Having an Attitude of Gratitude (Happy Thanksgiving Canada!)
I was just cleaning out the garden – pulling out the Morning Glory vines and collecting some seeds for next year. It’s a nice sunny day, but the wind is very strong and quite chilly! As I am now writing this in the comfort of my warm home, my fingers are still very cold.
On this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I have been thinking about the phenomenal power of gratitude. Being in a genuine state of joyful appreciation will naturally give us more of the things we are grateful for. The duality we experience in life is perfectly designed for us to practice gratitude. For example, as I notice how cold my fingers are, I can suddenly become very aware of how lucky I am to have a warm home with a humming furnace.
Every challenge in life is also an opportunity for us to appreciate our other blessings. An illness can make us recognize our resilience and our loving support system. The loss of a job can allow us to discover our creativity and resourcefulness. Loneliness can teach us how to find real delight in a simple conversation with a stranger.
It’s up to us what we decide to focus on. It’s important to remember that our energy flows where our attention goes. Meaning? What we focus on changes how we feel. If I focus on my cold fingers, that doesn’t feel great. If I am thankful for the warmth of my home, this attitude of gratitude feels uplifting, empowering and joyful.
Making a daily practice of focusing on two or three things we are grateful for each day is a life-changing habit! What are you grateful for today?
I’m grateful for your presence here. Thanks for reading!
Lise 😘
October 12, 2020
The Enchanted Forest
Yesterday, I went for a walk in my enchanted forest. It’s within walking distance from my home. When I enter this sanctuary, I can immediately feel its aliveness. The beautiful bright colors, fresh earthly smells, and the cracking sounds made by the little creatures moving through the leaves pull me back into the physical senses in my body. It’s intoxicating!
The more we are grounded in our body, the less we are likely to get lost in the jungle of our mind. The stillness of the enchanted forest quiets down my thinking and allows me to feel vibrant, alive, and free – like a child again!
We all need an enchanted forest: a sacred place, a person or an activity that makes us feel fully alive in our body while simultaneously calming down our agitated mind. What’s yours?
Wishing you a vibrant day! Thanks for reading!
Lise 😘
What’s Your Soundtrack?
What if we each had our own personal soundtrack that played as our days unfolded? If you had to imagine a music track that best represented you during a typical day, what would it sound like? Would it be upbeat and bright? Dark and melancholic? Would it be filled with suspense, monotonous and repetitive, or like the soundtrack from a horror movie? What if your closest friends or colleagues at work had to pick a soundtrack for you, what do you think they would choose to represent your predominant mood and energy? Can you hear it playing now?
Well, we may not have personal bio-soundtracks yet, but if you start to really pay attention, you might notice that you DO have a default feeling tone that you broadcast on a regular basis. We all do. The truth is, we are electromagnetic beings, and we are constantly broadcasting our signature frequency. Others can feel it on a subtle level.
This frequency we emit is directly shaped by our most repetitive thinking and feeling patterns. For most of us, we learn what will become our dominant or default frequency from our parents or caregivers. If you want to know what kind of frequency you are broadcasting, have a look at the people you have attracted into your life, such as your closest friends. Chances are your frequency matches theirs.
Now that we have had some fun thinking about what your soundtrack could sound like when you are out and about in the world, let’s talk about your inner soundtrack: the one that plays when you are alone, or when nobody is watching you. What could that one sound like?
It can be quite shocking to suddenly discover the mysterious music that has been secretly playing deep inside us for so many years. This is our most genuine soundtrack, and it is not as frightening as it might sound. It is raw, unpredictable, and beautiful. To be able to hear it, we must become very still, very quiet. It is only when we find the courage to listen with non-judgmental curiosity that we can finally hear the melody of our own heart.
The question is: are our inner and outer soundtracks completely different, or similar to each other? Do they clash or complement one another? Once we are able to answer that honestly, we can begin to mix, or integrate the two harmoniously. We can completely rewrite our music if we wish to. This is what awareness is all about: freedom and the power to choose.
You read all the way through, I'm impressed! 
Thanks for being here!
Lise ❤️
Peace,
Lise Villeneuve / www.consciouslivingsolutions.com
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