not ever
being intentional about the wayyou approach life.
Then you're likely not actuallyembodying those gratitudes or
blessings within your soul.
And therefore not actuallyhonoring them.
So when you can pause, reflectand take stock of what your
(11:17):
gratitudes are.
It spurs something in yourspirit, in your soul.
To begin to live in a way.
That honors, those gratitudes inthose blessings.
Right so that you can indeed.
Celebrate them.
And that's phase four of theenergetic rhythm cycle.
(11:41):
So when we consider creating andliving with a grateful heart, It
means you're eliminating theshame, blame and trauma around
not feeling worthy enough to begrateful for something or to be
grateful for what you have orwhat you receive in this life.
If you're someone who has beenmade to feel like this.
(12:04):
Who has been made to feel badabout any good that comes into
your life?
Or been made to feel like youneed to minimize things that
happen in your life because itcould be worse.
Then, it might be hard.
To express gratitude.
It might be hard to sit down andwrite down three things that
(12:25):
you're grateful for from theday.
And that's just one way ofexpressing gratitude, or
cultivating a gratitudepractice.
There's some others I'm going totouch on.
Um, in a moment.
Or you can go back to thatepisode 19 and check that out
and see what I said about it inthat episode, too.
But I want you to know that.
No matter who you are, no matterhow you were brought up.
(12:48):
No matter how you wereconditioned.
Gratitude is an important partof your life.
And if it's not.
You might realize that you don'thave a lot of joy in your life
either.
You are indeed worthy enough.
(13:08):
You are good enough.
To feel grateful and to begrateful for what you have in
your life.
And for what you receive in yourlife and for what's around you.
As I said at the beginning, it'snot always about the things that
you have.
But perhaps it's about therelationships.
Perhaps it's about.
(13:28):
The small insights or wisdom.
That come to you.
So I want to invite you to thinkcreatively on this.
Because when you start agratitude practice, whether it's
a journal or something else,it's really an opportunity to
reflect on all of those littlethings in your life.
(13:50):
That maybe.
You let go unnoticed, maybe it'sthat you're grateful for that
blessed sign that's hanging onyour wall, right.
Or that you had the money.
And the means to purchase thatdecor for your home.
So it's, it's really can bedeeper than just the surface
(14:10):
level gratitudes that mightinitially come to mind.
And that's what I want toencourage you to do today is to
maybe look a little bit deeperat what your gratitudes are.
When you're living with agrateful heart.
You are accepting.
And it's about acceptancebecause gratitude, nurtures
(14:30):
trust and surrender to thenatural flow of events in life.
And by doing that.
It softens your heart.
It opens your heart.
To see things a little bitdifferently.
I've talked a little bit aboutmy gratitude practice.
(14:51):
One of my gratitude practices.
Gratitude is a big thingactually in our home.
And when I'm planning my week,whether it's at home or at the
studio or for work, I considerall four phases of the energetic
or them cycle or of theproductivity cycle.
And where the things that are onmy to-do list fall into each of
(15:12):
those categories.
Well, the final category iscelebrations and gratitudes.
And so.
At our house, we have awhiteboard hanging that has
these four categories on themdivided up.
And the last one is thegratitudes or the celebrations.
And so that's an opportunity foranybody throughout the week to
write their gratitudes or whatthey're grateful for on the
(15:34):
whiteboard.
Sometimes the kids do their own.
Sometimes we do it as a family,um, at a meal.
But.
It's an opportunity to begin to.
Keep.
That gratitude or that gratefullifestyle in front of you so
that you are embodying it.
(15:54):
Before we had the whiteboard allset up as it is now.
We would just share at thedinner table what our gratitudes
were.
And this was a way that we couldfoster connection with our
family as well.
And we could get to hear just alittle bit about the kids and it
invites the potential forconversation.
So.
If you're going through life,feeling disconnected from your
(16:16):
family members, feelingdisconnected from the people in
your life.
Just simply asking the onequestion.
Hey.
What's one thing you're gratefulfor.
What's one thing you're thankfulfor today.
Or what's one thing that youreally appreciate about today.
That invites the opportunity forthem to.
(16:37):
Join the conversation for you todeepen your connection and your
relationship with them.
And invites them to pause withyou.
Because.
Just moving through life at warpspeed, which I have done before
in my life.
And I still go through phaseswhere sometimes that's what
happens and I have to pause andbreathe.
(16:59):
And step back and take stock.
You might feel the same way.
Well, remembering to pause forgratitude is a beautiful way to
do just that.
And it's a beautiful way toinvite others into it too.
When you ask them that simplequestion.
Now.
I've mentioned you could have agratitude journal or blessings
(17:20):
journal, which I keep mine.
Um, and I refer back to it.
Now I go in and out of phases ofwriting in it, but, um, it's
just simply a journal where Inumber 1, 2, 3, which each of
the blessings that I write downfor the day, some days I do more
than three, some days I do lessthan three, but.
Pretty much.
I average three a day, at least.
Now the daily rhythms trackerhas space to write at least
(17:44):
three, if not more blessings inthe margin of that journal.
So.
If you haven't gotten it yet.
Check it out.
It's one way that you can keepall of those things together.
Okay.
And then the final way to bereally embodying and living out
the blessed sign that might behanging on your wall or to be
(18:07):
embodying or living outgratitude.
Is through yoga, meditation andcontemplation.
Now.
We know that.
Contemplation, obviously as away of reflecting or thinking on
one particular thing.
But yoga and meditation.
Also teaches you gratitude.
Um, symbolically by allowing youthe space to slow down and pause
(18:32):
and reflect.
And just naturally moving yourbody and being grateful for the
ability that you have to moveyour body and breathe is one way
that yoga can cultivategratitude just by taking to your
mat, which is a beautiful thing.
And then.
Physically on your mat, you canbegin to cultivate gratitude by
(18:53):
doing heart opening, postures,postures.
That really, um, The focus onopening the chest.
And opening this heart space inthe center of your body.
So.
Yoga meditation andcontemplation, definitely
beautiful ways to enhance agratitude practice.
So my takeaway, I guess, forthis episode, Is to just get you
(19:17):
thinking a little bit deeperabout.
How you live out gratitude inyour life all year round.
Not just in the month that weare always thinking about
gratitude, which is.
November right Thanksgiving.
I almost called the monthThanksgiving, but that's not the
month.
The month is November.
My brain's a little foggy today,friends.
(19:38):
Thank you for sticking with meon this.
So, this is your invitation oryour nudge to see what perhaps
one week of being intentionalabout genuine gratitude in your
life might do for you.
Now I say genuine because.
I'm not talking about just the,Hey, thanks for doing that for
(19:59):
me.
Or, Hey, thanks for coming intoday.
Thanks for reading this right.
Those things that we throwaround now sometimes.
And hopefully, always thosethings are genuine, but I think
in today's society, We leave astore, we leave a business and
we say, thanks.
And we don't really mean it.
We're just saying it becauseit's a closing.
And it's a, Hey, I need tofinish this up and I need to
(20:20):
close out the, the energy of mebeing here.
So I'm going to say, thanks.
But I wonder what it would looklike if you intentionally really
genuinely looked someone in theeye and said, thank you.
For allowing me this space.
For having this store.
Thank you for, you know,whatever it may be.
I truly appreciate you and saidit and meant it with an open
(20:44):
heart.
And there's an energy behindthings and that's, this is a
different podcast episode, butthere is an energy that comes
when you are genuine andauthentic in your communication
and how you express thegratitude.
So that's part of the invitationis to take just one week out of
your life.
And if it bleeds over into otherweeks, beautiful, but just take
one week to be intentional aboutgenuine gratitude in your life
(21:08):
and see what it might do foryou.
My guess is that it's going toslow you down a bit.
And on those hard days, it mighteven prompt you to consider.
The smallest of things in yourlife that you can give.
Thanks for.
That's all I've got for youtoday, friends.
Again, thanks for being here for75 episodes.
I'm so stoked about that.
(21:29):
You have been listening tohealth, harmony, and happiness
with Cathy cheers to cultivatingyour own version of health,
harmony and happiness in yourlife.
Blessed can be a sign that you hang on the wall, but
isn't really thought of as morethan just a decoration for
others to see.
But what would your life looklike if you actually were
putting that sign into action?
(01:23):
Hey friends.
Welcome to episode 75.
Oh, my goodness.
I am super pumped and excitedthat I am bringing you episode
75 today.
I.
Can't believe it actually.
Well, I can.
Um, but it's been a lot ofepisodes and it seems like since
I relaunched the podcast back inAugust, that this time has gone
(01:47):
so quickly and to get fromepisode 38, all the way to
episode 75.
Is, I can't believe how fasttime has gone.
It is blowing my mind.
Um, so welcome and just a littlebit of a celebration for that
today.
So thanks for being here.
Thanks for continuing to listenand continuing to support the
podcast.
And I'm excited for.
(02:07):
Um, what's to come with with mybusiness and what's to come with
this podcast.
So.
Uh, Keep sharing, keeplistening.
And sending this on to peoplewho, you know, might also
benefit from it.
So today we are talking.
All about.
Gratitude and how.
(02:28):
So often we see that blessedsign or shirt or whatever it may
be wherever that that word isprinted.
And we don't necessarily alwaysembody it.
And the reason I wanted to bringthis to attention or talk about
gratitude today a little bitmore is because gratitude is
something that has been directlylinked to your.
(02:52):
Experience of joy in life.
And so when we can expressgratitudes, We begin to take
action on that saying or thatword of being blessed and we
start to move into actuallyembodying it.
I bring this up because it'seasy to get wrapped up in life
(03:13):
when everything is busy aroundyou.
When you're trying to do all thethings you get stuck in that
doing mode, and it can be reallyeasy to begin to live in the
trance of negativity or evenblame because life might feel so
heavy or full.
Gratitude is one way to come outof that and to begin to shift
(03:36):
your mindset away from thatfeeling of life, being full of
heaviness and instead full oflightness or full of joy.
And a way of softening yourheart a little bit.
Now I started a gratitudepractice.
Way back.
I guess an intentional gratitudepractice.
(03:58):
I think it must have been around2011.
Um, shortly after my grandmadied.
My grandma on my dad's sidealways, always told us whenever
we got off the phone with her,whenever we left her house.
And she was my grandma thatlived only a mile away from us.
So we saw her all the time.
We were at our house.
(04:19):
Um, growing up before school orafter school, we mowed her lawn.
She was the one that, um, wasreally there and present.
Because we lived so close toher.
And it was beautiful.
But she always told us andalways reminded us whenever we
set our goodbyes to count ourblessings.
We could come to her with, um,being down about something or
(04:43):
frustrated about life.
And she would always remind usto count our blessings.
And so actually it was back thenthat I started this little, um,
counting.
I can't even remember what it'scalled now.
Counting your little blessingsblog.
I think if I can locate it, Iwill link to it in the show
(05:04):
notes.
But it was all about beginningto do just that count my
blessings.
Um, and before I started theblog I, where I was going with
this initially was that Iactually started, um, a
gratitude journal or a blessingjournal where every day I would
write down three things that Iwas grateful for or three
blessings from the day.
(05:24):
They didn't always have to bepositive.
They weren't always positivebecause it's sometimes in
recognizing the challenges inlife that we find them as
blessings and they can changeour hearts.
And soften our hearts and turnour hearts towards joy and
gratefulness.
Really.
So we begin to embody thatblessed sign, that it seems
(05:46):
everybody has everywhere and I'mnot dissing on this.
Okay.
I don't think that I have ablessed sign anywhere in my
presence or anywhere in my houseor a shirt or anything.
If you do.
I'm not being negative on it.
I am just extending theinvitation to begin to, if you
don't already, put that blessedword into action with this
(06:09):
podcast.
With this practice of gratitude.
Now.
I have created a beautiful toolto help you do this.
Believe it or not.
Right in the daily rhythmstracker that you can use to
uncover your energetic rhythms,there is a section in there for
jotting down your blessings fromthe day.
Now, this daily rhythms tracker,as I've told you about before.
(06:32):
Is not just about finding yourrhythms, but it's also a little
journal of sorts to be able tojust kind of be more intentional
about your life and to, um, Tocheck in with some of those
areas that we might sometimesbegin to neglect because life
does get busy and full.
So the daily rhythms tracker,there's a link to it in the show
(06:54):
notes for you.
The other thing, as I wasplanning, this podcast that I
came across or remembered isthat I have a podcast from way
back.
The first time I launched thepodcast.
Um, episode 19, that is allabout five ways to cultivate
gratitude in your life.
Sometimes we only think aboutgratitude in November, around
(07:17):
Thanksgiving.
But gratitude is a practicethat.
Is really beneficial year round.
Because, as I said, a momentago, Gratitude has been
scientifically shown to directlycorrelate with increasing your
(07:38):
joy.
In life.
It's a way of taking stock ofwhat you appreciate in life.
What you're thankful for.
Without shame or guilt attachedto it.
Now I say that because.
It may be that you were broughtup.
Or conditioned to Feel guiltyabout being grateful for
(08:00):
something or having somethingthat maybe others don't have.
Well being grateful is not justabout the things that you have
in your life.
But it is about something largerthan that.
It's about not only beinggrateful for what's in your
life.
But it's being grateful forwhat's all around you as well.
(08:22):
And how everything is indeedinterconnected.
It's about being grateful formaybe a warm breeze or the
sunshine.
Or The simplicity of knowingthat you got a message from
someone today who was thinkingabout you and they expressed it.
Um, by just sending you a helloin a message.
(08:44):
It's.
Can be those little things, aswell as the big things in life
and all of those things.
Makeup your blessings.
Right so that you truly can hangthat blessed sign and feel like
it actually means something.
Sometimes we hang that thedecorations and the things in
our lives.
Um, on the walls for others tosee.
(09:07):
But then we forget about them.
And we forget to embody them andto truly walk the talk and live
them out.
And it's super easy to do that.
When you're wrapped up in life,when you fall into the
negativity spiral, or trance ofnegativity and blame.
And.
(09:28):
And so gratitude is a way tohelp you move out of that.
It's about opening your heart.
It's easy to get caught up inthe busy-ness of the world and
say that we're grateful forvarious opportunities or things
in life, but because life can beso full and busy, it can be hard
to actually make the time tocultivate a gratitude practice
(09:48):
in your life.
So you can hang this blessedsign in your house.
But it does actually take workto embody that one little word.
Blessed is often put in the samebreath as being grateful.
In a sense they do go together.
But as you've heard me say,gratitude is not only the
(10:08):
practice of identifying thoseblessings.
But also of actively honoringthem.
And in order to do thatreflection is necessary.
Now reflection.
When I think of that, it bringsto mind your energetic rhythms,
right?
Because reflection is a keyelement of, knowing your
energetic rhythms and, and ofaligning with them.
(10:31):
And our reflection comes in inphase four and phase one of your
energetic rhythms orproductivity cycle.
It's the opportunity to pauseand consider what there is to
celebrate, which is what we doin phase four.
And then in phase one, Whichcomes right after phase four.
We reflect so that we can setintentions and begin to move
(10:54):
forward.
And if you're going all the timeand not ever pausing or not ever
being intentional about the wayyou approach life.
Then you're likely not actuallyembodying those gratitudes or
blessings within your soul.
And therefore not actuallyhonoring them.
So when you can pause, reflectand take stock of what your
(11:17):
gratitudes are.
It spurs something in yourspirit, in your soul.
To begin to live in a way.
That honors, those gratitudes inthose blessings.
Right so that you can indeed.
Celebrate them.
And that's phase four of theenergetic rhythm cycle.
(11:41):
So when we consider creating andliving with a grateful heart, It
means you're eliminating theshame, blame and trauma around
not feeling worthy enough to begrateful for something or to be
grateful for what you have orwhat you receive in this life.
If you're someone who has beenmade to feel like this.
(12:04):
Who has been made to feel badabout any good that comes into
your life?
Or been made to feel like youneed to minimize things that
happen in your life because itcould be worse.
Then, it might be hard.
To express gratitude.
It might be hard to sit down andwrite down three things that
(12:25):
you're grateful for from theday.
And that's just one way ofexpressing gratitude, or
cultivating a gratitudepractice.
There's some others I'm going totouch on.
Um, in a moment.
Or you can go back to thatepisode 19 and check that out
and see what I said about it inthat episode, too.
But I want you to know that.
No matter who you are, no matterhow you were brought up.
(12:48):
No matter how you wereconditioned.
Gratitude is an important partof your life.
And if it's not.
You might realize that you don'thave a lot of joy in your life
either.
You are indeed worthy enough.
(13:08):
You are good enough.
To feel grateful and to begrateful for what you have in
your life.
And for what you receive in yourlife and for what's around you.
As I said at the beginning, it'snot always about the things that
you have.
But perhaps it's about therelationships.
Perhaps it's about.
(13:28):
The small insights or wisdom.
That come to you.
So I want to invite you to thinkcreatively on this.
Because when you start agratitude practice, whether it's
a journal or something else,it's really an opportunity to
reflect on all of those littlethings in your life.
(13:50):
That maybe.
You let go unnoticed, maybe it'sthat you're grateful for that
blessed sign that's hanging onyour wall, right.
Or that you had the money.
And the means to purchase thatdecor for your home.
So it's, it's really can bedeeper than just the surface
(14:10):
level gratitudes that mightinitially come to mind.
And that's what I want toencourage you to do today is to
maybe look a little bit deeperat what your gratitudes are.
When you're living with agrateful heart.
You are accepting.
And it's about acceptancebecause gratitude, nurtures
(14:30):
trust and surrender to thenatural flow of events in life.
And by doing that.
It softens your heart.
It opens your heart.
To see things a little bitdifferently.
I've talked a little bit aboutmy gratitude practice.
(14:51):
One of my gratitude practices.
Gratitude is a big thingactually in our home.
And when I'm planning my week,whether it's at home or at the
studio or for work, I considerall four phases of the energetic
or them cycle or of theproductivity cycle.
And where the things that are onmy to-do list fall into each of
(15:12):
those categories.
Well, the final category iscelebrations and gratitudes.
And so.
At our house, we have awhiteboard hanging that has
these four categories on themdivided up.
And the last one is thegratitudes or the celebrations.
And so that's an opportunity foranybody throughout the week to
write their gratitudes or whatthey're grateful for on the
(15:34):
whiteboard.
Sometimes the kids do their own.
Sometimes we do it as a family,um, at a meal.
But.
It's an opportunity to begin to.
Keep.
That gratitude or that gratefullifestyle in front of you so
that you are embodying it.
(15:54):
Before we had the whiteboard allset up as it is now.
We would just share at thedinner table what our gratitudes
were.
And this was a way that we couldfoster connection with our
family as well.
And we could get to hear just alittle bit about the kids and it
invites the potential forconversation.
So.
If you're going through life,feeling disconnected from your
(16:16):
family members, feelingdisconnected from the people in
your life.
Just simply asking the onequestion.
Hey.
What's one thing you're gratefulfor.
What's one thing you're thankfulfor today.
Or what's one thing that youreally appreciate about today.
That invites the opportunity forthem to.
(16:37):
Join the conversation for you todeepen your connection and your
relationship with them.
And invites them to pause withyou.
Because.
Just moving through life at warpspeed, which I have done before
in my life.
And I still go through phaseswhere sometimes that's what
happens and I have to pause andbreathe.
(16:59):
And step back and take stock.
You might feel the same way.
Well, remembering to pause forgratitude is a beautiful way to
do just that.
And it's a beautiful way toinvite others into it too.
When you ask them that simplequestion.
Now.
I've mentioned you could have agratitude journal or blessings
(17:20):
journal, which I keep mine.
Um, and I refer back to it.
Now I go in and out of phases ofwriting in it, but, um, it's
just simply a journal where Inumber 1, 2, 3, which each of
the blessings that I write downfor the day, some days I do more
than three, some days I do lessthan three, but.
Pretty much.
I average three a day, at least.
Now the daily rhythms trackerhas space to write at least
(17:44):
three, if not more blessings inthe margin of that journal.
So.
If you haven't gotten it yet.
Check it out.
It's one way that you can keepall of those things together.
Okay.
And then the final way to bereally embodying and living out
the blessed sign that might behanging on your wall or to be
(18:07):
embodying or living outgratitude.
Is through yoga, meditation andcontemplation.
Now.
We know that.
Contemplation, obviously as away of reflecting or thinking on
one particular thing.
But yoga and meditation.
Also teaches you gratitude.
Um, symbolically by allowing youthe space to slow down and pause
(18:32):
and reflect.
And just naturally moving yourbody and being grateful for the
ability that you have to moveyour body and breathe is one way
that yoga can cultivategratitude just by taking to your
mat, which is a beautiful thing.
And then.
Physically on your mat, you canbegin to cultivate gratitude by
(18:53):
doing heart opening, postures,postures.
That really, um, The focus onopening the chest.
And opening this heart space inthe center of your body.
So.
Yoga meditation andcontemplation, definitely
beautiful ways to enhance agratitude practice.
So my takeaway, I guess, forthis episode, Is to just get you
(19:17):
thinking a little bit deeperabout.
How you live out gratitude inyour life all year round.
Not just in the month that weare always thinking about
gratitude, which is.
November right Thanksgiving.
I almost called the monthThanksgiving, but that's not the
month.
The month is November.
My brain's a little foggy today,friends.
(19:38):
Thank you for sticking with meon this.
So, this is your invitation oryour nudge to see what perhaps
one week of being intentionalabout genuine gratitude in your
life might do for you.
Now I say genuine because.
I'm not talking about just the,Hey, thanks for doing that for
(19:59):
me.
Or, Hey, thanks for coming intoday.
Thanks for reading this right.
Those things that we throwaround now sometimes.
And hopefully, always thosethings are genuine, but I think
in today's society, We leave astore, we leave a business and
we say, thanks.
And we don't really mean it.
We're just saying it becauseit's a closing.
And it's a, Hey, I need tofinish this up and I need to
(20:20):
close out the, the energy of mebeing here.
So I'm going to say, thanks.
But I wonder what it would looklike if you intentionally really
genuinely looked someone in theeye and said, thank you.
For allowing me this space.
For having this store.
Thank you for, you know,whatever it may be.
I truly appreciate you and saidit and meant it with an open
(20:44):
heart.
And there's an energy behindthings and that's, this is a
different podcast episode, butthere is an energy that comes
when you are genuine andauthentic in your communication
and how you express thegratitude.
So that's part of the invitationis to take just one week out of
your life.
And if it bleeds over into otherweeks, beautiful, but just take
one week to be intentional aboutgenuine gratitude in your life
(21:08):
and see what it might do foryou.
My guess is that it's going toslow you down a bit.
And on those hard days, it mighteven prompt you to consider.
The smallest of things in yourlife that you can give.
Thanks for.
That's all I've got for youtoday, friends.
Again, thanks for being here for75 episodes.
I'm so stoked about that.
(21:29):
You have been listening tohealth, harmony, and happiness
with Cathy cheers to cultivatingyour own version of health,
harmony and happiness in yourlife.
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