Louise L. Hay - Gratitude: A Way of Life

Louise L. Hayis a metaphysical lecturer and teacher and the bestselling author of numerous books, including YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE and LIFE! REFLECTIONS ON YOUR JOURNEY. Since beginning her career as a Science of Mind minister in 1981, she has assisted thousands of people in discovering and using the full potential of their own creative powers for personal growth and self-healing. Louises works have been translated into 29 different languages in 35 countries throughout the world. She is the owner and founder of Hay House, Inc., a publishing company devoted to disseminating books, audios, videos, and other materials that help heal the planet.

I have noticed that the Universe loves gratitude. The more grateful you are, the more goodies you get. When I say goodies, I dont mean only material things. I mean all the people, places, and experiences that make life so wonderfully worth living. You know how great you feel when your life is filled with love and joy and health and creativity, and you get the green lights and the parking places. This is how our lives are meant to be lived. The Universe is a generous, abundant giver, and it likes to be appreciated.

Think about how you feel when you give a friend a present. If the person looks at it and her face falls, or she says, Oh, its not my size, or not my color, or I never use anything like that, or is that all there is, then I am sure you will have little desire to ever give her a present again. However, if her eyes dance with delight, and she is pleased and thankful, then every time you see something she would like, you want to give it to her, whether you actually do so or not.

Gratitude brings more to be grateful about. It increases your abundant life. Lack of gratitude, or complaining, brings little to rejoice about. Complainers always find that they have little good in their life, or they do not enjoy what they do have. The Universe always gives us what we believe we deserve. Many of us have been raised to look at what we do not have and to feel only lack. We come from a belief in scarcity and then wonder why our lives are so empty. If we believe that I dont have, and I wont be happy until I do, then we are putting our lives on hold. What the Universe hears is: I dont have, and I am not happy, and that is what you get more of.

For quite some time now, Ive been accepting every compliment and every present with: I accept with joy and pleasure and gratitude. I have learned that the Universe loves this expression, and I constantly get the most wonderful presents.

When I awaken in the morning, the first thing I do before I even open my eyes is to thank my bed for a good nights sleep. I am grateful for the warmth and comfort it has given me. From that beginning, it is easy to think of many, many more things that I am grateful for. By the time I have gotten out of bed, I have probably expressed gratitude for 80 or 100 different people, places, things, and experiences in my life. This is a great way to start the day.

In the evening, just before sleep, I go through the day, blessing and being grateful for each experience. I also forgive myself if I feel that I made a mistake or said something inappropriate or made a decision that was not the best. This exercise fills me with warm fuzzies, and I drift off to sleep like a happy baby.

We even want to be grateful for the lessons we have. Dont run from lessons; they are little packages of treasure that have been given to us. As we learn from them, our lives change for the better. I now rejoice whenever I see another portion of the dark side of myself. I know that it means that I am ready to let go of something that has been hindering my life. I say, Thank you for showing me this, so I can heal it and move on. So, whether the lesson is a problem that has cropped up, or an opportunity to see an old, negative pattern within us that it is time to let go of, rejoice!

Lets spend as many moments as we can every day being grateful for all the good that is in our lives. If you have little in your life now, it will increase. If you have an abundant life now, it will increase. This is a win-win situation. You are happy, and the Universe is happy. Gratitude increases your abundance.

Start a gratitude journal. Write something to be grateful about each day. On a daily basis, tell someone how grateful you are for something. Tell sales clerks, waiters, postal workers, employers and employees, friends, family, and perfect strangers. Share the gratitude secret. Lets help make this a world of grateful, thankful giving and receiving for everyone!

Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.,is the president of Mind/Body Health Sciences, Inc., and the author of numerous bestselling books, including THE POWER OF THE MIND TO HEAL; FIRE IN THE SOUL; and MINDING THE BODY, MENDING THE MIND. She co-founded and is a former director of the Mind/Body Clinic at New England Deaconess Hospital and was an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Joan is a cancer cell biologist, a licensed psychologist, and a yoga/ meditation instructor.

One clear winters day, I decided to take a walk in the tiny Colorado wilderness town where I live. The sky was a shade of azure blue peculiar to the higher elevations of the Rockies. The early March sun poured like liquid gold through the limbs of tall spruce, creating dancing patterns of light in the delicate crystals of freshly fallen snow. Mountain peaks rose majestically in sculpted layers of greens and grays, piercing clouds that hung like fairy mist in the enchanted valleys below.

Marching resolutely down the road, I was all but blind to the extraordinary beauty. Attempting to relax before driving down the mountain to undergo a breast biopsy at the local hospital, I was actually reviewing the endless menu of dire medical possibilities that might materialize. As my mind slid into well-worn patterns of awfulizing, it gathered momentum. Not only might my body be in mortal danger, but my life wasnt working so well in other ways either. Not only did the glass seem half empty, but the remaining water appeared downright polluted!

My youngest son, although nearly 22, was terribly upset by the recent separation of my husband of nearly 24 years and myself. My fault, of course. I felt overworked and burned out. Also my fault. What kind of crazy life had I managed to createespecially when I am supposed to be some kind of role model for others? Guilt, fear, anger, and disappointment joined the cacophony of inner voices accompanying me down the road on my attempt at a mindful relaxation walk.

I was rudely awakened from my toxic reverie by a searing pain in my hindquarters. Perfectly focused on my well-rehearsed mental movies, I had been completely unaware of the speedy approach of a large German shepherd who bounded up and bit me unceremoniously on the behind. My mental movie department immediately began to run a feature film starring my bare buttocks being sutured in the Boulder Community Hospital emergency room, while I was simultaneously being injected with huge doses of tetanus toxoid and rabies vaccine. I would, no doubt, miss my biopsy and have to undergo that second round of medical torture on another day.

I reached down into my pants expecting to encounter a sticky mass of blood. Strangely, my hand emerged perfectly clean. Energized by sudden hope, I slipped behind a bush and pulled my pants down. While a large red welt, framed by the impression of a perfect set of canine teeth, graced my derrire, the skin was magically unbroken. With a yelp of pure joy, I pulled up my pants and burst from the bushes with a whoop of uncensored gratitude. No emergency room. No tetanus shots. No slow death from rabies. I could get to the biopsy on time. Lucky me.