By Lorraine Cohen www.lorrainecohen.com
“Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf. If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed, and your capacity to draw on its gifts will be diminished. To be grateful is to find blessings in everything, This is the most powerful attitude to adopt, for there are blessings in everything.” ~ Alan Cohen
This morning as I awoke to the rain falling, I thought, “I wonder what blessings will be coming my way today?” I was inspired to begin my day with this curiosity from a conversation I had with a friend last night.
How you start your day sets the tone and the energy that moves through your day. If you begin from a centered space, you can flow with life with more ease and Grace.
I’ve been playing with the intention of seeing the blessings in everything for many years. Sometimes it has been challenging and yet, when I look deeper, I always find several gold nuggets to enrich my life.
One of my greatest teachers is my sweet 15-year old cat Cassie who is dealing with kidney disease. Despite ongoing bouts of diarrhea and some vomiting she continues to be engaged and playful. What she teaches me is to not see her as ill, rather to see her as “being” who she is and loving her “there.” And when the sadness comes, it is a blessing to feel and release the pain of losing her when it is time to let her go.
She continues to bless me in learning patience, trusting my intuition in taking care of her and myself, fully show up and appreciate the special loving moments we share. She is teaching me to surrender and let go and how to stand strong when my heart breaks.
Blessings come in many forms, shapes and sizes.
Recognizing blessings can be tricky because the mind is so quick to label experiences as positive or negative.
It’s easy to feel gratitude when things go the way you like and want. It’s a common response to resist and react negatively when things seem to go awry or present unwanted challenges.
* The people who push you buttons help you learn so much about yourself
* A difficult relationship can help you find your voice, your value, and your power.
* Losing a job may lead you to your life’s passion and purpose.
* A health challenge may help you cultivate self-love and forgiveness.
* A delay in moving forward may be a Divine redirection to something even better.
* Obstacles may help you discover what you really, really, want.
What if you saw every challenge, every perceived problem, every annoyance, every person and situation as an opportunity to heal, grow, and spiritually evolve AND make a difference in the world.
What if EVERYTHING in your life was brilliantly created (by YOU) to help you dissolve barriers, heal inner wounds, replace illusions with deeper truth, and bring you closer to your higher Divine Self?
What if every experience was designed to bring you “home” to Love and peace so that you could also help to heal the world?
How would your world change?
What would you be thinking, feeling, seeing, saying and doing differently?
Asking the right questions can reveal hidden gifts especially when you stop, tune into your heart and body and connect with your inner guidance..
When facing challenges and repetitive themes, awareness brings illumination.
1. What message does the experience bring? What is your spirit trying to tell you?
2. What have you been resisting that you know in your heart is true? A feeling, an action?
3. What story are you standing in? What is your truth/the truth?
4. What are you being called to claim and OWN?
5. What is yours to heal?
Begin each day with a grateful heart. Look for the blessings in your daily life in the shadows and in plain view.
Notice the beauty, the simple pleasures, the things that delight you, the things that stretch you out of your comfort zone to follow your heart, the ways in which you are being called to show up and stand in your power… and be open to see how Divinely supported and loved you really are.
Love and blessings,
Lorraine
Founder of Powerfull Living, Rev. Lorraine Cohen (United States) is an internationally recognized life architect, spiritual guide, inspirational speaker, and heart healer. For more than 25 years, Lorraine has assisted thousands of women who value the inner journey, have the courage and passion to go deeper and create massive changes in themselves to reach higher states of consciousness and be of the greatest service to the world; to live a life that is awake and authentic and to create a reality that is conscious, deliberate and meaningful. www.lorrainecohen.com