Q: I had many plans, with different friends scheduled this past weekend and was looking forward to all the events. Then, for various reasons, every plan got canceled.
I was extremely disappointed and sad. It effected me a lot and I was really off- kilter. How can I better handle changes like this in the future?
-- Anna from Coconut Grove
A: Gratitude is the grease of life. It makes everything move more easily. If ever I am upset, conflicted, disappointed or self-doubting, I find a way to get to gratitude. I call this a reframe --- an opportunity to see pain or suffering or disappointment from a different perspective.
It's vital, when life throws you a curve ball, to feel your feelings first. They are real and appropriate. You had sadness and felt off-kilter. There is a saying, 'Be with what is', that's the first step. Then, when you are able, shift and focus on what you have. This will open the energy field so gratitude can enter.
Sarah Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance first introduced me to the gratitude journal. Each night, she suggested, just before bed, in a beautiful notebook reserved exclusively for this exercise, record those things for which you are grateful. They can be simple or deep. Just feel the gratitude and allow it to warm your heart and dissolve all thoughts of limitation.
“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. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beady