Expressing feelings of despair and dissatisfaction are useful for one’s personal growth as long as it is part of a constructive process. There is limited value in beating the drum of ‘how bad everything is’ and ‘how if it were not for this or that our lives would be so much better’. All we really achieve from this kind of activity is pollution and stagnation, which prevents growth. This way of being also means we do not see solutions because we spend too much time living in the problem, which magnifies the problem and extends its influence, which disempowers us in the process.
Expressing what it is we are unhappy with is valuable in order that we can see what needs to be done, but if all we do is complain we create a self-limiting prison for ourselves. It is within this prison that negative beliefs are born. A common sub-conscious belief that limits so many of us is that life seems to punish us and reward others, and there is very little we can do about it. This creates a victim consciousness which can be described as ‘poor me’ but this consciousness is only really useful if it motivates change. If on the other hand we make this mind-set our home, never daring to venture beyond its walls then we slowly die under its influence.
The power of thank you is limitless, the more we find things to be thankful about, great and particularly small then the more growth and well-being floods into our lives. The ‘poor me’ consciousness simply creates a culture of pessimism and negativity, a culture that overshadows our positive state of being. Whereas the vast vocabulary and the colourful language of thank you creates positivity and a real appreciation of things that are so easily overlooked. Thank you helps us to savour life and find beauty and truth, it helps us discover our true nature, abilities and talents. Thank you stokes the fire of creativity and introduces us to higher levels of awareness and consciousness. The thank you process motivates us to act because the appreciation that it produces gives us real power. It is a power that inspires, a power that rejoices more and complains less, a power that realises our lives are dictated most of all by what thoughts we generate in our minds.
The power of thank you is not an attack on the self pitying consciousness because self pity does have a place in our lives. The power of thank you is about understanding one way to move out of self pity and victim-hood. It is about realising that whatever the state of our lives we do have the power and ability to influence things positively. We do not have to wait for chance, or some miracle to bring change to our circumstances, we can create our own miracles by being more thankful.
Starting from today create some thank you statements. Take a close look at your life and find at least half a dozen things you take for granted, or overlook and never really consider the value and importance of. Then make these thank you statements into affirmations that you can recite throughout the day, particularly before you go to sleep at night and before you get out of bed in the morning. By reciting these thank you’s at least twice a day there will be meaningful growth that starts appearing in your life and that growth will eventually bear good fruit. The power of thank you is particularly valuable in the face of life’s challenges and if we can find something to be grateful for, something that can be celebrated, we can and do move forward more quickly taking necessary lessons and truth with us. Remember practice, patience and perseverance guarantee success. So try saying thank you more and watch a different perspective, attitude and set of values and beliefs begin to unfold which will serve to free you from your self limiting prison. It is time to free yourself with the power of thank you.
