These boxes come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are labeled “I’m a victim” others, “nothing works out for me” or “I’m not good enough” and still others “I’ve got to push real hard to make things go the way I want them to.”  What is your box labeled? We all have them.  It’s simply a part of the consciousness of humanity. Some of us have made our boxes really elaborate!

 But when we begin a practice of gratitude, we begin to peek out of our box and see that, in fact, there may be beauty all around us. We begin to notice that there may be an underlying order and harmony in our lives. We begin to understand that we may, in fact, be Sourced by the Infinite and that Source is limitless.  It’s not always completely obvious…we may have to look real hard to find it. Sometimes we can see only the possibility of limitless good.  Or we see it working in other’s lives and we open to the idea that it may actually be possible in ours as well.

And then sometimes we discount it, rationalize it, disown it and go back into our little box.  After all, it’s comfortable in there.  We’ve grown accustomed to it.  We’ve spend our whole lives there.  So it takes effort to open the box again, and then still more effort to keep it open.  That effort is a daily practice of proactive gratitude (click here for a reminder of what those steps are).  When we practice daily proactive gratitude we are keeping the box open.  We are “owning” the good all around us.  As we do this, we are actually activating the possibility in our lives of that which we had only caught a glimpse of while we were peeking out of our box.  We are activating the possibility, so that that possibility becomes a manifest reality.  The possibility of opportunity becomes opportunity. The possibility of harmony becomes the reality of order and purpose in our lives. The possibility of limitless good becomes the reality of increased prosperity.

Once that possibility has become an actuality in our lives…once we see and live in “Divine grace”…we can no longer go back into that little box.  We’ve outgrown it for good. We are now living in gratitude every day.  And that’s when magic happens.

It all start though by just peeking out of the box…noticing the blessings, noticing the good in our lives…celebrating the good, and documenting the good by writing it down daily.  That’s our practice. That’s the practice that liberates us from the box and allows us to experience an amazing life.

The same is true for each one of us. At any moment, you have the choice to choose what you will experience.  I hope you’ll choose to discover…to uncover…the blessing in every experience.  Then, you will never be a victim again. That’s true freedom.

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I am grateful for such a fabulous day…sun shining, cool, moist and sparkling.

I am so grateful for the wonderful dinner with friends…people  who enthusiastically enjoy life!

I am grateful for really good bluegrass music…live.

I am grateful my daughter showed signs of maturity today…handling disappointment with grace as she cheered on others who took the prize. Hurray for her!

I am grateful for that tree today, that is feeling it’s innate “spring-ness” and despite the fact that we have another month of winter, at least, is beginning to bud.  What trust.

This is the experiment. This is what we’re out to prove on an individual and a collective level.  Make a commitment to log in and post your gratitudes every evening before going to bed…or every morning when you rise.  Whatever suites you best.

On to gratitudes…

I’m so grateful that my house is clean from top to bottom and I didn’t have to do it!  God bless Christina.

I’m grateful for the loving support of everyone in my Keys Club Meeting. 

I am grateful for the beauty of the trees in winter…you get to see the bones of the trees. 

I am grateful my daughter is sleeping through the night more nights than not now.  We’re all more rested. I’m so grateful!