This week on Dear Lovely Universe is the importance of gratitude.
I'm going to start off this episode first by sharing a few reasons why having gratitude is important.
Then I'll share one of the first blog posts I ever wrote.
And lastly,
Two action steps that I recommend you take from this episode.
So first let's talk about how perception is everything.
When you're grateful for what you have rather than what you don't have,
You live in a world of abundance.
This is really important because it comes down to mindset.
When you have an abundance mindset filled with gratitude,
Then you see things from a perspective that is much more optimistic.
And when you're more optimistic,
It allows you to be more present in your life.
Also gratitude is the opposite of unworthiness.
When you're grateful for what you have in your life,
You allow for more great things to happen for you and to you.
Unworthiness can look like not feeling that you deserve good things in any area of your life,
But having gratitude is being grateful for what you do have and that allows the door for more great things to happen,
Which goes along with having an abundance mindset.
As I mentioned before,
It allows you to be in the present moment.
When you're present in the moment,
There are many benefits,
But two that I think are really profound are having deeper relationships and feeling more happy.
One of the things that we often see people do is in relationships specifically,
Look at exes from the past or they look at the future.
How am I going to keep this person?
When people are not in a grateful mindset,
There can be often a lot of fear and a lot of control trying to take place.
But when we're in the present moment,
We can actually live and appreciate and enjoy being with somebody.
And on that note,
When we're in the present moment,
Instead of looking 10 years down the road or 10 years behind us,
Let's say career wise,
Instead of looking at where we're going to be 10 years from now,
Career wise,
We can be grateful for how far we have come.
And when we're in that mindset,
We can feel a lot more happy because we're not looking outside of ourselves,
But we're looking at what we do have.
Every single thing in your life has created you into the person who you are today.
This is really powerful to understand.
Acceptance of who you are and embracing who you are.
That's the difference between self love and just self acceptance.
Every single thing in your life made you uniquely you.
And so it would make sense to be grateful for that because you are perfect as you are.
So I'm going to read you a blog that I wrote and I think that you'll like it very much.
Today is Monday,
June 24th,
2019.
There will never be another day in my life with this exact date.
One of my little sisters is upstairs crying.
My older brother is in his room and I can hear my dad's voice echoing through the walls since his room is right above mine.
When I moved out one year ago,
I couldn't stand their noises.
At the time,
I had not thoroughly understood that this may never happen again.
That at any moment,
I may never be able to see or spend time with them again.
Moving out for almost a year taught me a great deal.
But in my opinion,
I believe that the most important of all is gratitude.
Now every day I wake up and before I go to sleep,
I tell the universe at least three things I'm truly grateful for,
Including but not limited to my health,
My ability to assist others,
My dog,
My fish,
My car,
Everyone in my family,
And my job.
I feel so much happier because of it.
Oftentimes I start my meditations by simply stating,
I would like to just take a moment to express to you how grateful I am for everything and truly feel it deep in my heart.
I feel that the key to happiness is to be grateful,
Grateful for everything,
The air that keeps us alive,
The blessing to be alive,
The good and bad,
Finger quote,
Or the right and wrong.
There is no such thing as good or bad in the perspective of each challenging roadblock is a lesson to have been learned.
Cycles repeat itself of the same vibration until you shift your whole mindset regarding the situation.
View challenges as this,
Another opportunity to try harder and do a better job next time,
A chance to learn something new and a transformed version of yourself is along the way closer with each try.
Again,
Challenges are simply life lessons.
A lesson could be something that you had not even inflicted on yourself,
But instead was naturally born with such as a unique physical disposition or into an unfortunate circumstance.
This is not your fault,
But you do have a choice,
A choice to either continue what you're doing and lead yourself down a self-destructive road or to acknowledge the areas in your life that are not being nourished and take ownership of your actions.
Or in other words,
Take the power of your life back.
Once you fully comprehend that only you have ownership of your life and actually take control of your actions,
You will forever become transformed.
It is impossible for anyone to find genuine peace in their lives if they do not confront exactly what it is that they're running away from.
For about two years on and off,
It was customary for me to take Xanax bars every single day.
If you've never tried Xanax before,
The reason why over 130 young and senior Americans are overdosing on them per day is that it removes the ability to feel any grief.
You become weak and zombie-like,
But it feels better than being in pain.
How did I quit?
A close friend of mine named Connor,
Who we all called Salty,
Overdosed at only 19.
Then another friend named Matty who was only 15 when he overdosed less than a month later.
I really came to understand just how dangerous Xanax was.
I realized that I do want to live,
Prosper,
And actually remember my days.
Side note,
Xanax affects your memory.
So that when I'm elderly,
I'll have actually lived an enriching experience that I can positively look back on.
And to anyone who was healing from the loss of a loved one,
Allow yourself to feel your grief.
You have every right to take time for yourself and know that the loving spirit is still with you at all times.
My message for anyone who is addicted to any substance is this.
Do you want to experience how it feels to enjoy the natural highs of life?
Your life is worth more than any drug.
Being grateful is exemplified in every action that you make.
The way you drive,
The flowers you smell on walks,
Feeding your animals on time,
And etc.
From someone who has suffered from mental breakdowns and suicidal thoughts in the past,
To now using my gift of words to heal myself and others,
Please listen to this.
You are beautiful.
You are significant.
You will make a difference.
And you do deserve everything that life has to offer.
Your life is created by your actions and never what has happened to you.
Only you have the ultimate choice to make your life a sincerely marvelous one if that is what you genuinely desire.
Do what makes you feel absolutely alive,
Gives you purpose,
And believe in yourself.
What if the universe made you the way that you are for a reason?
When times get rough and I want to flake off or quit,
I remember that my father believes in me.
He took care of me when no one else would,
Gave me the money for the laptop that I'm using to write this right now.
He helped me with money to start my first business and he's never once lost faith in me,
So how dare I lose faith in myself?
I feel that I owe it to him to keep going,
To reach my dreams,
To do it for the people who believe in me.
Do it for the people who believe in you.
And if you feel like you don't have anyone who believes in you right now,
Believe in yourself and do it for you.
I love you dad and I love you my dearest lovelies.
Always remember to be grateful for every single air quote good and bad thing.
Your life is absolutely invaluable and take control of your actions.
First there is a dream,
Then there is a plan,
Then there is action.
Everything starts somewhere and there is no better time to start pursuing health,
Abundance,
And emotional freedom than this very moment.
With love,
Kaylin.
Now here is an excerpt from a Berkeley study.
Psychological effects include stronger immune systems,
Less bothered by aches and pains,
Lower blood pressure,
Exercise more and take better care of their health,
Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking.
Psychological,
Higher levels of positive emotions,
More alert,
Alive and awake,
More joy and pleasure,
More optimism and happiness.
Social,
More helpful,
Generous and compassionate,
More forgiving,
More outgoing,
Feel less lonely and isolated.
Now here is a quote by Roth,
Waldo,
Emerson.
Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you and give things continuously and because all things have contributed to your advancement,
You should include all things in your gratitude.
Lastly here are two action steps to take.
One,
Thank God,
Any higher power that you believe in or even yourself for truly everything.
Two,
Thank those who have impacted your life in any way,
Both negatively and positively,
Either in your mind or by communicating with them.
Thank you so much for tuning in today.
I honestly really appreciate it.
Next week's episode will be Casey's experience with growing to love herself.
Casey is really brave to share what she has gone through and what has helped her in her self-love journey.
If you're ready to break through barriers and uncover the real you,
You can apply for coaching at kalenfood.
Com.
You can also get my free 30-minute audio program,
The Ultimate Guide to Self-Love After Trauma by signing up for my newsletter at my website.
If you're not yet,
I would feel so happy if you subscribe to this podcast and followed me on Instagram at DearLoveTheUniverse.
It lets me know that you enjoy my content and helps me keep making more videos.
Again,
Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll talk to you next week.
