The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey is filled with insights and inspirations from over 200 hours of “heart-expanding interviews.” She says she wrote the book to help you “illuminate your path to becoming all that you are meant to be.”
That is my wish for you too! To find out who you really are, not just what your ego, your status, or your job title tells you who you supposed to be. To reach deep down into your soul and truly feel who you are as a spiritual being. And when you do, you automatically fall into gratitude and love because spirit knows nothing else. Spirit only comes from a place of love, not fear, not judgment, or any other negative feeling. Spirit only knows hope, joy, and compassion and all the other positive emotions that come from love. Find your inner spirit and when you do, you will feel gratitude and abundance no matter what your bank account, your job title, or your past states.
Over the next several weeks, I will be reviewing Oprah’s book and hoping to pass on to you some of my favorite insights from her interviews. My hope is to help you find your inner spirit and your true voice to live the life you were born to live. And when you do, you will feel contentment, know that you are complete just as you are, true peacefulness, and an overwhelming feeling of self-love. And when you get to that place, you want to be of service to others because you are so grateful for your life that you want to give back.
This week I will discuss Gratitude (with a capital G) because I believe when we come from a place of gratitude, everything else will fall into place. Oprah said when she read Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach, she started keeping a gratitude journal. Oprah had kept a journal for many years but she says that journal was filled with “woe is me worries”. When she started a gratitude journal and wrote down five things that she was grateful for each day, then her life changed because she was looking at the world differently. She was coming from a place of thankfulness and abundance instead of lack. As I have stated in many posts, what you put out into the world with your thoughts, intentions, and actions comes back to you. So do you want to put out lack or abundance? What you want to receive back?
Oprah asked Norman Lear what his image of God was and he said “Gratitude. Worship is gratitude.” I feel that is true. When you come from gratitude, you feel God more fully and are so thankful for everything. When you are in gratitude, you are truly connected to God. Gratitude is God with a capital G!
“…When you look at your life through the lens of gratitude, you don’t see as many obstacles or hindrances. You see potential, you see possibilities. Then you become an open vehicle for more inspiration, more wisdom, more guidance, coming from the spiritual part of your being.” – Michael Bernard Beckwith
I hope this starts you on your own journey to find gratitude. Maybe you can start with just pausing a couple times a day to say “Thank you for…” Or you can start a gratitude journal. It does not need to be anything fancy. A plain notepad will do. You just need to start the practice in a way that feels right to you. More on gratitude next week and what you can do to help find gratitude in just two minutes or less a day!
“Gratitude is the best way to start a new year, a new you, a new life.” – Lynn Lok-Payne
