The Truth about Gratitude

A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne
Creator of The Secret

The greatest thief of human happiness and abundance is ungratefulness. Any lack in our lives - whether in money, health, or relationships - is simply the evidence of a lack of gratitude. If you focus on lack you are not being grateful, and that will bring more lack into your life. Yet the simple state of radiating gratitude summons everything to you.
No matter who you are or where you are, you can change your life with gratitude, but you must feel it with your whole heart and radiate it from every cell. Gratitude is not a mental exercise, and in fact, if you simply use your mind for gratitude it will have little or no power. True gratitude comes from your heart! You must think gratitude through your heart, speak gratitude through your heart, and feel it intensely in your heart.

Then practice gratitude relentlessly. As you practice gratitude you will attract more thoughts and feelings of gratitude. In a short time your entire being will be saturated with it, and you will experience a happiness that is beyond what you can imagine. This is what is ahead for you when you choose gratitude as your way of life. And if you can really live in this highest state of gratitude, you will never have to ask for anything. Everything you want will be given to you before you even ask, because gratitude is the magnetic substance that opens every single door in the Universe.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States. To celebrate Thanksgiving, I want to share an excerpt with you from The Secret Daily Teachings, which is being released in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia on December 9th. This excerpt presents an easy way to start using gratitude and integrate it into your life by making every Thursday "Thank You Thursday." As you "Thank your way through every Thursday" you will open the most powerful receiving channel within you.

From The Secret Daily Teachings - Thank You Thursday

"Today is Thank You Thursday. Today and every Thursday is your day to say and feel "Thank you" in as many ways as you can.

Write a list of all the people and events you want to give thanks for.

Return thanks today to those who have done things for you.

As you walk say "Thank you" in your mind with each step you take.

As you drive, make each time you stop your cue to say "Thank you."

At various times in the day, think and feel "Thank you" inside you seven times in a row.

Look for every opportunity to say "Thank you" to other people, and say it with so much meaning that the person looks right at you.

Thank your way through every Thursday, and make "Thank you" your predominant thought, feeling, and words of the day.

"Thank you" - two words, inconceivable potential power, and all they need is you to put the power into them by expressing them.

Thank you!"

Angel Cove Christmas Blessing

During the holidays, it is easy to remember what blessings truly are. Our blessings this year include another a great year of health for my husband (without an ounce of organ rejection), the ability to travel overseas for 17 days to Europe with him, and the love and comfort of a great family.

It is easy to remain fixed on the bad things that have happened throughout the year and lose sight of the many blessing that have unfolded. Why not change focus and not allow the bad stuff to clutter your mind? Why not think about the blessings that have come upon you and the blessing you have been to others in your life? Take a moment now and count the blessings of 2007; for tomorrow is Christmas and the true day of blessings!

A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you and your family!

Semi-Happy Thanksgiving!

For those that already know me, the week of Thanksgiving is not something that settles well with my stomach. It is this time of year that people are remembering what they are thankful for and getting geared up for the winter holiday season. For me, it is quite different.

It was this day a few years ago that I came home from work to find my husband unable to move or even get to the bathroom without being in great pain. The following day he was to see his Cystic Fibrosis doctor for a regular appointment and didn't see the need on seeking immediate medical help. Luckily for him, I knew medical attention was needed because the doctors told me shortly afterward that if we would have waited an extra day, he would have been dead. It was pneumonia and it was bad. So bad that he was put on a ventilator the night going into Thanksgiving day and I got to spend that "thankful" day in the MICU ward at our local hospital watching my husband fight to live.

After 4.5 weeks, he was transferred to the transplant hospital 2 hours away to be reviewed for a kidney transplant as well as a double lung transplant. Lucky for us, he was already on the transplant list for new lungs but his kidneys were now failing and they needed to assess if he was to receive both lungs and kidney from his hero donor down the line. He was placed on the list for both and after another 4.5 weeks of being in that hospital, I was able to get him home; ventilator, medical equipment and all!

For 9 months total he was on a ventilator and after a positive sleep study, they removed the ventilator and he was back to 4L of O2 by nasal cannula.

Although everything turned out fine in the end, and my husband has now been 3 years post transplant without any rejection, Thanksgiving was such a traumatic event that year that it still stays with me. I am truly thankful for my husband's life, thankful to his donor and family, and thankful to God. The trauma of that time will stay with me for some time to come and it seems that although the butterflies in my stomach are lessening in number, they still remain. Hopefully one day I can truly celebrate Thanksgiving fully and go to Thanksgiving dinner at our family's house without those butterflies tagging along.

Happy New Year!

We want to take this opportunity to wish everyone the healthiest and happiest of New Years! 2006 is almost behind us but not without both good memories and those we would like to just leave behind. For us, 2006 has proven to be a very trying but joyous of times and we pray that 2007 will be just as good, if not better.

May love, life, and laughter be yours in 2007!

God Bless!

Merry Christmas!