start monday with gratitude

This week is about building. We’re going to start small, and each day build on the day before.

So, as it’s Monday, the start of the week, I invite you to think of something that mildly upset you recently.

Perhaps it was an unpleasant comment someone made to you.

Perhaps you didn’t receive a compliment when you expected to, from someone you expected it to come from.

Perhaps you felt a bit underappreciated for the effort you put into a project at work.

Whatever example comes into your head, remember the situation, remember what happened, what was said or done.

And then go looking for a positive takeaway, no matter how small that is.

Find something to be grateful for.

Think back to a time when someone let you down.

Perhaps you were meant to meet up with a friend you hadn’t seen for ages and, last minute, they cancelled.

Or perhaps you put in a lot of effort in a project at work but someone else in the team took all the credit for their work and yours.

How can you turn the hurt you experienced as a result of this person letting your down, into something positive?

Did it change you in some way as a result?

Did you do something different as a result of what happened?

People enter our lives and they leave.

We’ve all had a friend or romantic partner move on and exit our life at some stage.

Looking back on one friendship or one romantic relationship that ended, what positive lessons can you gain from that relationship?

What positives did that person bring into your life as a result of being part of your life?

Whether it was the cold, the ‘flu, or a more serious illness. Look back at a time when you fell ill.

Rather than remembering how miserable you felt, how weak your body was, how much you wanted to sleep, look back at the experience as one where your super intelligent body was telling and teaching you something positive.

What was your body telling or teaching you?

And now that you see and can appreciate the valuable lesson your body was trying to share with you, will you heed that message and apply it to your life, even though the illness may be long gone?

Go back to a painful childhood memory.

It could have been a time when you were punished for something you didn’t do.

It could be a memory about being bullied or intentionally hurt at school.

It could be a recollection of not being allowed to do or have something you really wanted.

Now find something positive that came as a result of that painful childhood memory.

How did that memory positively change and impact you as a person?

How has that experience positively influenced you and shaped you into the person you are today?

When we lose someone special in our life, whether it is a beloved pet who passes on or a family member or close friend, it is such a devastating and painful experience, one that takes such a long time to heal from, one from which it may not be possible to fully heal.

Those feelings of loss can remain with us for years, decades. And often, when we think about them, it’s that painful feeling of emptiness, of never being able to see them, hold them or touch them again.

Today I invite you to think of someone special who has passed on.

Only today I want you to focus on how full your life was when they were part of it, how much gratitude you could express to them that you maybe never did.

Don’t remember your life with them from the point of view that they’re now gone, feeling sad, lonely, empty.

Rather remember it as if you are re-living the joy of being with them in the present moment.

Re-live with pure joy times you were together and express gratitude for being able to cherish those memories again and for their presence in your life.

Focusing on the memory of the same special person that you gave thanks for yesterday, today I invite you to talk to that loved one, that beloved pet, that dear departed friend as if they are sitting beside you.

And I invite you to share with them all the joys and happy times you have had since their departure.

Talk to them as if they are a friend who has suddenly come back into your life and wants to catch up on all the positive experiences, all the joy you’ve felt since the last time you saw them.