By Debra LeClair Psy.D.
Think about what it feels like to have gratitude. One of the meditations we do on occasion in the Meditation 101 class is to become aware of the people, places, things and situations in which we have gratitude for, in that moment. So I invite you to literally take 2 minutes right now to close your eyes and try it out…The very cool thing about being in a state of gratitude is that it is incompatible with feeling a sense of negativity and lack. Experiencing scarcity creeps up on all us, especially as we spend time pointing out to ourselves that nothing ever works right–from the timing of the traffic lights to the self-serve lines at the grocery store to the dynamics of family get-togethers. It also lives at a deeper level where we never feel that we have enough talent, money, intelligence or love. Psychologically, this is an inevitable set up for a great deal of suffering.
Gratitude on the other hand, can lead the mind and heart into focusing on what is working well and what happily exists in our lives. Also, it inspires us to be in touch with what is possible, in the present moment and into the future. When attention on what is positive for us increases, so does our belief. To name a few examples, seeing you were able to complete a project with great outcomes or waking up to how much support you really do have from your friends produces the momentum to generate more affirmative conditions that we also know as abundance. Why? Because you start to see it already in existence in your life—it therefore, becomes more accessible and your confidence in your own ability to connect to joy and satisfaction blooms. Plugging into what you already know to be true sets the intention to attract and give rise to more of that positive stuff. The trick is to understand that as humans, we will tend to move back into the default mode of seeing the lack, but that spending time in gratitude is the most authentic way to make the shift to abundance, over and over again.
