start monday with gratitude

week 25

Welcome to Week 25, 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.

When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in

Kristin Armstrong

video transcript

We often talk about the tide of emotions we feel every day. On any one day we can experience a whole plethora of emotions ranging from love and joy to fear and sadness. And, just like the tide, they ebb and flow from moment to moment.

And whilst we should focus on gratitude to release the tides of disappointment and welcome in the tides of love, it would be a mistake to ignore or try to avoid those tides that bring with them lower vibrations such as sadness, grief, disappointment.

Because just as the tide ebbs and flows, moving in and moving out in both directions, so too do we experience emotions from each end of the spectrum. However just as the tide is in constant movement, changing every moment, so too are our emotions when we focus on gratitude.

If the tide of love were to exist without the tide of disappointment, we would succumb and drown as the ocean washes in and swamps the beach. And if the tide of disappointment were to exist without the tide of love, we would be swept away into the dark depths of the ocean where we would also drown.

Like everything in nature, there has to be a balance. In order for us, as humans, to appreciate the high vibrations of love and joy, we need to have an appreciation, a recognition for the lower vibrations.

So, whilst we focus on gratitude to return the tides of disappointment and welcome in the tides of love, we still need to honour and respect each end of the emotional spectrum. To live in denial of the lower emotions that flow into our life every day is to live in denial of our wholeness.

However, recognising and acknowledging the emotions related to disappointment, those at the lower end of the spectrum, is very different from dwelling on those emotions and allowing the tide of disappointment to wash over you, forcing you to tread water.

You can only tread water for so long, lovely soul.

So, when you feel the tide of disappointment approach you, acknowledge it but don’t let it wash over you. Rather turn your thoughts to gratitude and watch the tide of disappointment go out and be replaced with the tide of gratitude.

daily gratitude practice

Today is a day of observation.

Spend today simply observing the range of emotions you experience.

Don’t give your emotion a name (eg happy or sad) and don’t try to change your emotion at any time, simply observe it; observe how it feels within your body and if/how your body and mind react in response to that emotion.

Today is a day of labelling.

Spend today, again, observing your emotions. Only when an emotion arises today, I invite you to put a label on it.

For example, is a positive emotion joy, love, gratitude, happiness?

Is a negative emotion sadness, depression, anger, fear, hurt?

Is it easy to label each and every emotion? Or is it easier to stick to only a couple of labels?

When we stick to only a couple of labels we don’t get a full sense of that emotion, how it feels in our body, how our body and mind reacts.

Labelling each individual emotion gives us greater insight and understanding.

Today is a day of feeling.

Spend today feeling into your emotions and how they feel in your body.

Do they feel light or do they feel heavy, for example?

Write down as much information about your emotions as possible.

Today is a day of transitioning.

Recall a negative memory. It can be a memory when you felt sad, hurt, scared, angry… any low vibrational emotion.

Recall this memory in as much detail as you can. Re-experience that memory as if it is currently happening.

When you feel you are fully re-experiencing that memory, add labels to the emotion (or emotions) you are experiencing.

Then begin to change your emotion to one that is positive by working up the scale of emotions according to their frequency.

So, first, move your low frequency emotion to the higher frequency emotion of courage.

When you feel you are experiencing courage, move higher again to neutrality.

When you feel you are experiencing neutrality, continue moving up the scale of emotions as follows: willingness, acceptance, reason, love, joy and gratitude.

How long did it take you to raise your emotion to that of joy and gratitude?

Was it easy moving through the various emotions one by one?

Today is a second day of transitioning.

Again, I invite you to recall a negative memory. Today I invite you to recall a memory where you experienced either shame or guilt.

Again, recall it in as much detail as possible. Really feel into the memory and relive it as if it’s happening in the here and now.

When you feel you are fully re-experiencing that memory, I invite you to begin to change that emotion and turn it into one that is of a higher frequency. When you feel ready, I invite you to change your emotion from one of shame or guilt to one of acceptance.

How challenging is it to jump from such a low frequency emotion to a higher one?

Do you think you were able to move directly from shame/guilt to acceptance?

Or do you think you may have experienced other emotions in between such as fear, anger, for example?

Today is our third and final day of only transitioning.

Again, today, I invite you to recall a negative memory. Today I invite you to recall a memory where you experience grief. Perhaps a memory about the loss of a pet you loved dearly or a family member who was especially dear to you.

Again, recall the memory in as much detail as possible.

Really feel into the memory and relive it as if it’s happening in the present moment.

When you feel you are fully re-experiencing that memory, I invite you to begin to change that emotion and turn it into one that is of a higher frequency. I invite you to focus on the emotion of gratitude, gratitude for that pet’s or person’s life, gratitude for the time you spent with them during their life etc.

How long does it take you to move from the emotion of grief to the emotion of gratitude?

Did it take as long to move up to gratitude as it did moving from the low frequency emotion of shame/guilt yesterday to the frequency of acceptance?

Did you have to work your way through a variety of different emotions before you reached gratitude or were you able to go straight to gratitude?

On the scale of emotions, shame and guilt sit at the very bottom in steps 1 and 2. And acceptance is at step 12. Grief sits at step 4 and gratitude sits at step 15. So, the gap between each day’s two emotions was similar. Taking this into consideration, can you see how much more quickly you can bridge that gap when you focus on gratitude than if you focus on another high frequency emotion but have to work through other emotions to get to it?

Today is a day of observation, labelling, and transitioning.

Spend today observing the range of emotions you experience.

When you experience an emotion give it a label such as grief, guilt, shame, neutrality, acceptance, love.

When you have a label attached to the emotion you are experiencing, I invite you to focus on gratitude.

Watch/feel/sense how quickly you can move your emotion up to that of gratitude.

Is it easier to transition some emotions to gratitude than it is others, or does it take about the same amount of time?

the emotional frequency chart

This chart shows the hertz frequency rate attritbuted to our range of emotions.

The higher the vibration of an emotion, the higher the herz frequency, and the more expanded the emotion is deemed to be.

and let's not forget...

This week's high vibe tune links in with this week's quote

dance along to this week's high vibe tune here

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.

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in” ~ Kristin Armstrong

16:9

16:10

4:3

mobile

how to download your wallpaper

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

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'.

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.