It’s A Less Kind World We Live In

It appears life has taken us to a place where we no longer value kindness as a trait. Kindness has been replaced with self-absorption and wanting to stay anonymous. The question is why has the world become less kind?

Is it that we no longer care about others? I don’t think so. Do we believe kindness makes us seem weak? Is the lack of kindness from some global change?

The truth is, kindness has become less and less important in our daily lives for several reasons.

· We’re in a rush. Life has become so fast-paced, filled with appointments and places to be that we feel we no longer have the time to simply sit and listen to someone.

· Technology dependence has taken place of the human face-to-face, voice-to-voice interactions of the past. No longer do we pick up the phone or meet face-to-face to talk to others. Now we spend our time texting, posting, getting involved in others drama or simply playing mindless games on our cell phones, tablets, computers, and even our watches.

Technology has allowed us to be thoughtless by being late all the time. After all, we can simply text our friend we’re running late, and they’ll know. It’s taken away the common courtesies of saying thank you, hello, nice to meet you, please, and “how can I help you”.

We no longer smile at others when we see them. We no longer sympathize or help someone who is having a rough day. Instead, we place an emoji on our social media post or in a text and think we have done enough.

There’s an app for everything. Want to have a relationship? Use this app. Want to order your dinner? Use this app. Are these apps taking away the connectedness we once had that produced kindness? The self-same connectedness people claim to want in their lives. Maybe.

· Self-absorption and self-centeredness are another reason kindness has taken a backseat. Many people are focused on their own lives, on getting ahead and doing whatever is necessary to beat the other guy.

People are more interested in taking care of their wants before they reach out and extend some type of kindness to others. We’ve become a society of “me first” that wasn’t seen as often just a few years ago.

· The way we live causes us to withdraw from others. Living in crowded cities among strangers can make you quickly hide your natural inclination to be generous and kind to others. With crime, kidnappings, murders, and other fears running wild in many cities, people have found it safer to keep to themselves. The rise in road rage keeps people from stopping to help someone with car trouble.

· How we were raised was different 30 years ago. We didn’t need catchphrases to tell us to help one another. We believed in helping each other. Neighbors looked out for each other. People weren’t afraid to help the poor and needy. People taught their children to respect others and to be trustworthy and honest.

Today people are more afraid to show their kindness. There is fear that we will be attacked for what we say or do. We don’t want to appear vulnerable and to be hurt, so we avert our eyes and try not to see those who need our kindness.

Kindness has taken a backseat to greed, technology, poor manners, and the world we live in. Instead of showing kindness, we’re afraid to be seen as the nice guy because we might be taken advantage of.

Ways to add kindness into your day

But you’re convinced that being kind is how you want to live your life. And you’re making considerable headway in cultivating your kindness mindset, but you’re still looking for some suggestions?

Try these five tactics to include kindness in your life.

1.  Practice empathy.

You probably know that saying about walking a mile in the other person’s shoes, right? It’s true, empathy and kindness are two sides of the same coin.

Remember, you can have no idea what’s happening in the other guy’s life. They could be on a high or have just received devastating news. They may be dealing with all kinds of problems. And you being short-tempered or cutting in line in front of them might be the last straw. Why choose to hurt when you can be kind?

2.  Listen to others.

Sometimes just listening is the greatest gift you can give a person. If a friend or family member is having a rough time, they need to talk. And you need to listen. You might be able to help, or you might not. To begin with, they need to be heard.

3.  Show your gratitude.

So often we’re focused on achieving the next goal, always trying to stay ahead. And that can make you inaccessible, or brusque in your dealings with others. It can keep you focused on yourself instead of others.

Try sitting back and looking around. Feel grateful for all that you have, and all you’ve achieved — being grateful sets you up for being in the kindness mindset. Instead of focusing on getting more, you’ll want to share the love!

4.  Choose kindness intentionally.

Begin every day by setting the intention to be kind. Consciously choosing kindness before you’ve even gotten out of bed puts you in the kindness zone and makes being kind easier.

You know that habits take several weeks to ‘stick,’ right? Begin a kindness habit now, and it will soon become just part of who you are and how you behave. Why it’s hardly any effort at all!

5.  Be a role model.

In a world where unpleasantness is common, and trolling people online is an everyday event, you can stand out by being a role model for kindness.

The world needs your kindness more than ever. Like positivity, kindness can be contagious. If you are consciously kind, you’ll likely set up a virtuous kindness circle–your acts and attitudes of kindness will inspire people around you to treat others kindlier. You might even shame those trolls or bullies into better behavior.

My final thought

Kindness doesn’t need to be a grand gesture. It functions well in the little things we do. A smile to a stranger, holding a door for a person whose hands are full, or a word of encouragement to someone who is hurting. Kindness warms the hearts of both the giver and the recipient.

If you enjoyed this post, please kindly share it with your family and friends.

How To Create A Gratitude Journal That Truly Works

If you want anything to work long term, you must make it part of your daily pattern, and journaling is no different. I suggest keeping it simple with these three tips.

1 | Choose a time of day when you aren’t feeling rushed to write.

2 | Pen and notebook.

3 | Music, a nice view, anything that elicits your feelings.

You might believe that starting and making regular entries into a gratitude journal just takes up time when you have so many other things to do in your day. But like any new habit, once you become accustomed to making entries in your gratitude journal it becomes easier as time goes by.

When you take on anything new in your already hectic life you need to know if it will be worthwhile to you in the long run. But before I explain some of the more important benefits of keeping a gratitude journal let’s back up and explore the details in the above three tips about its creation.

Is it easy to begin a gratitude journal?

When is the best time of day to write?

The best time is when you have time. It can be the time when your day has the least distractions or is at its quietest. This is your choice. The goal here is to write when you aren’t in a hurry. You will want to go from “I am grateful for today” to “thank you for the home that shelters my family, filled with fun and laughter.” You want to strive for specifics and details over time.

Must I use a pen and paper?

Use what suits your style. There is no right or wrong way to keep your journal. Pretty colored pens and notebooks or a speech to text app on your phone work equally well. The key point is having a record of your gratitude you can return to on a regular basis. The ability to refer back will help you gauge whether your expressions of gratitude are in actuality giving you more to be grateful for.

Feeling your gratitude

This is the place you choose to sit and write. It is also the space in your heart that you write from. I have a place by a favorite window with a lovely view where I sit every morning to write. The moment I sit down I feel peaceful and grateful, and the words just flow. Your space can be improved by listening to music, lighting candles, or anything that lifts your spirit.

As promised here are some benefits of having a gratitude journal:

Do you exhibit an attitude of gratitude?

Appreciation for what you have

Happiness is a state of mind and the way that you think about your life determines whether you’ll be happy most of the time or not. If your neighbor has just taken delivery of a new car and you don’t have the money to buy a new car does this make you poor?

In some people’s minds, it does. But this is ridiculous. You aren’t poor you just think that this is the case. The answer to this kind of thinking is to be grateful for what you have in your life right now.

Think about the people and things that you have. You have an older car, but it reliably gets you to work every day and provides safe transportation for all the family. Be grateful that you have this. You have a wonderful partner and a healthy family that you wouldn’t change for anything in the world so be grateful for this as well.

Always remember that there are many things that you can be grateful for. It doesn’t matter how large or small these things are. If you adopt an attitude of gratitude, like this, you will be much happier in your life.

Be more positive

There is something powerful about writing things down–nobody fully understands this, but it seems that you are making a larger commitment when you put pen to paper. After a while of writing down the things that you are grateful for in your life and the reasons why it will provide you with a much more positive outlook on life.

When you are focused on the good things about your life, then you are not experiencing negative thoughts that have the opposite effect. The fact that you write down what you appreciate solidifies how you feel about your life. Positivity will bring you the things that you want in your life while negativity can take them away from you.

Boost your confidence

People who have low self-confidence tend to focus on the negative and this leads to having a low opinion of yourself. When you express your gratitude for the people and things in your life this has the opposite effect giving you a confidence boost making you feel good about yourself.

By expressing gratitude regularly, you are less likely to compare yourself unfavorably to others. Writing down what you are grateful for will also reduce any feelings of jealousy or resentment that you may harbor.

Reduce your stress

Having a gratitude journal will help you to relieve stress. While you cannot avoid stress altogether, an attitude of gratitude will help you to deal with it more effectively and your gratitude journal will support this.

My final thought

For many, many years I verbalized my gratitude. It’s what my Gram taught me. But about three years ago I began keeping a gratitude journal. After a couple of months, I noticed I felt a deeper sense of peace in my life. Another thing was that on difficult days I write lengthier descriptions of what I’m grateful for. I believe they go hand in hand.

I would love to hear what kind of gratitude practice you have.

The Effects Of Gratitude On Your Life And Health

Gram’s Wisdom 21

If you read Gram’s Wisdom 2 you would know my Gram was a great one for gratitude. She never let an opportunity go by where she wasn’t thankful for something or someone in her life. Consequently, there were always more good things than bad happening to her. Still, Gram didn’t believe that gratefulness was a panacea for all life’s ills.

Instead, Gram taught me to be thankful for my good health, smile when I didn’t feel like it, to choose happiness when I wasn’t, and to remember that whatever I might go through there are always others who are worse off. She told me to be grateful for what good things I had and that there would always be enough of those.

I am happy to say that she was right. My life hasn’t been any easier than anyone else’s, but I have had plenty to be thankful for. Like my Gram, I wake every day feeling grateful for another day and aware of all the goodness in my life.

So now prepare yourself to make the change to a gratitude-based life because the rewards for doing this are worth it.

Some benefits of gratefulness

Gratitude helps you feel happy and contented

Nobody is happy 24 hours a day but when you have an attitude of gratitude you will be happier a lot more than if you don’t have one. How does this work? Well, when you appreciate the things that you have in your life you feel contentment with what you have and can remove yourself from the “wanting” spiral.

Each time that you think about things in your life to be grateful for, and express your gratitude, then you will feel happy. Do this several times a day there are no limits. Contrast this to someone who is constantly craving new things in their life. They aren’t going to be happy very often.

Your optimism increases

Optimism is a great thing. It flips the script on your thinking from negative to positive. It gives you hope for the future and you will love the transformation. When you are a pessimist all you see is doom and gloom. You fear the future and what it will bring. Your life is controlled by events that happen around you rather than by you.

Optimism does not mean that you just blindly accept everything. What it does is open you up to a vision of opportunities all around you and gives you confidence that your future is looking bright. If you had anxiety about your future before then optimism will help significantly with this.

Challenges won’t overwhelm you

We all must face difficulties in our lives and overcome them. For some people, even the smallest problems overwhelm them. For others, the large problems stress them out, and they become very anxious. Most people have an extremely negative attitude towards the problems that they face in their lives.

With an attitude of gratitude, you will be able to see the good in everything. You will see problems as an opportunity for you to grow. For the larger problems, it is a chance for you to stretch yourself and do things that you haven’t done before. You can accept that difficulties are a part of life and you believe they will help in your growth as a person.

Physical health benefits

A lot of research studies have shown that people with an attitude of gratitude find it strengthens their immune system which leads to all other kinds of physical health benefits. With a stronger immune system, you will be able to fight off ill health and have the energy to keep going when others need to stop.

Mental health benefits

Gratitude is good for your mental health as well. With an attitude of gratitude, your stress level is lower and if it does happen then you will deal with it more easily. Because expressing gratitude makes you feel happy thereby releasing hormones that will help brighten your mood as well.

Here are some practical gratitude usages so that you get the most from the benefits listed above.

1. See your world from a gratitude standpoint

It’s understood that you are busy, but you should take time out during your day to observe your reality from a gratitude point of view. Focus on your surroundings and look for things to be grateful for. You probably take these things for granted but with practice, it should be easy for you to identify them and appreciate them.

It doesn’t matter how large or small the things that you notice are. Just see them as providing a lot of good in your life and express your gratitude for them. Do this every day and in a short time, you will begin to do this on autopilot. You will look forward to these moments because of the feeling that you get from expressing your gratitude.

2. Write your feelings in a gratitude journal

If you don’t have a gratitude journal, then begin one now. Keep it simple. A notepad will do there is no need to buy something expensive. Commit yourself to make daily entries in your gratitude journal. When you wake up in the morning write 3 things that you are grateful for and the reasons why.

Also, in the evening you can record the things that you have been grateful for throughout your day. There is power in writing things down and you can reflect on your gratitude journal entries every week to inspire you to carry on your gratitude journey.

3. Practice being more humble

To get the maximum benefit from your gratitude efforts you must work on your humility. Humility is defined as showing more respect and modesty. It should be easy for you to identify where you can be humble in your life.

Don’t take things for granted and behave as if you are entitled. That is the exact opposite of being grateful.

5. Give compliments to others

Commit to giving at least one compliment, each day. This can be a compliment that you give to another person or something in your life that you want to be complimentary about. When you give compliments to others pay attention to how they feel about this and what they say to you. It will make you feel warm inside and you will want to continue with your gratitude.

6. Turn those difficulties into prospects

This has been discussed already. When you have an attitude of gratitude it will be much easier for you to see the opportunities within any problem, for you to move out of your comfort zone and improve yourself. Each time you are faced with a problem think about what you can learn and what you can be grateful for with it.

My final thought

My Gram lived her gratitude. At the age of 101, she was still telling me what she was grateful for. And I was grateful to be the person with whom she shared those expressions. 

I hope that you will see that these benefits are truly life-changing and that making the transition to gratitude can be worthwhile to you.

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you will share it with your family and friends.

Cultivate Your Gratitude Then Practice Daily

Changing your life with gratitude

While most people are unaware of the amazing power that gratitude has and how it can transform their lives for the better. Yet, some believe in the ability we all have of improving our lives by expressing gratitude for what we already have. When you practice gratitude each day you will see changes in your life very quickly and be amazed at the transformation that it makes.

This article is meant to provide you with some examples of how gratitude can make your life a lot better. You need to have the complete inside track on how gratitude can transform your life so that you’ll be inspired to make this significant change in your life. So read these examples and then get working on your attitude of gratitude right away.

Gratitude helps you maintain a happier mood

It’s easy to fall into a bad mood if you don’t have an attitude of gratitude. If someone has done something that upsets you, rather than becoming angry at them why not express some gratitude towards them instead?  Understandably this is not an easy thing to do and it does require some practice, but the results will certainly be worth it.

You will find when you do this that your mood will change from a negative frustrated or angry state to a happier state of being. This is especially useful in your relationships with coworkers as well as friends and family. Don’t allow things they do to annoy you, put you in a bad mood, or provoke an argument. Instead, think about how grateful you are for the helpful or nice things they normally do and tell them this. You and they will feel better for it.

Gratitude improves your love relationship

The number of break-ups and divorces in the world today are rising at an alarming rate. People are frazzled and tend to fly off the handle with their partner over the smallest of things. If you are someone that frequently criticizes your partner for their failings, then try changing your approach and show them gratitude instead.

It should be easy for you to recall things that your spouse does that you are grateful for when you put your mind to it. Hey, it could be you are grateful that they ignore your failings. But whatever it is tell your partner why you are grateful they in your life and make them feel warm and fuzzy. Notice how their face changes and what words they say in reply. Gratitude will certainly help you make your relationship stronger if you give it a try.

Parent better with gratitude

If you have children, then it’s easy for you to become frustrated with them. They do things that you don’t want them to do and this leads to anger and disappointment. In this situation, most parents express their disappointment to their kids which just creates a negative atmosphere.

Rather than criticizing your kids and having them feel bad about themselves, think about why you are grateful to have your children and tell them this. This will lighten both your moods straight away and everyone will feel better for the experience.

Gratitude helps you cope with the loss

If you experience a loss in your life be it losing a loved one, your job, or something else important then think about the people and things remaining in your life and express your gratitude for them. We all face major knocks in life at some time or another and the most important thing is that you don’t allow it to overcome you.

When expressing your gratitude for the people and things that you still have in your life it will be easier to move forward positively. In the future as the pain of your loss recedes you should begin to feel grateful for the happy memories of the past.

Cultivating your gratitude

We lead busy lives these days and it can be a challenge to take time to ponder about the things in your life that you can be grateful for. But doing this is fundamental, as you will receive some incredible benefits from being grateful and for expressing your thanks for what you have in your life right now.    

Stop and look around you

Commit to pause several times during the day and ask yourself the question “what am I truly grateful for in my life?” You can also ask yourself “who are the most important people in my life and why am I grateful for them?”

When you ask yourself these questions your subconscious mind will arrive at any number of answers for you. Take these answers and evaluate why the people or things are so important for you and express your gratitude for having them in your life. This should not take you long to do each day and will improve your habit of looking for things to be grateful for.

Take a long look at yourself

Being grateful for the qualities that you possess is a powerful way to cultivate your gratitude and increase your self-esteem. Think about what you have achieved recently and the challenges that you’ve had to overcome. You can think back to your past for some good examples of this as well.

You can look beyond the things that you have achieved as well. What other traits do you possess that you are proud of? Are you compassionate and kind to others? Do you have good empathy skills? Are you dependable and loyal toward your partner, your family, and your friends? There are always lots of things that you can come up with about yourself.

What do you take for granted?

When people are starting on their attitude of gratitude journey, they will usually think about the bigger things in their life to be grateful for but please don’t limit yourself to this. The little things in your life are often more important to you.

Just open your eyes and look around you. If you are at home, then notice the wonderful things that surround you to make your life beautiful, easier, and more enjoyable. Take a walk outside and look at the beauty of nature as well.

Have a morning and evening ritual

It is easy to forget about expressing your gratitude in modern life. So, if you want to have plenty to be grateful for, you should create a new routine where you will think about things to be grateful for in the morning when you wake up and before you go to bed at night.

Think about 3 things that you can be grateful for at these times. It does not matter if they are big or small things. In the morning it could be the simple fact that you are grateful for a new day ahead while in the evening it can be that you accomplished your goals. Write down the 3 things in the morning and evening in a gratitude journal so that you can reflect on these later.

My final thought

I have noticed that some people feel like everyone else has things to be grateful for while they have little or nothing for which to be grateful. They take for granted their good health rather than expressing thanks for it. It is this attitude that prevents them from having more. Simply put, when you express gratitude for what you have you will receive more to be grateful for.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your family and friends.

You Are Worthy Of Abundance

6 Ways to feel prosperous when you aren’t, yet

Abundance. Prosperity. We all want that in our lives. But for some it’s meaning is wealth and success on a grand scale. While others of us want healthy, happy families and the ability to live in peace and harmony. There is no right or wrong choice. That depends on the meaning you attribute to those words and how you want to feel.

Regardless, if you want to be prosperous, feel prosperous. If you want to succeed, you must believe that you are very much worthy and deserving of it. It doesn’t matter where you are right now, what matters is what you want because that is the beginning of creating it with your mind.

To be guided by the belief that everything is a product of a state of mind is revolutionary, and yet, this has become the teaching common to all financial gurus and masters of prosperity.

Wealth is a mindset, as are all things worthy of experience in this life. Things like prosperity, happiness, abundance, and love.

Maybe you aren’t in that place you’ve always wanted to be just yet. Maybe you are getting there, but wherever you are in life, this wisdom holds great power: your mind is key to your destination – including the road to prosperity.

At any time, your results can be improved in your life by cultivating the power of your mind and choosing the thoughts which determine your reality. Acting on those thoughts sends a clear message to the universe that you are ready to accept the abundance you are sent.

Here are 6 very effective ways to feel prosperous, so you can attract prosperity naturally and create greater abundance in your life.

Believing you are worthy makes you feel worthy

Believe that you are worthy of the things that you attract towards you. You are more than enough, and even the situation you’re in right now is fundamental to every kind of prosperity that you wish to experience in life, even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.

Concentrate on having a positive self-image, feeling worthy and entitled to all the abundance that you desire, simply because you exist, and you deserve nothing but the best. If you begin to feel worthy, you will begin to feel prosperous.

Create room for prosperity to enter your life

To attract prosperity and let it in when it arrives requires making that space available. Prosperity is about maintaining a great quality of life, and if at present, you’re too preoccupied with negativity and a broke mindset, it’s really hard for prosperity to thrive in the same place where a negative mindset also dwells.

These two things don’t co-exist so to make space for feeling prosperous, you need to let go of your broke mindset. To attract prosperity, you need to embody it first.

Although prosperity isn’t always about having more money, feeling rich can come out of a sense of satisfaction, being contented, having peace, and joy. Before it makes its way to you, you can attract it by behaving as if you’ve already received what you were hoping for.

Do what you love

By indulging in your passions and doing those things that you love, you naturally radiate more positive energy. These vibrations can attract more positivity into your life and create things of similar frequency such as abundance, wealth, joy, happiness, peace – a state of prosperity. Take the time to indulge in your passions and you will feel prosperous.

Respond with love

Prosperity isn’t always about money, but it is in fact about experiencing life at its fullest and best, and bringing your highest self into whatever situation you may find yourself in. You’ve got the power to positively affect your life by responding with love (your highest self) – even if you may be experiencing a crisis or a problem right now.

You can’t always be happy one hundred percent of the time, especially when things are out of your control, but keeping things in perspective will reward you with feelings of calm and hope – a step towards prosperity.

Set your goals and write them down

When you choose to do something, do it with all your passion and commitment as often as you need to. With this assertiveness, life can’t help but give in to your stubborn heart and wishes. You need to have goals and strive for them aggressively. If you haven’t written them down, do it now and have something to aim for.

Take positive action and release negativity

It’s not enough to have a prosperity mindset if you don’t manifest it in your actions. Ultimately, this is the purpose for the state of mind you’re cultivating – to translate those intangible feelings, beliefs, and emotions – into tangible actions and results. Be positive and take a stand for your beliefs of prosperity. This entails releasing negativity and old ways of thinking that no longer serve you.

If you are feeling negative right now, stop. Choose to stop right now and begin to feel prosperous!

The use of affirmations for abundance

What can you do to increase your ability to manifest abundance? Positive affirmations can help you in several areas of your life. There are affirmations specific to abundance and prosperity that can help you develop a consciousness for abundance. You must think about prosperity and abundance if you want to beget prosperity and abundance. Focus on what you want to have.

When you focus your thoughts on what you lack, you attract more of the same. Affirmations can help you fill your mind with positive thoughts. It’s important to note that abundance doesn’t mean attracting possessions or wealth. That’s only one part of abundance.

I encourage you to think positively about the affirmations provided below. They cover variations of abundance and don’t just focus on wealth. The dominant thoughts in your mind radiate outside of you and leak into the world and that will attract the same back to you.

• I become more prosperous every day in every way.

• I am prosperous, I always have been, and I always will be prosperous.

• I will always have what I need, the universe looks after me.

• I have everything I need my life is filled with love, joy, and happiness.

• I am abundant, prosperity is overflowing.

• Prosperity is flowing and there is an abundant supply of money in my life.

• My actions will lead to prosperity and abundance.

• My life is abundant, and I am blessed.

• I attract prosperity and abundance because I focus on them.

• Prosperity flows around me and through me.

• I accept all the good things that enter my life and I will enjoy them.

• I easily and effortlessly create prosperity in my life.

• I naturally attract abundance and prosperity.

• Abundance is my birthright, I am abundant.

• The universe is conspiring to make me an abundant person.

• I release resistance to abundance and allow it to come to me naturally.

• I am worthy of having abundance in my life.

• I attract all that I need.

• I live in abundance, I am strong, I am happy, I am healthy.

• I give thanks for the positivity and light in my life.

• I am grateful for my family and friends who fill me with joy.

Use as many of these affirmations as resonate with you and use them as often as you like. Make a list of the ones you wish to employ and keep it handy so you can repeat them throughout the day. Write them down in your journal daily so that they root themselves more firmly in your mind.

Just like affirmations that bring you peace and calm during times of stress, these affirmations can help you to succeed as you concentrate on the type of abundance you want in your life.

My final thought

Prosperity is not a state of having, but a state of being. It’s a result of your conscious decision to choose to embody one type of mindset over another – choosing positivity over negativity, love over fear.

While money doesn’t create happiness, a state of happiness can in fact cause you to create more wealth and attract more abundance.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I would appreciate your sharing it with family and friends.

Abundance Is Not A Singular Pursuit

Gram’s Wisdom 20: An abundance of the right people

My Gram’s life was filled with an abundance of so many things, not the least her 101 years. Fortunately, for me, she happily shared stories of a life lived abundantly. The lessons she taught me and the example I was shown have allowed me to live my own abundant life.  

Gram told me an abundant life begins with the knowledge that you are worthy and deserving. She also felt you need to see the world as unlimited, believing that abundance is available all around you.

Choose your life

Gram said there are two choices in how you live. You can choose to live with an awareness of all the good in life. Or, you can choose not to. With the latter, you aren’t in control of your thoughts, mind, or circumstances. You are seeing yourself as the victim, even if you don’t mean to.

She knew when you go through difficult times, it can be hard to come out undamaged on the other side. However, you must recognize those difficulties for what they are. Whatever it is, it’s a chance for you to become the best version of yourself.

One of the things I learned from watching my Gram is no one is meant to remain as a single version of themselves. As people, we need to progress, if we expect to grow and evolve. More importantly, why should we come out of difficult times unmarred? We wouldn’t be human if it didn’t influence us in some way. The key is to learn a lesson and use those lessons to improve as a person.

Abundance through personal growth

Personal growth will assist you in your bid to live in awareness. This way of living makes you more in tune with yourself. You are unafraid to ask yourself what you need and want. This is how you put yourself in the best position to manifest abundance. But not just any abundance. No. You want an abundance of what matters most to you.

Think of the people who pursue an abundance of wealth yet seem miserable. It seems as though they don’t know themselves. Think about when you have gone unfulfilled after reaching a goal because you realize after the fact that it wasn’t what you truly wanted. It’s something you have likely done, completely unaware that you aren’t in touch with your inner wants, needs, and desires.

My Gram did not use words like self-growth or mindset, but she was certainly aware of the concepts. From her I learned that in every moment you can choose compassion, you can choose authenticity, you can choose positivity, that you can choose abundance.

Abundance is a mindset, and this mindset can affect your life in all ways. You can’t help but live abundantly when you learn to see life from this perspective.

Here are 5 great ways to lead an abundant life.

Appreciate life right now

Even if you’re still trying to achieve an abundant life, you should never stop practicing gratitude every day. Gratitude turns what we have into more than enough. It unlocks the fullness and access to the abundance of life.

You complete the cycle of abundance through receiving it and giving it back. One day, when you’re where you want to be and have manifested the abundance that you were once attracting and creating for yourself, pay it forward by teaching and guiding others as well. There’s no better proof of abundance than people helping each other out and adding value to lives.

Avoid negative people

You need to identify good people who are positive and open to similar views you hold about life. Abundance makes people happy, relaxed, and puts them at ease. It makes them confident about living life each day. Negative people do not operate on this belief, so limit your time with them if you cannot influence them to make an effort to embrace a better mindset.

If they are always complaining avoid them. They are only trying to make you feel that there is a lack of everything, money, breaks, understanding. They will always be playing the ‘no money card’ if they can’t change your mindset, they will hope you will give them what they need to stop their complaining. In this scenario, someone’s got to give, don’t let it be you.

Giving

When you’re practicing an abundance mentality, it’s impossible not to love the act of giving. When you see life brimming with possibilities and limitless opportunities, you love to give it away to others. You see that so many people can benefit from how you see the world, either through helping them or empowering them to see life the way you do. Learning how to give and loving the act of giving is an inevitable aspect of living an abundant life.

Learn from others

If you want to create abundance, learn from others. Reading success stories is inspiring and motivating. It can help you believe in yourself. You begin to feel that you’re capable of achieving something similar. Once you realize you can do it too, you will.

When you’re guided by someone who has been where you are, it motivates you to achieve the same heights of success. Getting a mentor’s guidance and help will encourage you to live an abundant life by understanding that help is always available when you need it.

Love yourself and accept yourself

To live an abundant life necessitates that you love and accept yourself fully. When you recognize your worth and acknowledge that you are deserving, you will begin to attract more of what you desire.

When you’ve laid the foundation of your beliefs and affirm yourself as worthy, you always become open to receiving the natural abundance that life is ready to give you. The universe is always ready and simply waiting on us to ask for what we want.

My final thought

My childhood was fraught with difficulties. Lovingly, my Gram provided a safe haven for me and supported me in many ways, always making me feel that I mattered. From years of observing her, I learned one of the most significant lessons of life. It is the people who love us who are our most important source of abundance.

I hope if you liked this post, that you will share it with your family and friends.

Invest Time To Receive Abundance

Abundance: What it is

What is an abundance of time? Quite simply, abundance is a large quantity. So, an abundance of time is more than enough time. It’s a tendency that we have as humans to do and be better, become more than we are, and grow as a species. But everything we do requires a time investment. We seldom accept our lot in life without grumbling. Instead, we desire to enjoy more abundance. Life is like that, as is nature. Nature naturally moves to spread its seed, with new trees, plants, and grass cropping up. Just like humanity is innovating constantly and ever-evolving. Just look around, you will see abundance. It’s everywhere. If you allow it to, it will appear in your personal life.

Now, ask yourself this – what do you think of when you hear the word abundance? If you’re being completely honest with yourself, you will admit that you think of abundance as monetary. Most people do. When we think of abundance, we imagine wealth, exotic vacations, and various other material possessions. However, it manifests in a variety of ways, and not all are related to money or possessions. So, let’s look at many other ways that abundance manifests in your life.

• You can have an abundance of love.

• You can have an abundance of friendships.

• You will face an abundance of opportunities.

• You have access to an abundance of food.

• You can have an abundance of fun.

• There is abundance in nature.

• You can create an abundance of time.

• You can embrace an abundance of spirituality.

Make the time if you want the possessions

The world is abundant. Now, you can’t access all of it. That could be through no fault of your own. You may be inadvertently preventing it from manifesting in your life. Do you take the time to welcome abundance or are you alienating yourself from abundance by nurturing a negative mindset instead of being positive and open?

To attract abundance, you should develop a consciousness about abundance. This simply means that you allow yourself time to become more aware of having abundance in general, what it feels like in your life, connecting to it, and welcoming it into your life. It’s all about feeling as though you’re part of it. This consciousness will allow you to seize the opportunities that come your way. 

If right now you feel as though you don’t have access to abundance, it’s because you’ve created an obstacle and limited yourself. It’s your vision or your thoughts, that are limiting you to what exists for you right now. You need to expand your horizons, enhance your vision, and embrace the opportunities that are all around you. We are all part of the abundance within the universe. Take some time, open your mind, feel it, expect it.

There are incredibly efficient ways to manifest abundance in your life. Two of those, are through positive affirmations and visualization. Visualize yourself doing what you want, getting what you want, enjoying what you want, and use positive affirmations to boost your mood and motivation. These two things combined can help you manifest abundance in your life.

Ways you can attract abundance

Abundance isn’t about achieving more it’s about being in harmony with the mindset that life is naturally abundant. It’s getting the most from our experiences that come from a deeper understanding and appreciation of life.

To naturally attract more abundance, we need to understand and appreciate the essence of life. Simply put, placing more focus on having great experiences in our life is abundant. Abundance can be defined in terms of the condition of our relationships, the state of our health, the fulfillment we derive from our work, our capacity to enjoy hobbies, or a sense of altruism and charity to extend to those who need our help.

It’s about focusing on positive experiences that bring us more peace, love, and joy. By carving out time for these, we naturally attract more abundance in our lives.

Here are more ways you can attract abundance into your life. 

Release the negative

Daily life is filled with much negativity. It’s as if being human allows unlimited capacity for worry, anxiety, and fear. Living isn’t always easy, and many days feel like a struggle. While that may be true, we need relief from this level of thinking, and to be able to attune ourselves to the brighter side of life – where abundance lives.

To do that, we need to let go of negativity at any cost and realize that abundance doesn’t thrive in that mode of living or thinking.

Practice appreciation and gratitude

It’s impossible to attract abundance without first recognizing abundance when you see it already in your life. We create more abundance by simply acknowledging the fact that our life is greatly blessed as it is, and by believing that we have the capacity for attracting even more abundance.

Being grateful enables us to experience greater joy, and multiplies our positive experiences and blessings tenfold. This is a natural state of abundance yet, has the capacity for more.

Lose toxic thoughts, perfectionism, and overthinking

It’s so easy to get lost in the web of our thoughts. We tend to overthink our way through life as if the practice of doing so will solve our problems. If anything, overthinking causes us to feel and experience a lack of abundance – by limiting our peace of mind and joy.

The same thing applies to our pursuit of perfection. Striving for perfection seems like a quality to aspire to, but it is essentially futile. Dedicated hard work is valuable, as are the lessons we learn in our pursuit of achievement. But, when something brings you great anxiety, that is not the path towards abundance.

Accept yourself, love yourself

It’s difficult to attract abundance if you do not sincerely, deeply accept yourself. It’s even more difficult to experience abundance when you do not love and believe in yourself enough to accept the person you are. Preparing yourself to receive abundance involves fully accepting yourself. This provides a basis for understanding your capacity for greatness, and the worthiness of all the things you seek.

You are worthy and capable of abundantly attracting more love, success, and happiness than you ever thought possible.

Be fully present in the now

To attract abundance in our lives necessitates we be fully present in the here and now, to witness, experience, and receive. Life is naturally overflowing with abundance, but we cannot align ourselves to that reality unless we are present and open to receive.

Perhaps our focus should shift from “having” to “being” – ultimately becoming what we seek and desire. If we want more love, we embody love and give love away to others. If we want to receive and experience more, then we open ourselves up to more. Through giving, we receive. By being, we experience abundance naturally.

My final thought

I sincerely believe that taking the time to be aware of the abundance you have in your life is the most important thing you can do. From there you only need to make the connection of time to whatever practices of gratitude, visualization, etc. you choose to aid in the increase of your abundance.

I hope you liked this post and choose to share it with your family and friends.

Commit Yourself To Perpetual Joy

Gram’s Wisdom 19: Joy, it isn’t a little thing

My Gram helped me to understand that joy in life is about the little moments, the little things, the little conversations, the little kindnesses. They are mostly seen as minutiae moments, if you’re not looking, they can pass you by without you even noticing. Rather, Gram told me, they are the keys to the kingdom. When you get to experience those moments in all their fullness you will never want to go back to the mundane. It is in those somewhat rare moments when you feel your heart light up, you feel the warmth of your soul set ablaze. That is when joy is almost touchable.

Joy, as l see it, is a condition of your heart. It is an intrinsic feeling, formed and nurtured in you followed by it pouring out of you, it is like a river fed from different sources, it continues overflowing to the outside as long as the source feeds it, but when the source dries up or is restricted the flow ends as well. To keep the flow moving, the source needs to be kept abundant.

Many activities feed your joy, they might differ from person to person, but some are universal. The more you incorporate such things into your day to day living the more those twinkling moments of intensified joy will become an all-day, everyday thing, the joy will just keep gushing out!

What are your sources of joy?

To be able to know your sources it takes mastery of self, when you spend time with yourself digging into your utmost feelings you will learn what feeds your fire. Looking at it this way you become the protagonist of your joy, you decide to be joyful and to do what makes you joyful. You become the artist of your joy.

I am going to relate nine activities that can serve as resources to feed and energize your joy, activities that keep you grounded and in alignment with your inner self and during the process get rid of all mental turmoil thus giving you peace and calm which in turn births joy.

1.      Meditation to calm both mind and body

Joy and mental health cannot be separated, when you have good mental health joy becomes a plus. When your mind is troubled, you are stressed and all anxious you find it hard to relax or to tap into your magic for life, your inspiration.

When you meditate you allow yourself to quiet your mind and access some facets and layers of yourself that you have not discovered yet. It gives you peace of mind, a moment of serenity as you harness your thoughts and focus within, which is where joy is brewed.

2.      An attitude of gratitude

When you are thankful you automatically focus on the positive, you see the bright places even when the whole world seems to be grey. A grateful heart shifts your mind to another perspective of life, you stop judging and complaining at every turn and you open your mind to all the good things happening around you.

Find something to be grateful for each morning, just the fact that you are breathing, seeing the sunrise, hearing the chirping birds, that could be enough to power your spirit of gratitude which will feed your joy for the rest of the day.

In the evening make it a part of your routine to look back on your day and remember what you were grateful for; if possible, make a list or better yet begin a gratitude journal. When you master the art of being grateful even in difficult moments you will always have a source of joy.

3.      Random acts of kindness

The thing with joy is that it has a moral compass, it is not just about the feel-good moments, it goes deeper. When we give joy and love to others it is somehow given back to us, we feel it in our insides. When you help a stranger, volunteer at a shelter, make someone laugh you find yourself more joyful than when you spend the day trying to figure out how to make yourself happy without having shared the gift.

Start a wave of love, of joy-giving everywhere you are by doing a random act of kindness to a stranger; when you start the ripple, it goes on and on from one person to the next. Imagine what a colorful world that would be, one colored with love and joy all over.

4.      Expand your life

As a naturally inquisitive species, we feed on an adventure. Learning something new daily or getting additional information on what you already know and enjoy can be an enormous source of joy. Try new things, travel, and visit new places. Begin a new hobby, monotony dulls your brilliant mind. Increase your involvement in something you love. Leap, l mean what is the worst that could happen, you find out you are not good at painting, well try hiking instead. There is immense joy in learning and trying new things.

5.      Find your purpose

Your purpose is a reason to be, it gives you something to look forward to, something bigger than yourself and we all need to be of use. When responsibility aligns with your passion, the purpose is found. Discover what lights you up, know your passion, that is the primary step. Take responsibility for that passion, daily give yourself tasks to complete. If you love writing, write something daily.

6.      Dance for no reason

There are just those little things that bring an immense feeling of joy when you come across them. We often call them breathtaking. For some, it might be bright colors, sunset pictures, nature. In ways, these things are somehow a representation of the aesthetics of joy- abundance, renewal, and celebration. Incorporate these small effects into your daily living, paint your room a bright color, dance for no reason, or blow bubbles if you want to.

7.      Take action toward a goal, an inspiration, or an epiphany

Commitment gives off a feel-good factor; when you take a step toward your goal you feel good about yourself. Find moments of inspiration from talking to strangers, taking a walk in the park. Leap towards your goal even if you fail you will still find joy in the exercise of trying.

Decide to be joyful, be intentional about your daily activities, and choose those that feed into your joy stream.

8.      Treat yourself with love

Treat yourself right, give yourself a break when it’s needed. Take yourself on a spa date, eat that meal you love. Show yourself the care you would give to others. When you are cared for, you are joyful.

9.      Spend time with the people you love

These people often bring out the best version of us and joy spreads. So, spending time with family and friends is often a reboot to your joy.

My final thought

I truly feel that joy like happiness or optimism can and should be chosen by design. To wait on any of them to occur in a big way by accident is to miss out on all the little moments you can choose to create perpetual joy for yourself and by extension to those around you.  

I hope you liked this post and share it with your family and friends.