Learning Gratitude: How a little word improves our lives

2014

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Wise people have always known it: There is one magic ingredient that we need to live a full life: Gratitude. It is she who enchants everything, the healing.

According to ancient myths and legends, magical formulas are required for magic. It works quite similarly when we work with the magic word thank you . It's the key to a fulfilling life - the more we say it, the more wonderful things we put into our lives.

Bestselling author Rhonda Byrne wants to show us how we can live our dreams. She illustrates in her book "The Magic" how we can bring about revolutionary changes with just a few exercises.

Day 1: Learn to appreciate your luck

Let's take a quick look: There are certainly a lot of things we can be grateful for. Our health, relationship, friends, home, work. Once we start thinking about it, we value our happiness. Today we write down ten things in the morning that make us happy and for which we are grateful. Behind it, we write down why we have these feelings. Then we read everything out loud or quietly and say the word "thank you" three times at the end of each point. We should try to feel this gratitude as intensely as possible in us. This simple exercise is so powerful that it can change our lives. And from today on we start every day with this exercise. Now we read the suggestion for the next day.

Day 2: The Philosopher's Stone

It's about making gratitude a habit. Anything that reminds us to be thankful gilds our lives. Today we are looking for a beautiful stone, which we can enclose with our fists. A stone that feels good. As soon as we find him, we put him next to the bed in a place that immediately catches our eye. Before falling asleep, we take the stone in our hands and think of the best that has happened to us in the last hours. Now we say "thank you" three times. By looking back on positive things and reviewing all events of the day in our mind's eye, we realize how much good has happened to us. Along with our list, the Philosopher's Stone ensures that we begin each day filled with gratitude and end it in the same way. And that creates space for new, beautiful things.

Day 3: Magical Relations

Only the contact with other people gives our life joy and meaning. Relationships are therefore crucial to our existence. A scientific study shows that in order to make up for a single complaint, be it in thoughts or words, we need ten positive thoughts or actions. Only then can the relationship with this person continue to grow. Gratitude, on the other hand, is the essence that makes relationships prosper. Today, we select the three people who mean the most to us. Then we take photos of these people and think about what we are particularly grateful to everyone. What do we love most about these people? Which are your best qualities? Then we write down the five things we value most. We make the photos clearly visible and say every time our eyes fall on it: "Thank you, mother" etc. If we travel a lot, we take the photos and repeat the ritual at least three times.

Day 4: Magical Health

As long as we're fine, we take our health for granted. Thanks to our well-being, we ensure that we continue to feel good and can even improve our vitality. Gratitude is almost magical: it reduces stress hormones, relieves tension and pain. Studies show that grateful people recover faster and live up to seven years longer. Today we thank all our limbs and sense organs. With our eyes closed, we start with our feet and legs, which carry us tirelessly through life, our hands, our hearts, our eyes, our ears. And each time we say in our thoughts, for which we thank you. Then we write on a note: "The gift of health keeps me alive." And the note comes to a clearly visible place. At least four times today we look at the note and try to feel as much gratitude as possible.

Day 5: Magic Money

If you have a lot of money, this exercise will be easy. It is a real challenge for everyone else. Because today we are grateful for our money. The whole thing runs in two steps. In the morning we try to remember situations from our childhood in which we were paid. If an experience arises in our thoughts, we thank you. These may be toys, food, admissions or travel. Then we take a bill and give it a sticker, which we write: "Thank you for all the money I have received in my life." We take this marked euro note with us and look at it as often as possible during the day. As soon as we catch ourselves moaning about lack of money, we say "stop" and consider whether we are really willing to pay the price for these lawsuits. Because they disturb the magical flow of money. Gratitude for discounts, gifts or a bonus, on the other hand, has a positive effect on our future finances. In the evening, we deposit the marked banknote in such a way that we can always take a look at this symbol for our prosperity.

Day 6: Magic of work

Actually, it is a law of logic: the more negative we are about our work, the less committed we are. The result: we are increasingly attracting more trouble, problems and difficulties. No matter what we do, we should enjoy it - even if we have not found our dream job yet. Because gratitude is the magic stuff that paves the way for us. Today we go through our working day with open eyes and mentally write down everything we are grateful for: the PC, which takes a lot of work from us, the nice colleagues, the beautiful office ... and the fact that we even have a job. Before falling asleep, we will review the list in thought and then thank the magical stone in our hands for the best that has happened to us today.

Day 7: Paths out of negativity

Relationship crises, illnesses, money worries - we all have our problems. But instead of pondering for hours, today we try to get out of the negative spiral of our thoughts and remember the things in our lives that we are grateful for. We play a game where we replace every negative thought with something that makes us happy and happy. At least we can try to see the positive aspects of a situation as well. If we lie with an infection in bed, we can say thank you for the time-out, perhaps our body urgently needed some rest. If we have problems with our partner, we can thank you for all the good relationships we have with our friends, children, colleagues. Granted, it's not always easy to find the positive, but it works. And that's why today we write a list of ten things for which we are still grateful. And at the end is the sentence: "Thank you, thank you, thank you for the perfect solution." As soon as we catch ourselves moaning or moaning, we throw out the magic lifebuoy and say, "But I have to say, I'm really grateful for ..."

Day 8: The magic ingredient

One used to pray before every meal. Today, we sincerely thank everyone for their drink and food, and for a brief moment think of the people who have contributed to making them available to us. Food and water are gifts of nature. The more consciously we enjoy our food and drinks, the more attention we give them, the more we will be able to feel gratitude for all the things that seem so natural to us in everyday life. Today, therefore, we re-estimate our happiness and write down ten things that make us grateful and note why we are. At the end of each point we say the magic word "thank you" three times. Before we eat or drink something, we focus briefly on what we do and consciously perceive it. We can also scatter magical dust over the food by moving our fingers over it as we say the magic word "thank you" as if we were distributing a magic ingredient over it.

Text: Christiane Schönemann

There are even more exercises for more gratitude in the Happinez booklet "Weisheit" - available in the Happinez Webshop

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