Day 15

Dear %%FIRST_NAME%%,
Welcome to week 3!
We’re moving on to a beautiful Gratitude Project today. But just in case you haven’t had a chance to share how you got on with last week’s gratitude exercise, here’s the week two discussion thread: Week Two Discussions.
Today we’re moving on to a mindfulness-based gratitude exercise that is a form of breathing meditation.

But before I take you there, I’d like to sort out one of the most common problems we create, when we’re making changes in our lives:

Are you trying too hard?

It’s the best way to make sure things don’t work for you!

The best way to let the Miracle Of Gratitude work for you is to go with the flow. Have a playful attidue, when you’re taking time out for your gratitude minutes or experimenting with the exercises.

The harder we try, the less likely we are to get the results we’re dreaming of.

Why?

Because ‘trying’ creates resistance, in your Monkey Mind, and even physical tension in your body. Our Monkey Mind reminds us of all the reasons why ‘this kind of stuff never worked before’ and tries to convince us that it won’t work this time. And, given that we tend to get what we focus on in life, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Also, it’s pretty hard to feel grateful for life, if we’re holding physical tension, clenching our teeth as we say our ‘thank yous’.

If you’re like me, running a ‘try, try, try again’ programme, you’ll find this week’s gratitude project helps you to shift from ‘trying’ to ‘being’. And that can bring a huge sense of relief.

Let go of trying to ‘do’ or ‘feel’ gratitude – and allow yourself to melt into ‘being’ gratitude.

You’ll be amazed by the shift.

A tip-off about this week’s project: let go of your expectations

Meditation takes us into a different state of mind from anything that we do in our ‘thinking time’ or activities. It helps us to connect with wisdom, Truth, inner stillness and more. By consciously choosing to feel gratitude whilst setting our intention to be in that meditative state, we can amplify the effects, taking the experience to the next level.

And the best thing about this is that the less hard you try, the more effective the results!

One of the things about breathing – and breathing meditations – is that we can fall into the trap of trying too hard.

We have these weird expectations that line up to knock our confidence when we hear the word ‘meditation’ or ‘mindfulness’. Either we’re supposed to wander around in tent-dresses and sandals, or shave our heads, or turn our legs into pretzels, or magically quieten that pesky Monkey Mind, or suddenly achieve zen-like states at the flick of a switch.

Yet for this mindful breathing Gratitude Project, all you need to do is ever-so-gently allow your awareness – your focus – to rest on your breathing. That’s it.

In a world where multi-tasking and thinking seventeen things at once is such a highly-prized skillset, why can it feel so hard to do just one thing?

Because we’re used to trying, trying, trying, instead of allowing ourselves a few moments to rest and ‘be’.

If you find you end up trying too hard with this week’s project, here’s an article that I originally wrote for the 28 Day Meditation Challenge book and course, which explains why we try too hard with meditation (or pretty much anything else we do!) and what you can do about it:

Are You Trying Too Hard To Meditate?

In fact, you can apply this to most of the experiences we have in life…

I really hope you’re enjoying your week six Gratitude Project. If you have a spare moment, how about popping by The Miracle Of Gratitude’s Facebook Page to let people know how you’re getting on and perhaps inspire a few others to follow your example and discover how gratitude can change your life?

Köszönöm!
Namaste,

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Week 3 Gratitude Project & Useful Links

When you have had a chance to play with the week three Gratitude Project, please remember to pop by the forum and share your experiences: Week 3 Discussion Thread