Wild flowers, wild inside and out. 2003
I would like to believe when I die that I
have given myself away like a tree that
sows seed every spring and never counts
the loss, because it is not loss, it is
adding to future life. It is the tree's way
of being. Strongly rooted perhaps, but
spilling out its treasure on the wind.
~ May Sarton
Have been reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance book.
Incredible, just incredible.
Today I went out and found myself a sublime blank journal, as instructed by the book...
and I'm taking my own advice, and that of the books, and I am starting a gratitude journal.
As small as that, and as simple as that... but the effects are profound.
Get Simple Abundance, people.
Here's the entry in Simple Abundance for January 14.
"The Gratitude Journal
"Gratitude unlockes the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, cahos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie.
There are several tools that I'm going to suggest you use as you begin your inner exploration. While all of them will help you become happier and more content and will nurture your creativity, this first tool could change the quality of your life beyond belief; it's what I call a daily gratitude journal. I have a beautiful blank book and each night before I go to bed, I write down five things that I can be grateful about that day. Some days my list will be filled with amazing things, most days just simple joys. "Mikey got lost in a fierce storm but I found him shivering, wet but unharmed. I listened to Puccini while cleaning and remembered how much I love the opera."
Other days - rough ones - I might think that I don't have five things to be grateful for, so I'll write down my basics: my health, my husband and daughter, their health, my animals, my home, my friends, and the comfortable bed that I'm about to get into, as well as the fact that the day's over. That's okay. Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only survive but surmount our difficulties.
The gratitude journal has to be the first step on the Simple Abundance path or it just won't work for you. Simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy ~ all the other principles that can transform your life will not blossom and flourism without gratitude. If you want to travel this journey with me, the gratitude journal is not an option.
Why? Because you simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.
Let's begin today with gratitude. Select the prettiest, most inviting blank book you can find for your gratitude journal. Make a pleasant outing for its selection. Note the fabric or design of the cover. The look and feel of the paper. Do you prefer ruled pages or blank? Perhaps you can find one with a ribbon clasp. One of the most valuable lessons Simple Abundance has taught me is that it is in the smallest details that the flavour of life is savoured.
As the months pass and you fill your journal with blessings, and inner shift in your reality will occur. Soon you will be delighted to discover how content and hopeful you are feeling. As you focus on the abundance rather than on the lack in your life, you will be designing a wonderful new blueprint for the future. This sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality.
A french proverb reminds us that "Gratitude is the heart's memory." Begin this day to explore and integrate this beautiful life-affirming principle into your life, and the miracle you have been seeking will unfold to your wonder and amazement."
~ Sarah ban Breathnach, "Simple Abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy."
Inverted light shines, 2003.
So, how bout travelling with me on this journey...? Let's share this Simple Abundance path together with our gratitude journals?
We could have a weekly update ~ and people could post in the comments section some of the things they wrote in their gratitude journal that week... or we could hold a talk on it over in the message board... actually, have just started a new forum over on the message board ~ go check it out!
We could share what our journals look like, how we found them!
What do you all think? Let me know :)
~
Happened upon the children's book writer, Jackie French's delightful website today.
4 comments:
I'd love to participate, if I may. Can I come play? :)
I bought 'Simple Abundance' years ago, I'm going to have to dust it off and fill myself with some of her wisdom.
(blogger ate my first comment, hopefully this one will go through.)
thistle girl ~
i would LOVE for you to participate, for you to wipe the dust off that golden gorgeous book, and join me on the simple abundance path ;)
I've started a forum for it here ~
http://leonielife.com/board/viewforum.php?f=3
love to you,
Leonie
Way back in 1997, the year after my son was born, I went through the Simple Abundance journey. I still go back and read through her portions during the final week of December most years. It's such a beautiful, thoughtful, soothing way to end each year. That book changed my life in many ways - the most important changes came as a result of the practice of giving thanks daily for the numerous blessings in my life. Lately I've fallen away from the written part of that practice. I think I will take it up again. Putting my blessings on paper is different than recalling them aloud, even though I usually list them in my daily prayers. There's something about seeing them, watching them roll off the tip of my pen that moves me far more deeply. Yesterday while recovering from a difficult encounter, I went to my journal, pulled out my favorite markers, and began to list the things that I am thankful for. I wrote simply, abundantly, and gratefully. I doodled. I bordered the page with beautiful stickers - and I felt so much better. Leonie, can I give thanks for you on my list? Grace and peace, Gail
"Way back in 1997, the year after my son was born, I went through the Simple Abundance journey. I still go back and read through her portions during the final week of December most years. It's such a beautiful, thoughtful, soothing way to end each year. That book changed my life in many ways - the most important changes came as a result of the practice of giving thanks daily for the numerous blessings in my life. Lately I've fallen away from the written part of that practice. I think I will take it up again. Putting my blessings on paper is different than recalling them aloud, even though I usually list them in my daily prayers. There's something about seeing them, watching them roll off the tip of my pen that moves me far more deeply. Yesterday while recovering from a difficult encounter, I went to my journal, pulled out my favorite markers, and began to list the things that I am thankful for. I wrote simply, abundantly, and gratefully. I doodled. I bordered the page with beautiful stickers - and I felt so much better. Leonie, can I give thanks for you on my list? Grace and peace, Gail"
Dearest Gail,
I always so appreciate your comments ~ and I apologise when I take so long to reply to them!
I love that you understand about the simple abundance path, and the joy of journalling gratefully. You are so right ~ there is something so divine about calling out those things to be grateful for, and watching them gracefully fall from the nib of a pen... to be there, as a physical reminder of the joy they brought.
And you may.
Your presence is something I am extremely grateful for here.
Love to you,
Leonie
xoxo
Post a Comment