If I’ve got a simple way to magnetize abundance, would you be interested in knowing it?
Just in case you said yes, here’s a little story to illustrate the point.
The other day one of my friends told me that I was easily pleased. I’d been saying how grateful I was that his wife pointed me in the direction of a local store that carried my favourite makeup.
Yes, I was effusive, yes I was grateful and I hadn’t realized until that moment that what he said was true…I was pretty easily pleased.
Lots of things in life lead me to a feeling of gratitude…big things, small things, intermediate sized things, but the size of gratitude is always the same, GIANT sized.
For years we’ve been reading about gratitude and the importance of it as a way to propel us out of the never ending and often negative stories we persist in telling ourselves.
And yet the power of gratitude can’t truly be known unless and until it’s practiced continually. And yes we’re counting all those little tiny ordinary moments. And yes, it’s a minute by minute, day by day practice.
So being easily pleased could be a blessing I’d never paid attention to before. The Universe is probably saying, wow she’s so easily filled with gratitude I’m going to give her more to be pleased about.
Or words to that effect…and then again maybe the Universe speaks in a more polished way…I don’t know, it’s never spoken to me out loud, so far.
Why practicing gratitude matters
Gratitude is an amazingly powerful, transformational energy.
And it doesn’t matter whether we’ve just had a rotten, miserable experience, or been feeling down, or if everything is going to hell in a hand-basket…looking at your world through the eyes of gratitude can become the new groove that’ll rock your life into a happier, more fulfilling beat.
The vibration of gratitude is much greater than that of desire, which is why it matters that we’re grateful for what we’re about to receive.
And isn’t it cool that operating from a mind set of gratitude raises our consciousness and draws our desires to us even more quickly. That works for me. I think I’ll carry on being easily pleased.
I recently heard a story of a Kirlian photographer, you know, the kind that photographs auras, and he said that for the most part when he begins to take pictures, the auras of people with busy minds are usually brown to black.
He tells them to think of a happy experience they’ve had, and the auras lighten, but it’s when he asks them to think about something they’re really grateful for that the aura becomes so large, the camera can’t photograph it’s outer limits.
Now that’s a pretty big energy force. And think of the attraction factor of that.
A happy ending
Neville Goddard tells this story:
“A very dear friend of mine, at the time the costume designer of the Music Hall in New York told me, one day, of her difficulty in working with one of the producers who invariably criticized and rejected her best work unjustly; that he was often rude and seemed deliberately unfair to her.
Upon hearing her story, I reminded her, as I am reminding you, that men can only echo to us that which we whisper to them in secret. I had no doubt but that she silently argued with the producer, not in the flesh, but in quiet moments to herself.
She confessed that she did just that each morning as she walked to work.
I asked her to change her attitude toward him, to assume that he was congratulating her on her fine designs and she, in turn, was thanking him for his praise and kindness.
This young designer took my advice and as she walked to the theater, she imagined a perfect relationship of the producer praising her work and she, in turn, responding with gratitude for his appreciation.
This she did morning after morning and in a very short while, she discovered for herself that her own attitude determined the scenery of her existence.
The behavior of the producer completely reversed itself. He became the most pleasant professional employer she had encountered.
His behavior merely echoed the changes that she had whispered within herself. What she did was by the power of imagination.
Her fantasy led his; and she, herself, dictated to him the discourse they eventually had together, at the time she was seemingly walking alone.”
Practicing gratitude
Whatever we’re grateful for increases. Being grateful for any success, however tiny, and we’ll experience greater success.
Being grateful for the simple pleasures of life and we’ll be given more of them.
Even in adversity there’s an opportunity to be grateful, grateful that we’re awake enough to recognize we have the power to make changes, to grow and expand.
And because gratitude has magnetic power, here’s a smart trick to magnetize more abundance.
At the end of every day, write down three good things that happened and say thank you.
Maybe you want to begin with the basics. Gratitude for your level of love security and well being.
You could feel grateful for your kids, your family, your friends, your pets.
You had a pleasant encounter in a store.
Your car is working well. Or travel, in any way, was easy.
You’re grateful for good service.
You had a lovely meal, no matter what it was.
Practice present moment gratitude…I do this one frequently throughout my day. I simply say thank you, thank you.
Be grateful for the sunshine, or the rain.
Every day practice pinpointing those little or large things to be grateful for.
I’ve been using this particular gratitude practice for some months now, and I find that it’s become so much easier and quicker for me to spot loads of things to be thankful for.
I truly am grateful for small mercies, as my grandma used to say. And now, thanks to my friend, I’ve learned that being easily pleased is just another aspect of the gratitude trail I’m on.
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Albert Schweitzer
The bottom line
The practice of gratitude will rock your world. It’s a brilliant and effortless and dare I say instant way to have a huge impact on the way your life is working and as if that wasn’t enough, it’ll magnetize all those great things you desire to experience even quicker.
And there’s more: it feels wonderful to be grateful, and to savor our happy experiences on a consistent basis because this changes not only the course of one day, but of the whole week and before too long our entire life.
I know this really isn’t news to us, it certainly isn’t revolutionary, but it is a reminder to some of us who might need a gentle nudge to complain and worry less, and be thankful more often, because gratitude is the foundation stone upon which abundance is built.
We’d love to hear in the comments below any gratitude techniques or prayers you have, or maybe you’ve had fabulous experiences as a result of an attitude of gratitude.
As always, your point of view could make all the difference to someone in our global community.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
30 Comments
Hi Elle,
I like your concept of gratitude and i also believe that gratitude and deeply felt visualisation is a great force for materialising your desires.
Even if briefly , allow yourself to enter a a state where you can actually feel yourself in possession of the thing that you longed for.For that brief duration disconnect yourself from the feeling of longing .Only implant yourself in an expansive field of “havingness”.You really have what you like .You are in possession within this moment.It is yours,just like it was belonging to someone else or it could belong to another in future as well .It is yours at this moment,and will last like this forever .Allow your happiness ,your relief, your gratitude and natural feeling of power to pour out into your reality.
Nature likes the soft effortless approach.Motivating yourself with visualisation of your end result is the most effortless tool you can leverage your chances with.
you can attain your success with true belief in the outcome.
Thanks
Mona
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Thanks for stopping by Mona…it’s always great to see your perspective on life..you put it so well. 🙂
Hi Ellie, its easy to be grateful for the beauty and good times, harder to show gratitude for the hard times.
Isn’t that the truth Karen, which is why practicing gratitude on a daily basis makes it so much easier to still find it when ‘the rain sets in’. Love what Melodie Beattie says ‘Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.’ Wish I’d said that 🙂
I wish I had said it too!! But you say many wonderful things Elle. While reading your comment, I thought about the connection of Gratitude and forgiveness. We can’t have one without the other.
Like that Karen…great point indeed. 🙂 And thank you for your kind words.
My gratitude technique comes from Stoicism and it’s called “negative visualization.” It is periodically envisioning the worst-case scenario in your head so that you can open your eyes and relish in the fact that you have what you have. You can summarize it is practicing wanting what you already have to truly appreciate the things in life.
Hi Vincent, I used to be a worst case scenario person, but sadly it didn’t work for me…I just seemed to end up with more worst case experiences. Maybe I wasn’t in the right space to get good results.
We’re all so unique in the ways that we manifest the best life we can. I’m happy that ‘negative visualization’ works for you, kiddo. As the saying goes, if it’s not broken don’t need to fix it. 🙂
Hi Elle!
I love this about the Universe – “it’s never spoken to me out loud, so far.”
Easily pleased? I would have said I am content. Would the word “Complete” be a powerful substitute for both terms?
I know Ken Wert has a challenge on now – to not complain for a week. I was thinking as I read this post that substituting a thought of gratitude for a complaint might be a good way to do that. Nature abhors a vacuum. 😉
Happy Wednesday!
Lori
Hi Lori and thanks for stopping by and sharing your insights. What you say is so great…because at the end of the day, it’s always about the ‘feeling’ and for some the ‘thank you’ feeling expands their hearts and for others another feeling works better. *Love* the idea of switching a thought of gratitude for a complaint. Wow, that’ll take us and keep us in great states of mind. 🙂
Elle, you have given us another fine article, thank you !
Recently, I had enlisted a business partner for a well outlined and simply structured venture that would yield a quick and not unsubstantial return.
Just prior to finalizing the project, he called to withdraw his investment.
My immediate reaction was being hit by a wave of frustration, anger and loss.
As he continued to talk, I found myself making the choice to have the conversation end with gratitude and abundance. To be succinct, by the end of the phone call he ended up providing me with two other investors for the deal.
You are spot on, gratitude truly does magnetize abundance !
Write on, Elle !
What a great story of turning something around pretty instantly by moving into a state of gratitude and abundance Joseph. Always love hearing evidence of these laws of life operating. Well truth be told we’re the director of them in our world. So kudos to you for great direction. 🙂
Elle,
Love both stories you tell! I’m with you all the way. I have gratitude journals, we state gratitude out loud in the car, what is really refreshing is practicing it while waiting in line. Louise Hay talk me 20 years ago to be grateful in advance. That may be my favorite. I just want to fill my cells with gratitude and happiness. xo
Now that’s a great idea Tess, car gratitude sounds great and the being grateful in advance is using the laws of life in the best possible way. Kudos Tess…and thanks for sharing your gratitude ways. 🙂
Elle
Our culture is adept in throwing meaningful words into a bowl filled with other words of all sorts. Gratitude is one such word.
Your post is unique because of the way you’ve approached how to and why it is worth working at making gratitude part of the fiber of your life.
Thanks so much. Fran
Good point Fran…and isn’t there a huge difference between reading and speaking about gratitude and the actual daily practice of it. It enhances life in a huge way. 🙂
Ah yes, gratitude! I’m an intellectual and problem-server by trade and when I started my journey I shunned gratitude as a practice because all I needed was my mind and focussed attention to go get what I wanted. I was mighty, oh yes, but not getting much other than frustration.
When you get your head around the idea that you’ve already been given everything you desire and that it is your emotions and continual state of being and letting what you are wanting come to you, does gratitude not only make sense but be something we naturally gravitate to anyway without much effort. It’s a pretty good deal to know that I can effortlessly experience everything I am wanting by my states of being! Gratitude comes from a person who ‘has’ and is rarely found in a person grasping or trying to ‘get’.
Hmm, long reply but felt passionate about that as I know it will be of value to your readers as it was to reminding myself of it! Sounds like you’ve got it worked out already, Elle, and I’m grateful for all your nourishing posts!
Great comment Alba…keep them coming! And it’s oh so true…just as we can’t sit and stand at the same time, nor can we want and have at the same time. We’re doing one or the other. And I’m happy you’re enjoying the posts. 🙂
Very nice photo.. Your post makes a lot of sense. Showing gratitude is a simple gesture but creates a big impact to the type of person you are. 🙂
Thanks for joining the conversation Sue it’s lovely to have you share your point of view. 🙂
A woman after my own heart! It’s such a beautiful practise. And unlike some practises, it has instant results and is a joy to do!
Thanks Elle!
Welcome Jill and thanks for sharing your thoughts – I so agree with you. 🙂
Ok, so Vincent’s comment to your lovely post resonated with me. I would love to say that I was once a “worst case scenario” kind of person; however, this type of thought process still comes into my life from time to time. This is why I make an effort to exercise my faith in knowing that I am not in control of the outcomes. “EXERCISE” is the operative word here… With that said, I believe that gratitude is active in my life when I acknowledge all of the opportunities for me to exercise my inner virtues in the here and now.
Nice to hear from you again Ajen. It’s always really cool to hear another perspective and a way of living in the world that works really well for someone. So appreciate you stopping by and share your insights. 🙂
I love the way you incorporated visualisation and gratitude. I practice hem both individually but I can see the potential n combining them.
Interesting Barbara that you use both practices separately. I was wondering if you had any experiences you’d be willing to share with your individual practices? 🙂
Hi Elle…just got around to reading this post and have to say “THANK YOU!” 🙂 I honestly believe we can’t be reminded enough to fill every single day (and lots of moments) with gratitude. Last November I did a 30 days of Gratitude Challenge on my website and it was such a gift to me. By forcing myself every single day to come up with a gratitude post (and a post to my Facebook page I was looking everywhere for gratitude and funny thing, I found TONS of things to be grateful for. And who was it that said, “It’s impossible to be unhappy and grateful at the same time?” At ay rate I too want to be live life “easy to please.” Thanks again for a great post….Kathy
Wow Kathy…I’m heading over to take a look at your 30 day gratitude challenge, what a super idea. We tend to find what we’re looking for don’t we. And like you I find if I’m on the lookout for gratitude or abundance…I get to see it and experience it. I’m happy you’re joining me on being ‘easily pleased’ it’s kind of cool to have a fellow journier (okay I made that word up). 🙂
I’m the oldest of 7 and the mother of 5. Material possessions have never been the source of happiness for me. Probably due to the fact that they were not in abundance however, happiness was. I learned at young age to be grateful for all that I had, most especially the little things. That is where happiness is found. The ability to be grateful and to show it is a one of life’s secret treasures. Your right it does bring abundance to our lives. I’m so glad I stumbled upon your blog. I am writing a post today about the selfish and destructive influence of the “I deserve it” mind set and I will definitely remember to highlight the the role that a lack of gratitude has in creating it.
How absolutely beautiful Keiko. And funnily enough behind the desire for every material possession is the desire to feel happy. So feeling happy to start with puts a whole new light on the topic. Thank you for taking the time to leave these lovely thoughts. You bless us with your presence. 🙂