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This past week has been fairly relaxed, with a few snags here and there. Nothing major, just enough to ruffle my feathers! I’m feeling grateful for the Spring, and noticing all the green buds, white Lilacs, and flowers blooming! This Pansy is growing out in front of my home, and some giant bees have been flitting around the glorious white Apple blossoms! I can’t wait to walk down my favourite “Cherry Tree Lane” in my neighbourhood once the Cherry blossoms come into bloom, and bike past purple Lilacs, still to come!

Buddha said, “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change”…How often do you rush past flowers, barely even noticing them? Maybe you rush through a meal or beverage, barely even savouring the taste? Do you notice the arms of the giant Spruce trees, as though they’re reaching out to give you a big hug? Feeling grateful for these simple, yet incredible miracles of nature is so essential to our feelings of joy and wellbeing.

Feeling Grateful Through Difficult Times

This past week, the unmentionable happened in Texas, and you might be wondering how are we to feel grateful when something so horrific like that happens? Where is the blessing in losing a child? Perhaps you’ve been healthy all your life, and suddenly you have a condition that changes your life? Where is the blessing in not being able to do what you love and need to do?

Going Through the Process of Grief

There’s no doubt that with real challenges like these, there comes a great deal of grieving from a loss. It’s hard to feel grateful and positive about something so terrible. If you can recognize that you are grieving, then learn about the stages of grief. Grief certainly has no timeline, or steps that each person definitely goes through. It’s different for everyone. Here are some stages of grief you may experience:

• Shock – OMG, what just happened!?
• Denial – It’s not really happening!
• Anger – Why me?? It’s not fair! I’m so mad this has happened!
• Bargaining – Can we work this out if I stop doing this or that?
• Depression – My life will never be the same again; She doesn’t love/want me; Total sadness.
• Acceptance and Hope – I accept that this happened to me; Hope for change, and new beginnings.
• Processing – Going through what happened; What does this mean for me?

Acceptance & Healing Comes First

Acceptance is the beginning of healing. Healing means integrating what you feel in your body by paying attention to where the emotions are sitting in your body. Tightness in the chest? Stiff neck and shoulders? Stomach pain? Locate the grief in the body, feel it, let the emotions come, and heal yourself from the pain. Gratefulness will come once you get to this point because you will feel a greater sense of hope…

When Feeling Grateful Becomes Easier

With hope, you start to feel more positive about life. Feeling grateful for simple things makes this easier. This week has been full of tiny blessings, like watching a giant bee on the Apple blossoms, and seeing the first Cherry blossoms of the season. I’m also grateful for my continued good health and ability to exercise. There has been a spark of excitement and positive energy in the city over the Calgary Flames being the playoffs with Edmonton for the first time in 31 years. I saw a friend I haven’t seen in a long time, and the sun was out at just the right times.

The more little things like this that you notice, the easier it will be to feel grateful for all of life’s many blessings. You start to see, feel, hear, taste, touch, and smell the blessings all around you. With this present-moment awareness, your senses are heightened, and more joy flows through your entire being. When Spring comes, and the flowers bloom, hope springs eternal! There’s a creative energy flowing, and your energetic vibration is higher.

When You’re Feeling Low

When you’re feeling low, your energetic vibration is low. You want to raise the vibe if feeling grateful is something you want to feel on a regular basis. Raising the vibe is as easy as stepping out into nature. Your backyard, your front porch, under the shade of a tree, on a mountain, or next to a creek, lake, or ocean.

Nature will both heal you by absorbing your pain, and raising your spirits while getting the blood flowing. Feel the soft grass or sand between your toes, and the wind on your face. Breathe deeply when next to the trees that provide the oxygen we breathe. Feel alive by jumping into some fresh mountain water.

Use Your Imagination When Indoors

You can also do these things inside the house if you aren’t able to get outside in nature. Run some warm water over your hands or splash some cool water on your face and feel grateful that you have access to this hot or cool water. Imagine that you’re standing under a glorious waterfall in the shower.

Remember that you can feel down in the dumps and still be grateful. All it takes is looking for the goodness in your difficult time. Sometimes unexpected challenges lead to an awakening, or something better than you imagined. Tough times can bring you closer to friends and loved ones.

Notice what is present, but also take note of what is absent. For example, the winds and rains are quite strong at this time of year, but when it’s windy and rainy, there aren’t any bugs to deal with! It may be hot when you visit the desert but there is no snow. The more you can shift your perspective on things, the more you will start feeling grateful.

Click Here To Feel More Grateful During Challenging Times

Feeling Grateful Benefits Others Too

Once you start feeling grateful, your vibe will be high, and you’ll start emitting positivity towards yourself and others. You’ll see how taking care of yourself benefits all beings around you, and this will help raise the vibe all around you. You many not even realize how many lives you could touch!

Lee Spirit is an avid outdoors adventurer with a love for nature, photography, health & fitness, wellness, and spirituality. She helps those who suffer from anxiety & negative thinking to become healthier in mind-body-spirit. Her own personal journey has led her to the  study and practice of mindfulness, health, wellness, yoga, spirituality, sound healing, meditation, and personal development for over 20 years. Get mindfulness, meditation, and personal development tips in her Free Natural Mind Healing Report.