GRATITUDE — the first Magic Carpet
(Wedding Vow #3: We are Delighting
in the Wonder of Life and
Constantly sharing our
Gratitude
with Each Other and the World)
(Wedding Vow #3: We are Delighting
in the Wonder of Life and
Constantly sharing our
Gratitude
with Each Other and the World)
Let’s start.
When?
Now…
Where?
In our hearts.
How?
With a game where we amp up our gratitude.
Why?
Why a game?
Because to become different we need to “do” something different. And if it isn’t fun and interesting, then why bother?
Anyone can think or imagine that they are changing. And you have to change something to change. Change is change is change is change.
Games are one way to try out something new.
Play is a pretty useful path of change.
Let’s play. Let’s have our “doing” in the mode of “playing.”
Let’s play four gratitude games.
1, Saying it aloud as we sit.
2, Writing it down as we sit.
3, Standing up and saying gratitudes.
4, Standing up and playing with awakened movement as we say gratitudes.
One, two, three, four gratitude games.
Play.
Something different.
See what happens.
Why gratitude?
No gratitude means no possibility of joy. Our brains and nervous system are wired that way.
We can be grateful or we can be in fear, but we can’t be in both.
Fear means: no gratitude.
Gratitude means: no fear.
Guess what? You can’t be joyful in fear.
And when’s a good time to start these games?
Now, of course.
Now, where the life of a child, and the life of you, and the life of me, exist.
Gratitude Game #1: SAY ALOUD three gratitudes.
Simple.
Start these three sentences and finish them, and say them aloud:
“I am grateful….”
“I am grateful…”
“I am grateful…”
Gratitude Game #2: WRITE down, in handwriting, three gratitudes.
Any paper will do, any pen or pencil.
The writing is handwriting, not typing onto a computer or thumbing it into a smart phone.
Good old fashioned, handwriting, where you use your hand and fingers and arm to move the pen, and watch with your eyes as the letter swoop out and are formed and then change, as the now does, into the next letter, and the next and the next.
If you have no paper in this moment and can’t get to any, then handwrite it in the air, or on your leg.
If you are at the bookstore, reading this book, finger write it on the back page.
Then go buy the book, and borrow a pen, and actually write your three gratitudes in the pages provided for this in the back.
But one way or another, write down three gratitudes.
Now.
Right now, write now, right now, write now.
Not later alligator, when you’ve finished the chapter. Or, God forbid, when you “get around to it,” which almost always means… never.
Whatever you wanted out of this book will start growing right now, as you write, right now, write now, right now, write now three gratitudes.
Want to stay the same and pretend you want to change?
Then “think” about, or “be interested in” the games of this book, but be too busy, or too aloof, or too stuck in reading as an escape, or too skeptical and too stubborn, or too lazy, or whatever.
But, if you want to stay the same, then don’t waste your time reading any more.
Want to change?
Make sure you’ve played, already the first two games:
One: Said aloud at least three gratitudes.
Two: Written in handwriting as least three gratitudes
Get into the learning mode.
Huh?
Get into the learning mode.
How?
Notice the difference that saying gratitudes made.
Notice the difference that writing gratitudes made.
Hint:
Why this book will work: Learning is noticing differences.
Every time to notice differences you rewrite your brain.
We are doing things differently, to feel notice and transform from the differences new doing creates.This is central to the effectiveness and fun of all the “games”of this book: Do something new. Notice what’s new in your as a result.
And hey, let’s get MORE OF OUR BODY INVOLVED.
Hint: we are alive.
Which means, we can change almost instantly by remembering that we are in a body that goes all the way down to our toes.
If we want better sex, better health, better fun, better sports, better picking up the grandchildren, or dancing around the floor, or just waltzing around our houses: we need to get back to delighting in being in this body of our.
Let’s DO IT!!!!
Gratitude Game # 3: STAND UP and say aloud 3 new gratitudes or the three gratitudes you just wrote, or some combination of new and just written.
Doesn’t matter.
Stand. Feel your feet on the ground or floor. Feel your head held up by your spine.
Speak from this taller, more fully human you.
FEEL THIS AS MANY PLACES IN YOUR BODY AS YOU CAN.
“I am grateful…”
“I am grateful…”
“I am grateful…”
What happens when you do this?
What shift to you notice, when you stand and sense yourself and say three gratitudes?
Notice this difference.
Very soon we will hone in on this as crucial to a happy and loving and successful and fun and sexy human life: noticing differences.
Because that’s what learning is.
Don’t take my word for it.
Just keep noticing differences.
And hey, add on this as one more way to create a difference that’s often very immediate and easy to notice.
Smile.
That’s it, “just” smile.
REALLY,
Gratitude Game # 4 Move
With Awareness
Stand again.
And pick a place where you are either outdoors or can see out of a window.
Do a reversible motion, like this:
UP
Breathe in
Lift your heels up off the floor as you press down into your toes
Feel the air coming into your chest or belly
Feel your legs and feet pressing down against gravity
Feel your head lifting
Notice the shift in what you are seeing
DOWN
Breathe out
Lower your heels down to the floor
Feel the shift in your connection to gravity
Feel the shift in your ribs and/or belly as you let the air out
Notice the shift in what you are seeing
Do this at least five times, with awareness on three layers of your body, (below the navel, in the midsection, above the neck).
See how much you can enjoy this.
Stop, smile, walk around a bit.
Now do it again,
And as you do the UP part say: “I am grateful for…”
And on the way DOWN say a word or some short phrase of what you are grateful for.
This is the beginning of a brand new way of life. Writing gratitudes, saying gratitudes, and standing gratitudes.
Moving and saying gratitudes and noticing breathing in and out.
What’s good about this?
Do it and notice the shift.
This is you make small changes that make a big difference.
What difference?
That’s for your to discover and delight in and be grateful for.
And then share that gratitude with your journal and with another.
How many gratitude buddies can you find in the next month.
Let’s call that
Gratitude Game #5:
Find two to five people in the next month to be your “gratitude” buddies.
Agree to either speak or text three or more gratitudes to each other every day.
See what happens to your relationship to them.
And to life in general when you have pals on the gratitude path with you..
