Happy Thanksgiving Week

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Let us rise up and be thankful, for
if we didn’t learn a lot today, at
least we learned a little, and if
we didn’t learn a little, at least
we didn’t get sick, and if we
got sick, at least we didn’t die;
so, let us all be thankful.
-Buddha

I don’t know if your experience
in life has been the same as mine,
but things don’t always do the way
I want them to. Life inevitably has
it’s ups and downs. Challenges
come my way from time-to-time.
I have not yet figured out a way to
live an effortless and problem free
life. However, I have taped into the
next best thing. The next best thing
for me is living in gratitude. To
quote the popular saying, having
an attitude of gratitude. I believe
the greatest payer we can pray
is one of deep gratitude.

In my work as a Clinical Psychologist,
I have seen many depressed individuals
over the years. While I am not suggesting
this is a complete conceptualization of
depression, but folks who are depressed
have difficulty access feelings of gratitude.
This perspective is biased toward all that
is wrong and all they do not have. This
does not mean that depressed people
are making up ‘negative’ things, but I
am suggesting that they are likely to
filter out that which they can be grateful
for. I am not exactly suggesting positive
thinking. I am suggesting more of what
I call inclusive thinking. That is
acknowledging it all. The good, the
bad, and the ugly.

There is always something to be grateful
for. It may be things. People. Health.
A stable job. The list goes on and on.
Remember, I am not suggesting that
you deny the challenges. However,
don’t deny the ‘good stuff’ either.

I believe that having a deep spirit of
gratitude is contagious. It somehow
seems to give others permission to
stop and take notice for that which
they can be grateful for. Look for
opportunities to cultivate gratitude.
Keep a gratitude journal. Say prays
of gratitude. Write a letter of thanks
to someone who has positively impacted
you. Don’t miss an opportunity to say
words of appreciation and gratitude to
people in your life.

While the idea of expressing gratitude
or keeping a gratitude journal may
seem overly simplistic. I must tell
you - it works! I have a knowing from
my own experiences. I also know that
individuals who have kept a gratitude
journal for as brief as 6 weeks have
been studied and have been shown
to have a greater sense of subjective
well-being and also had increases in
immune system function.

Thanks for reading this weeks message.
I would be grateful if you considered practicing
the following daily exercises for the next week.
May it a week of gratitude and giving thanks!

7 Daily Practices:

Day one: Read this beautiful prayer from
Marianne Williamson that amplifies the
importance of gratitude and being clear
about what impact you want to have on
the world, and write your reflections in
your journal.

A New Day

Dear God,
Thank you for this new day, its beauty and its light.
Thank You for my chance to begin again.
Free me from the limitations of yesterday.
Today I am reborn.
May I become more fully a reflection of Your radiance.
Give me strength and compassion and courage and wisdom.
Show me the light in myself and others.
May I recognize the good that is available everywhere.
May I be, this day, an instrument of love and healing.
Lead me into gentle pastures.
Give me deep peace that I might serve You most deeply.

Amen.
Marianne Williamson from ‘Illuminata’.

Day two: Take at least 10 minutes to close
your eyes, quiet yourself and recollect
experiences over the past several months
when people were kind to you, you had
moments of deep appreciation for others,
you experienced a deep sense of joy and
connection with others. Imagine or
recollect these memories of gratitude
using all of your senses. Specifically
try to bring in what you saw, emotionally
felt, physically felt, heard, thought,
smelled or tasted. Visualizing past
experiences allows us to re-experience
them. Flood your mind, body and
consciousness with gratitude.

Day three: Write in a journal today for
10 minutes without stopping. Use the
statement, today I am grateful for…

Day four: Repeat the journaling exercise
from yesterday. Remember, in life what
ever you focus on you attract. A gratitude
journal is a powerful way of saturating
your consciousness with thoughts of
gratitude, which attracts more of what
you are grateful for into your life.

Day five: Tell at least one person you
are grateful for them today. Be
extremely specific for what and why
you are grateful for and why you are
blessed to have them in your life.

Day six: Write a letter to someone
who has had a positive impact on your
life. Express a heart felt appreciation
to this person. Be specific about what
they did that had a positive impact on
you. Be specific about the lasting
impact their generosity and kindness
had on your life.

Day seven: Repeat the visualization
exercise from day two. This time go
back as far in your life as you can to
recollect people, things, experiences,
occasions and accomplishments you
are grateful for. Allow yourself to fully
re-experience multiple vivid memories
of gratitude.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Dr. Mike Davison
Your Destiny Doctor
mike@PartnersInPurpose.com

P.S. Have you considered hiring a personal coach?