November 19th, 2007
Thanksgiving Week
This is the week of the Thanksgiving Holiday in the United States. I have so much to be thankful for, and be grateful for, as I do every year. I must say that last year was my most challenging. One way I “survived” my challenges was to use gratitude and serendipity. The idea behind the concept of the word Serendipity is to make lemonade out of lemons. I definitely think that is what I did most moments; my method for this was to practice gratitude.
If something seemed overwhelming or especially challenging, I would ask myself, “What is great about this?” (This process is not an original thought of mine; Tony Robbins mentioned this question on one of his audiotapes.) What this question gets me to do is to think broader, outside the box if you will, about the present situation. It is not a ploy to “be positive.”
An example of this kind of thinking is in regards to the tragic situation that occurred in the year 2001 in New York on September eleventh. At first our thoughts were that there is NOTHING good or great about this. (Please bear with me, I know it was one of the most awful days in history.) If I were to allow myself to think about what was great about it, I could focus my attention on what was the antithesis of the horror.
The great side of that dreadfulness was the large number of people who miraculously survived, the brave and generous people that literally gave it their all to help others, and the outpouring of love and the comradeship from all over the world.
The list is endless.
That is a perfect example of using what is good about a situation and using that kind of thinking to allow gratitude in the truest sense. When you have a challenging situation, ask yourself what is great about this, and allow yourself to pause in gratitude. This may or may not be easy for you to do, but practice makes perfect.
In the true spirit of Thanksgiving,
Lorraine
