When I was younger, I would get very uncomfortable when someone expressed their gratitude for something I had done. It just made me feel really embarrassed and I would instantly brush it off. It is only in the last few years, that I feel like, I have really been able to accept people's gratitude.
I love to do things for others, I love to be helpful and I have always offered a helping hand or listening ear to anyone who needed it. I also worked in mental health for quite a few years, where both of these things are essential for the job. But in my personal life, I was always someone, people felt comfortable turning too and opening up too.
So much so, that I found it really hard to draw boundaries and would often end up feeling drained. I really wanted to be there for my friends, but first I needed to be there for myself. That is something that took a long time, for me to accept and take responsibility for. I need to be able to express my needs and be able to say no also! That is always something, that I struggled with.
Because I really wanted to be liked, I craved it, I guess it comes from growing up in a home where I felt abandoned and unappreciated. Well not guessed,because now, now I know!
But we all have our limits and we need to take time to recharge our batteries and this is something that we need to be open and honest about. I also really wanted to be strong and independent, I wanted to prove it to myself and the world, cos I really did not want to depend on anyone for anything,because that way, how could anyone let me down? I was of course deceiving myself!
On the other hand, I had no problems expressing my gratitude to others, expressing my gratitude towards nature.
It is something, I always felt very strongly about. It stems from my strong connection to the earth, something I have maintained, throughout my life. I have expressed that, by the way in which I live my life, in the lifestyle that I have chosen for me and my children. Because this is one of the most powerful ways we can express our gratitude to mother nature. By respecting her and living in harmony with her. The choices we make, can be some of the most powerful acts of gratitude!
Choices about what we eat, whether we choose to eat food, that has been grown in soil that has been heavily sprayed with chemicals, soil that is depleted of any life or to eat, naturally grown food, that promotes earthcare, that promotes a more regenerative way of life.
The same can be said for how we treat people and animals. It is really important to express our gratitude towards those who have been helpful to us, but it is even more important to express our friendship with an open heart and from a place if love. To be accepting of those who come into our lives and give them the space to be who they are.
Of course this is not always easy, as we tend to get caught up in our own feelings, but if we are more mindful in the way in which we interact with others. allow ourselves to be more present and more understanding, we are then more able to give and receive gratitude.
Like everything, it al starts with how we treat ourselves and the way in which we show gratitude to our own self, to our being. It is linked into the food we choose to eat, to the way in which we choose to live. It is all connected! As all things are, because what we do to the earth, we do unto ourselves!
Perhaps making that connection, is in itself one of the most important ways in which we can express our gratitude!
Now back to the beginning, to how I really struggled with accepting gratitude, because I didn't feel worthy. I did not want anyone focusing on me, it felt like too much pressure, because when someone shines a light on you, you never know what will rise to the surface. A act of kindness towards someone, can be enough to knock down walls, walls that they built around themselves. So it is easier to just make light of it, to brush it off.
Over the years, I have learnt more and more, about the power of gratitude and how it opens the doors to abundance! It goes hand in hand, because what we put our energy into, where we choose to place our focus, that is what we will receive!
Taking the time to observe your surroundings, to really allow yourself to become in tune with the land around you, that opens up a relationship that is based on gratitude and that leads to abundance. Once you open yourself up to receive that is!
Taking the time to acḱnowledge all that we have, all that we have received is integral to our growth as human beings. Understanding that in order to receive we first have to give and that this is what opens the door to abundance and allows it to flow into our lives!
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