 What a bombshell it was to find myself “locked down,” in shelter, with stores and businesses closing all around me in March 2020. In the past few years, I have been in grief about so many wildfires occurring in the Pacific Northwest where I live each summer. And then last year, a horrific huge bush fire in Australia! And of course, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods galore as well. It seemed very obvious that Mother Nature had definitely had enough of humankind’s disregard for the earth, and living in a non-harmonic way. And to me, these natural disasters seemed as bad as things could get. And I lamented that they were happening with more frequency each year. Wearing a mask while taking walks during wildfires really sucked. Air quality was dangerous. Well, so far in 2020, things have gone from bad to worse. I never thought or imagined in my life the whole world’s people would be “sent to their rooms.” I never imagined wearing a mask everywhere, or being shamed if I didn’t choose to comply.
Read Deborah's latest article, Radical Gratitude: How to Turn Your Pain into Peace on Tiny Buddha. Click here  My journey to living in gratitude began in 2010. And let me say that up until that time, until I was age 45, I was a complainer, griper and a whiner, with absolutely no reason to complain! Luckily, I was saved from these very wasteful, counter-productive habits when I was given a blank journal one Thanksgiving season by a New Thought minister, who told us if we journaled 5 things we were grateful for 40 days our life would change exponentially for the better. She did this two years in a row, I dutifully wrote my gratitude lists and oh my god, my life did change. It worked! I let go of complaining and started focusing on all the good in my life, and there is plenty.
Thanksgiving is drawing ever so close, and maybe it is time to re-evaluate our understanding of this celebration, which is held in such high regard by Americans and Canadians alike. At this time of the year, most of us focus on being thankful, which is great, but we sometimes forget about the weightier and more spiritual concept of gratitude. The two terms are used interchangeably,
Here is a surefire way to bring down your stress level.
Whenever I nosedive into feeling worried or harried or completely stressed out, I have a surefire method to counteract these undesirable feelings. It works every time! It can be hard to start – I might tell myself I don’t have enough time, or it won’t work, but those are just feeble excuses. When I actually sit down to begin, this practice I’m about to share always helps my mood improve and become more Last November 2016, I was at the office of my holistic primary care nurse practitioner, Kathleen J., when she started the appointment by asking me how I feel. I answered, “Great!” and I truly felt that way. She frowned then, and had to let me know that according to the blood tests she had me take, I had Diabetes 2. I asked her if she was sure it wasn’t pre-diabetes as my sister had been diagnosed with that. She said no, the levels were much higher. I went into shock and dismay! She proceeded to tell me that Diabetes 2 IS reversible. And told me I
 Oh Great Spirit, thank you for the many blessings in my life.
Thank you for my friends and family, And the wonderful animals that have become part of the clan. Thank you for the work you grace me with. Thank you for the beautiful surroundings of nature I experience each day. Thank you for the lights in my world, lifting me up, motivating me, inspiring me to be more. I ask that you bless us all. Shower us with an abundance of your blessings. Protect and heal us physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Bless us with hearts that are filled with hope, faith, joy, compassion, kindness, and gratitude. And spirits of generosity. Minds that are filled with creative ideas and positive thoughts. Bless us with job security, new jobs, opportunities for promotion, and a steady flow of work and income. Bless us with financial prosperity and independence. Good friends, And a loving partner in a healthy, mutually satisfying, life-long relationship. Give us all that we need, For the highest and greatest good, And we will accept your many blessings With gratitude and love. Amen ____________________ Deborah Perdue, RScP Author of “Grace of Gratitude Journals” and “Grace of Gratitude Reflections” and “Path of Gratitude Coloring Book” all of these and much more at www.graceofgratitude.com 541 862-7021  Daily Gratitude Week of July 24
7-24 “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”– Marianne Williamson (also attributed to Nelson Mandela) Some of my life I didn’t feel powerful, instead I felt powerless and dependent upon outside forces.  I recently received an email from someone saying she’s finding it difficult to live in gratitude in a challenging world. She’s stressed out and depressed by the news and the state of our country, and she wanted to know how I’m able to switch gears from being exposed to all the bad news and then going back to my place of gratitude.
I am not a news junkie and my advice to those who are is to either find a way to shut it down through meditation or a walk outside as soon as you get your daily dose of news before it impacts you, or if you find it difficult to do that, to stop making news part of your regular routine. You are the co-creator of your world. If you focus on the negatives, then you’ll pull in negatives. If you’re stressed out and worried, how effective can you be in living a life of gratitude? It’s not that I’m not interested in what’s going on, but I can be a hand-wringer and knowing this, I can only take on my world – my little circle of people I encounter in work, community and family. I’m in a very happy place most of the time, and when I falter, I’m much better about recognizing it and making a correction to stay the course on the path of gratitude. If I were to read the news each day, it would put me in a bad place. I pray for the world each day. I pray for our country. I pray for Mother Nature. I am committed to spreading the word about gratitude, teaching people to connect with their Angels and Spirit Guides, and teaching other spiritual courses. I’m devoted to putting light into the world. I believe if enough of us live our lives in this way it will change the world for the good. I pay no attention to the news, most of which is not trustworthy anyway, because it prevents me from doing the work I was meant to do. I’m sharing my thoughts about this in my blog for those who may have the same struggle. ______________________ Deborah Perdue, RScP Author of “Grace of Gratitude Journals” and “Grace of Gratitude Reflections” and “Path of Gratitude Coloring Book” all of these and much more at www.graceofgratitude.com 541 862-7021 |
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