Stepping into the Gratitude Shower

I’ve found that feeling and expressing gratitude to be a very useful habit to form. It requires no equipment and hardly any time – 5 minutes at the most. With a little practice, just 1 minute will make a difference.

Why is gratitude so important?
It helps to make an investment in what I call the ‘storehouse of love’** (as opposed to the ‘storehouse of criticism & judgement’), which benefits everyone & everything. If that makes no sense, then stick with the science. The feeling of gratitude is translated by the brain into neurochemicals that are secreted into the blood stream.

This chemistry of gratitude energizes the body and releases a wave of euphoric sensation & a sense of harmony with all that is.
The emotional chemistry of gratitude engages the activity of an amazing enzyme called telomerase, the cellular equivalent of the Fountain of Youth.

Here are the simple steps to follow:

1. Focus your attention on the area around your heart
2. Breathe gently into this space with no attempt to change anything
3. Allow your attention and breath to spread throughout your whole body
4. Now think of a person or situation that you feel gratitude for (remember, if you cannot think of anyone or anything, the very act of searching has the same effect – really!)
5. Allow yourself to actually feel gratitude rather than the thought about the feeling
6. As you do this, you may find other people or situations arising from present day or the past.
7. Allow yourself to enjoy this!

** The storehouse of love? What do I mean?
I imagine there is a warehouse far bigger than Planet Earth, the contents of which we can increase in size every time we think, speak or act from a place of   gratitude, love and care. This means we can draw on the contents whenever we need them for ourselves or those we care about.