Gratitude and the Coming Holidays

I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude lately. All of us, no matter what our circumstances, have reasons to be grateful.

With all the chaos happening in the world today there is a lot of worry and concern, especially about financial matters. We can choose to focus our thoughts and energy on the fear and the ‘news’, or we can consciously choose to think about what we have in our lives to be grateful for.

You may think that it is necessary to focus your thoughts on: ‘how to get out of this mess?’ or ‘what can I do to keep my family safe?’ when, in reality, all you truly have to do is be the love that you are and pay attention to the opportunities that present themselves. And they are presenting every day.

Most of us are so set on following the path we’ve chosen that we miss the quite lovely side roads as we go zooming past. This can be true even for some of us who have chosen a spiritual path. For some reason, the human personality tends to choose the straight path most of the time. Even when we make a major change at some point and take a new direction, we tend to feel the path is now set and, after a while, we forget to look around.

The truth is - - Life is a grand adventure! It’s all in the choices. Don’t most of us have wishes and dreams? Let us, for a moment, be as little children and believe that our dreams can come true. But how can we make our dreams come true, especially the way the world is today?

We can spend some time every day focusing our minds and hearts on being grateful for what is already there. That creates a new energy and like draws like energy. We don’t do the gratitude exercise to get more stuff, but to create the atmosphere of loving gratitude for our own joy. There is a bonus here - - by being the example of our living, loving, God selves for our families and ultimately the world, everything begins to change.

How do you suppose our children have become so intent on how much they can get for Christmas? We can blame television and their friends, but they learn their lessons first at home. When we become less focused on how to get more and more and begin to live in gratitude, our children will imitate do the same. It isn’t what we tell them as much as who we are that forms their ideas and behavior.

So if you want to make a happier, more loving atmosphere this holiday season - - choose loving gratitude, in how you think and behave - - and your family will follow.

I created you a little book as a gift for my family and friends. I liked it so much I’m sharing it with you. It’s called “My Gratitude Journal” and you can see it at www.lulu.com/pennymccoy

I’m wishing you, love and joy this Holiday Season, and all the gratitude your heart can hold. I’m grateful for you, my faithful readers. Many blessings!

Gifts

I think I had forgotten for a while, why I started to blog in the first place. I have had, and continue to have, some wonderful thoughts that I consider to be gifts from the Universe. Sometimes they work themselves around in my mind until I know I have to share them. That is what blogging is to me. It was also the inspiration for my books.

Lately I have been putting so much of my energy into trying to figure out what to do with my life. The plans I had haven’t worked out and I’m staring into, what I have seen recently as a bleak future. How could I write blogs that would uplift people and lend hope in these troubled times feeling that way? A couple of days ago I made a commitment to myself that I would do whatever it took to find my way out of my negativity.

As usual, the Universe has sent me a wonderful multi layered gift. A friend suggested I read a little book called “The Go-Giver”, by Bob Burg and John David Mann. The multi layer part is the recognition of the importance of my friends. I have wonderful, loving, beautiful, friends and I give thanks for them. All of the people in our lives add to the intricate tapestry that is our lives.

Then there is the book! I encourage you all to find a copy of this little book and read it with an open heart. It says it is a “powerful business idea” but I see it as a beautiful life lesson. I would love to tell you all about it here but I believe you may be better served by letting the story unfold for you and seeing what ever it is you are to see as a result of your own experience. I read the entire book in a couple of hours.

I found it at my local library. Libraries are one of the best kept secrets of our time. They are an opportunity to try out lots of books to find the ones we are most served by. The library is also a place to find books to help relax and to find a laugh or a cry, whatever we need for that day. When we find a special book we can then purchase it, to have it around, like an old friend, for reference and comfort.

So I did have something to share after all. This time I started with gratitude and let the words just flow. Thank you, my friends, for giving me this opportunity to share with you once again, the thoughts and ideas that flow through.

I wish you all the blessing of friendship and a strong awareness of your own value.

Montserrat

Just back from Montserrat (that’s the Caribbean island where the volcano has been active since 1995) such a beautiful and amazing place.

We met loving friendly people who are choosing to stay on their island, in spite of the difficulties, to rebuild their homes and their country. The place is bustling with activity in the north where new houses and even a new town are being constructed to replace the areas destroyed by the volcano.

I have been traveling in the Caribbean for over 20 years and have never been anywhere where the people are so in love with their island. Other places have pride and joy in their culture and their homes but in Montserrat there is a powerful sense of gratitude and a love that surpasses anything I have experienced anywhere else.

So many people left after their homes were destroyed. But the ones who stayed have such a wonderful attitude about the rebuilding and the land itself. They showed us the areas of destruction and photos of the way things were before the time of crisis with an attitude of quiet pride and gratitude that they have survived the destruction and are rebuilding.

It may not be your typical Caribbean vacation but it was one of the best I’ve ever had. Between the ease of finding everything and the friendliness of the people it was the getaway to paradise of my dreams. There are lots of villas available for rent at very reasonable rates, some guest houses and a hotel. The beaches are virtually deserted most weekdays so you feel like you are alone in the world. There are hiking and diving tours available and of course the tours so you will know your way around.

I sat on a rock on the beach where the Belham Valley meets the sea. The valley including a golf course and a number of beautiful homes are buried under 30 feet of mud and ash. I was powerfully moved by the strength of the island formed over hundreds of thousands of years with the sea bathing the shores like a mother soothing a child’s feverish body. Amazingly, it felt so serene and soothing in spite of the chaos and destruction.

As the sea washed in and out moving little pieces of shell and rock I realized how transient everything is in our lives. We mighty humans build and create such wonderful structures but we put way too much importance on the things. We are a part of an amazing whole. We are one with all that is. We are the created and the creator. We have value as living the experiences of life. Our greatest gifts are based in love and gratitude. We are not better or worse, higher or lower, more or less important than anything or anyone else. Each of us is a unique creation, an aspect of the universal God/Love existence. Time and nature moves all physical reality but the spirit remains.

We found our old friend Shaka Black resting at home in Montserrat, getting ready to tour some more. There will be more about that later. Check back and see what else we discovered in our travels.