"Seeds of discouragement do not
grow in a thankful heart."
This sentiment adorns one of
Karissa Chase's wonderful little word dishes that sits right
across from my front counter. As with everything in
the store that I pass by each day, I always read the sayings
but every once in a while I have an 'ah ha'
moment.
A few weeks
ago I was going through one of life's little blips. As we all do once in a
while, my brain was making mountains out of molehills. My thoughts
were creating overwhelming feelings that I had somehow gotten
off 'the path' and they were bringing on these wonderful waves
of anxiety (don't we love those?). This went on for about
two weeks. One
morning as I was driving to work - racing heart, irregular
breathing and all - I had my "ah-ha" moment. In that moment my heart
beat slowed, I started breathing like a normal person again
and I felt peaceful.
The magic pill?
Gratitude
Instead of focusing on thoughts that were
causing me angst I began running through all things that
I'm grateful for - instead of thinking about 'what ifs' and
possible negative outcomes I thought about reaching out to
people and sharing my gratitude.
As I was opening the store I walked by Karissa's
word dish and had my second "ah-ha" moment. As many times as I had
walked by that dish and said "how true" I had put Karissa's
words to the test and into action that day. I'm happy to say that
they passed with flying colors - bright, beautiful flying
colors.
Yes,
I've been accused of being a pollyanna at times (and I like
living in my world just fine thank you) but I'm sharing this
story because it works, gratitude works. The next time
you find life getting just a bit too overwhelming I encourage
you to take a step back and run through your mental list of
all that you have to be grateful for. I think you'll
find too that discouragement has no home in a thankful
heart.
Do you have a gratitude story you'd like
to share? Please
email it to Debra@ShopLaMuse.net. We'd like to post some
of them on our website or for use in our
newsletter.
