My Lovies and my Beauties and my Red Lipstick fans,
As November shifts from a VERY warm beginning into a much cooler fall (we’re even getting a little bit of rain here in the Valley) my Gratitude with Attitude Red Lipstick REBOOT continues.
This post I wrote in 2013. It was my first year writing my blog and sharing my ideas and thoughts. Ten years later, gratitude has grown into appreciation on such a deeper level. And it all started here. Thank you for being a part of this miraculous journey we call LIFE.
Gratitude
To be thankful, to be grateful, to be in gratitude, to reside within thanks for all you have and all you have had ~ transcends the material to the spiritual core, the essence ~ love. For what is gratitude but love for all on the deepest level? ‘Thank you’ is the greatest prayer, meditation, mantra. ‘Thank you’ means you are cognizant, present, aware of the bounty, the opportunity, the grace that has been given freely out of love.
It is easy to be thankful when things are flowing, going our way, when all is lovely and sparkly, and bright. But how can one be grateful or thankful for what we perceive as negative? A death in the family, world hunger, mass destruction, nuclear waste…, a lost job, a slight against our well-being, a broken heart…. I invite you to look at these ‘negatives’ as opportunities to practice gratitude ~ gratitude for the time you had with the loved one, gratitude for the meal before you, gratitude for every breath you take, gratitude for the day we learn as a society from our mistakes…. Gratitude for the opportunity to grow and try something new, gratitude for the opportunity to forgive, gratitude for the opportunity to heal ourselves so we can be a better human being and love a little more next time, love a little deeper, love with more authenticity….
To be thankful allows one to reside in the present and to trust that all is as it is/was meant to be at that particular point in time. To be thankful opens the space in our grief for the possibility that this too shall pass.
To be thankful releases the need to be right, to judge, to know all.
To be thankful helps us to recognize where our plights are, where we may need to focus on forgiveness or surrender, or to contemplate a new way of action rather than reaction.
To be grateful is the holiest of moments in each given day.
If you can find something, no matter how small within any circumstance to be thankful for, you have set yourself free to heal, to let go, to surrender guilt and sorrow and anger and fear.
To be grateful for all that you have is one kind of prayer, to be thankful for what you do not yet have, another.
Gratitude can shift your outlook on life, on any circumstance, no matter how small, how trivial.
Gratitude marks the moments, days, months, years of your life with grace and joy and appreciation.
Gratitude allows us to see ourselves more clearly and as a result, see others with greater empathy and patience and understanding.
Gratitude is synonymous with love in the highest order of things.
Gratitude keeps us balanced.
Gratitude exemplifies joy in all things.
To be thankful sets loose all preconceived notions of how things ‘should be’ or ‘if only’…, and allows one to reside free of baggage in the here and now.
Gratitude fills your heart and your soul and kindles beauty and love and joy.
Gratitude helps us to see the best in ourselves and in each other.
Gratitude allows each of us to look in the mirror and to see thyself, to know thyself to the core.
Gratitude shines light on fear and embraces the unknown.
Gratitude is forgiveness and surrender and acceptance.
Gratitude allows us to see possibilities whereas before we may have seen none.
Gratitude is to love you just because.
Gratitude helps you see that you are indeed enough and have always been enough just because you are you.
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Some ideas on how to be grateful:
Keep a gratitude journal
Say ‘thank you’ just because
Be mindful about what you are thankful for
Use ‘thank you’ as a mantra.
Remember, the power to change your life, to create opportunities from possibilities is all encompassed within gratitude.
I am so grateful for you, my Beautiful You friends.
Happy Cultivating a Grateful Heart during this season of giving and receiving, Thanksgiving 2013.
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AND, with my greatest appreciation for Who You Are and for All That You Do! Happy November 2023!
As always,
In love and in joy,
Shannon
PS Go to my Instagram, @shannonleehorn, where I’ll be sharing more as Fall gives way to Winter… although, here in Central California, ‘winter’ can be a hot, glorious day at the beach!
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