♥Hi Friends!
My friend Ganel Lyn Condie wrote a book entitled “I Can Do Hard Things With God.” It is an inspiring compilation of experiences from women who share their trials and how they came to find HEALING through the Atonement. (It’s a definite “must read”.) In chapter 4, Andrea Palmer shares her family’s financial struggle and how Gratitude helped her get through it. She writes, “I decided I was going to focus spiritually on every situation and see Christ in it. I was blessed spiritually in each situation, such as when my kids screamed, my house was messy, a bill collector called, ants crawled in my kitchen, another rejection letter came, we couldn’t pay our power bill, or a friend called to go shopping.” Wow! See Christ in it! What a great way to raise the HEALING power of Gratitude about ten notches by accessing the Atonement.
There’s two things I came away with after reading her story that I think enhances the Gratitude experience.
1♥ GIVE RECOGNITION TO OUR BLESSINGS IN ALL TIMES- We need to look for our blessings in times of happiness. And we need to look for our blessings among the trials. And lastly, what I think is the most difficult, we need to look for our blessings IN the trials.
2♥ GIVE RECOGNITION TO WHERE THOSE BLESSINGS COME FROM- We must “see Christ” in them. All that we have been given and all that is good, is from our Father, and is made possible through Jesus Christ and the Atonement. Even the HEALING power of Gratitude. When we experience Gratitude, our bodies release oxytocin, acetylcholine and other happy chemicals. The “Author of All” created us that way!
What are some of the HEALING blessings of Gratitude? In the article “Understanding The Science Of Gratitude” the authors state, “Both ancient teachings and modern medical research agree that one of the quickest, most direct routes to restoring harmony and balance in our lives is to foster gratitude and appreciation. The moment you shift from a mindstate of negativity or judgment to one of appreciation, there are immediate effects at many levels of your being: Brain function becomes more balanced, harmonized, and supple; your heart begins to pump in a much more coherent and harmonious rhythm; and biochemical changes trigger a host of healthful responses throughout your body. Especially in difficult times, remembering to return to gratitude is a radical life-affirming act that builds your capacity for resilience.”
How do we foster more gratitude? Several years ago my husband worked as a lay minister for our church. One of the women in our congregation had been struggling with some mild depression and went to see him about it. Before discussing too much about the “why’s”, he sent her home with a few assignments to complete before the next time they met. The first and second were “make sure you are reading your scriptures everyday and having personal prayers at least morning and night” and the third was “start a gratitude journal”. He knew that if she invited the Spirit to be with her through personal worship, and if she focused on the good things in her life, that the HEALING process would begin. Later she talked about it in a lesson she gave in our women’s meeting. She said that initially his counsel really bothered her. She wanted deeper answers. But she did it. And to her amazement, by the time they met the next week she was already starting to feel better. From that experience I suggest the following three things.
1♥ PRAY- Along with ‘repenting and forgiving’ make sure you are giving thanks to Father for your blessings. Even the blessing of trials.
2♥ REGULAR SCRIPTURE STUDY- Here’s where we come to know the nature of our Heavenly Father by learning about His son. Who more than our Savior is a better example of all things HEALING, including gratitude.
3♥ GRATITUDE JOURNAL- If you don’t already have one, start one. It could be a part of your “My ‘Doing Something’ Healing Journal” or even just your personal journal. Remember to write what you are grateful for in happy and hard times. And to see the correlation to your HEALING, categorize your blessings under SPIRITUAL, PHYSICAL and/or EMOTIONAL.
Gratitude changes our attitude and sets our focus on the good things in our lives. Again from Andrea. “I started saying “Thank you” for everything-EVERYTHING. What I focused on expanded without fail. If I focused on the lack of anything, I got more lack and saw more lack. When I focused on gratitude, I always got more and saw more to be grateful for.” And when we focus on our abundance of blessings, we are filled with hope and peace.
My #2 has many wonderful strengths. She is very receptive to SPIRITUAL things and sunshine radiates from her! She does struggle, A LOT, with time management. It’s been hard for her to spend 3 hours each day getting to and from work via public transportation when she thinks about all the extra time she would have to get things done if she had a car (which is not a financial possibility for her right now). We talked one day about being grateful and focusing on the blessings she experiences NOW from her train and bus commute. One day, shortly after our conversation, I picked her up at the train station after another long day of work and commuting. She got in the car and with this peaceful and happy countenance asked me, “Did you see the beautiful sunrise this morning?” Often times that hope and peace come from noticing the smallest of blessings.
♥Love you!
PS: Click here for a little video clip about Gratitude. I felt happier watching OTHERS express what they are thankful for!
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This is probably one of our favorites and it is SO good for you. It’s my go-to potluck at BBQ’s or family reunions because it makes a lot. There’s different recipes floating around out there but this is the one we’ve perfected to our tastes and enjoy. You can cut the recipe down by half or thirds by mixing the beans and corn together, divide them and put the extra in the freezer. That way you get a good mixture of beans. It makes a great meal too, served with a ‘DINNER SMOOTHIE’, which is stage 1 in ‘SMOOTHIE IN STAGES’.
BLACK BEAN SALSA
- 3 large tomatoes, chopped
- 6 avocados, chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 can white beans, drained
- 1 can pinto beans, drained
- 3 cups frozen corn or 2 cans sweet corn, drained
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- juice of 1 lime
- 3 Tbsp avocado oil (or EVOO)
- S & P to taste*
Put everything but avocados in a large bowl and combine. Season with S & P to taste. Fold in avocados. Serve with tortilla chips. I buy the bag of organic ones at Costco.
*You can omit the fresh garlic and salt and just use garlic salt to taste.