start monday with gratitude
week 19
Welcome to Week 19, lovely soul.
Below you'll find the video and video transcript introducing you to this week's quote and musings.
Scroll further and you'll discover this week's daily exercises, high vibe tune, and downloadable wallpapers.
video transcript
It’s all about perspective.
Whether a rose has thorns or thorns have roses, it’s all the same thing. It’s a rose. The difference is how you choose to look at it.
When you’re faced with an obstacle in your path where does your mind naturally go? Do you automatically start to think about what could go wrong? Do you immediately start to list all the possible negatives, all the thorns?
Or is your mind open to the prospect that something good will come of the experience? That, through obstacles along your life’s path, you grow and learn and turn into a beautiful rose?
Here’s the thing. If you focus on the negative, if you focus on the thorns, you’ll only ever see the thorns. The beauty of the rose will be lost on you because all you can see are the thorns. And, guess what, the more you focus on the thorns the more you’ll find and, because you’re so aware and cautious about the thorns on the rose’s stem, what happens when you pick the rose? You get pricked by a thorn!
And when you get pricked by a thorn, what happens? You curse that thorn and, again, your focus is solely on the thorn and the beauty of the rose is lost on you.
It’s a vicious circle.
It’s exactly the same with anything in life. If you live a life of not-enoughness and lack where all you focus on are the things you don’t have in your life, the things you feel are missing and which would create a fulfilled life, you’ll never be able to see, appreciate and be grateful for all the blessings you already have in your life.
And when all you focus on is not-enoughness and lack, do you think good things will come into your life? You could be blessed with the most beautiful miracles in your life but because you’re so focused on and consumed by the lack, you’re blind to the miracles and opportunities that come your way… and pass you by. And, as a result, your life remains one that is focused on lack.
Where is focusing on the thorns getting you? It’s keeping you stuck. It’s keeping you trapped. And it’s keeping you in pain.
So why not focus on the rose? Why not focus on the abundance you already have in your life?
If you focus on the beauty and charm of the rose, what happens when you pick it up to admire it? Well, you might get pricked by a thorn and you might not.
But what happens if you get pricked? Do you think that prick will hurt more or less because all your focus is on something beautiful? The pain will be much less than when all your attention is on the thorn itself. Additionally, your focus on the pain of the prick will only be temporary as you’ve picked the rose to admire its beauty, not to complain about a thorn.
In life when you focus on the beauty, on the positive, on the abundance you already have, it doesn’t mean to say you’ll be free from thorns, from obstacles. What it means is that when something comes along that distracts you, that tries to pull you into a lower vibration, you’ll recognise it for what it is and experience it for as long as it is necessary, but you will choose to bounce back and focus on the beauty, on the positivity, on abundance you have in your life. And by doing so you attract more beauty, more positivity, more abundance into your life.
daily gratitude practice
monday
Think of a time when you were faced with a challenge and all you focused on were the negatives, the things that you perceived could go wrong.
And then, when the outcome came about, it was every bit as negative as you perceived.
You could say it was a case of “Ughhhh… I knew that would happen”.
Even though you expected the worst and received exactly what you expected, how did you feel?
Did you feel triumphant that you were able to foresee the outcome? Or did you feel low that what you expected, really happened?
Where did focusing on the negatives and expected the worst, get you? How did that benefit you? Did it benefit you in anyway?
And do you think that by focusing on the negative and expecting a negative result that you lowered your vibration and actually ended up receiving an outcome of similar vibration to your expectations?
tuesday
Think of a time when you were faced with a challenge and you chose to focus on the positive, you chose to expect something good to come out of it.
Then the outcome came and, indeed, the result was positive.
How did it feel to focus on the positive and expected a good outcome? And how did it feel when a positive outcome came about?
Did it encourage you to think positively in future when other challenges cross your path?
Do you feel you had any influence over the outcome by seeking out and expecting a positive result or was it just ‘chance’?
Do you think that, because you expected something positive and therefore raised your vibration to a higher level that you, perhaps, attracted an outcome with a similar vibration?
wednesday
Think of a time when you were faced with a challenge and you chose to focus on the positive, you chose to expect something good to come out of it.
Then the outcome came about, and it wasn’t the best outcome, it wasn’t the outcome you had expected or wanted; things didn’t go your way.
When you remember the outcome you wanted and expected, did you focus on the very best outcome possible or was did you focus on an acceptable outcome? And when you think about that outcome now, could it have been better? And, indeed, could it also have turned out worse? Although it wasn’t what you had hoped, could it have been much worse?
When you think about what you expected and what you received as the outcome, were they hugely different or do you think their vibrations may have been relatively similar? Although focused on the positive, were you actually ‘playing it safe’ and not hoping for too much?
Think about how you would have felt if you had focused on and expected the worst outcome and you had received exactly what you expected, how much worse would that have been compared to expecting something positive and receiving the outcome you did?
Can you see that, although things may not have worked out the way you would have liked or wished, that they probably worked out better than they might have? And can you see that, perhaps, the vibration of your expectation could have been higher giving you a better possibility of attracting a better result towards you?
thursday
Think of as many challenges, both big and small, that you have faced over the last 2 to 3 years.
How many times have you expected a negative outcome and how many times have you expected a positive outcome?
Which type of outcome do you find your expectations are more naturally drawn towards; negative or positive? In other words, do you tend to focus on the thorns more or on the rose?
And how often have you received the outcome you’ve expected?
friday
Think of challenges that may be currently sitting on your path, both big and small.
Having spent a number of weeks training your brain towards the higher vibrational frequency of gratitude, when you consider the outcomes of those challenges, are you tending towards more positive expected outcomes or are you tending towards more negative expected outcomes?
There’s no right answer here. I simply want you to observe your thinking and where your expectations stand today compared with where they were in the past.
If you find you’re tending more towards positive expectations, more so than you were in the past, then your gratitude practice is becoming ingrained in your very being and changing your outlook and expectations in life.
If you find you still tend towards more negative expectations, it simply means that your pattern, habit and behaviour is deeply ingrained in you, and it simply takes a bit longer to change that programming. The more deeply ingrained a pattern is for us, the longer it takes to change it.
If you feel you still tend towards the negative, I invite you to look deeper and ask, “Is the negative outcome I expect as bad as would have expected in the past?” and I would suspect the answer to that is no.
saturday
Think back to a challenge where you focused and expected a negative outcome.
When you were focused on the negative, what you would have seen as the challenge progressed would have been negativity, thorns.
By recalling everything about that challenge, can you now see how many positive things and aspects you missed as a result of being focused on the negative?
sunday
Think back to a challenge where you focused and expected a positive outcome. Recall everything about that challenge in as much detail as you can.
Whether the outcome was as you expected, better than you expected, or not as good as you expected, how much positivity and goodness did you experience as a result of that challenge crossing your path?
How much did you learn from it?
How much did you grow as a result?
Can you see that even though the outcome may not have been as you wanted or expected, that you still received so much good from the experience?
and let's not forget...
Will week's high vibe tune encourage you to be a believer in gratitude?
have gratitude wherever you go...
... with this week's gratitude quote wallpaper.
Note: details of how to download this week's wallpaper is provided below.
“Some people grumble that roses have thorns. I am grateful that thorns have roses” ~ Alphonse Karr
16:9
16:10
4:3
mobile
how to download your wallpaper
desktop
Before copying one of the pictures below, you'll want to quickly check your screen settings because the worst thing you can do is use a wallpaper with an aspect ratio that differs from the aspect ratio of your screen.
The aspect ratio of a rectangle is simply the proportion between width and height. The most common are 16:9, 16:10 and 4:3. And it will be for these 3 sizes that I shall provide you with your free wallpaper.
To find your screen resolution follow this basic guide. Steps for your computer may vary slightly but I hope this will give you some guidance:
- Right-click the desktop and select Display settings.
- Scroll down until you see "Resolution" (you may have to choose an "Advanced" option)
- To find your aspect ratio, divide the width over the height. For example, if my resolution is 1920 x 1080 then I would divide 1920 over 1080 to get 1.778, which indicates a 16:9 resolution. Similarly, 1.6 indicated 16:10 and 1.333 indicates 4:3
- When you've calculated your screen's aspect ratio, go to the picture below that matches that size
- Right click on the picture and select "Set as Desktop Background"
- Choose whether to "Fill", "Fit", or "Stretch" your picture - if you've chosen the right size "Fit" will be your best option
- Select "Set Desktop Background" and you're done
android mobile
- First, save the wallpaper image to your phone by pressing your finger on the wallpaper image and hold down on it until you see a menu.
- From here, click the “Save image” tab, and it will begin downloading.
- The next step is to set this saved image as your wallpaper by pressing and holding a blank area on your screen (meaning where no apps are placed), and home screen options will appear.
- Select 'add wallpaper' and choose whether the wallpaper is intended for 'Home screen', 'Lock screen', or 'Home and lock screen'.
- Another set of options will appear where you can choose where the photo you would like to use will be coming from, namely the Gallery.
- If necessary, crop the image to a suitable size. Once satisfied, simply click 'Done'.
ios smartphone
- First, save the wallpaper image to your phone by pressing your finger on the wallpaper image and hold down for about 2 seconds until a menu appears.
- From here, click “Save Image“, and it will begin downloading.
- The next step is to set this saved image as your wallpaper by, first, going to the 'Photos' app and selecting the wallpaper photo you've saved there.
- Click on the share icon on the lower left corner of the screen, then select 'Use as Wallpaper'.
- Then choose to set the photo as either the lock screen, home screen or both.