Imagine you helped your friend carry their sofa up six flights of stairs to their apartment, and your reward for this kindly deed was a half-hour’s worth of complaints about how the color looked different in the store and the cushions seem less plush than those on the display model.

No ‘Thank you’ for your efforts. No ‘Take a load off’, even though your poor knees are on the verge of buckling. Not even a glass of tap water to help you rehydrate after you just sweated your butt off.

Now imagine a week has gone by and that same friend texts you to ask for your help bringing their new stove up to the apartment. Are you going to rush to assist them, or are you going to say “Fack Betty and her new stove!” as you set your phone down and go about your business?

Judge me if you wish, but I’m Team ‘Fack Betty!’.

In the same way that we respond to the energy we receive from those around us, the universe responds to the energy that we give off. So, if we act like Betty, not bothering to say ‘Thank you’ for all the wonderful things both big and small which it has already done for us, do you really think it’s going to give two shits when we say that we need its help to bring the stove up?

And this is where some people get confused about the whole manifestation process:
“If I’m supposed to be manifesting a new life because I’m unhappy with my current reality, what do I have to be appreciative of, and why should I pretend to be grateful when I’m still living in scarcity?”

But here’s the thing:
The universe is essentially a mirror, reflecting your thoughts, beliefs and actions back to you. So, if you live in an internal state of constant and desperate wanting, it’s going to mirror that state of wanting in your 3D reality. On the other hand, if you can exist in a neutral space where you can acknowledge your needs while still being appreciative for the roof over your head and the job that pays your bills, you’ll find that the universe will reveal avenues and pathways which can lead to an upgraded reality.

And here’s the neuroscience behind it:
The brain performs something called ‘confirmation bias’, which means it actively seeks out ‘evidence’ to support any theory it’s given. So, if your brain is constantly inundated with negative thoughts – I’m not smart enough to get that promotion. I’m not rich enough to afford that house. I’m not good-looking enough to attract that hot partner. – it’s going to search for ‘proof’ to corroborate what you’re telling it.

Think of the Red Car Game. When you start looking for red cars, you suddenly notice that they seem to be everywhere, which is crazy freaky weird because a second before you could’ve sworn there were only white vehicles like yours on the highway. But this happens because your brain focuses on what you tell it to, and it weeds out the rest as ‘irrelevant information’.

This is why when we only focus on the negative things in life, we miss the opportunities and possibilities that are right in front of us – because we’ve programmed our brains to only look for that negative, so they dismiss the opportunities as ‘irrelevant’. But when we approach Life from a perspective of gratitude for the good and the abundance that already exist in our reality, our brain actively searches for more of the same, leading us to notice possibilities which our negative selves would’ve missed and recognize opportunities that they would’ve ignored.

And that gratitude becomes almost a drug for our brains, giving us another hit of dopamine every time we find something that we can appreciate – whether it’s getting a great deal on your new car or getting a discount on those new shoes you wanted. And the more you ingest, the more you begin to crave it and actively seek it out, leading you to find joy in even the smallest of things, like the fact that your neighbor’s stereo is on the fritz so they aren’t caterwauling their favorite oldies hits at the top of their lungs.

So, your homework for the next two weeks is to go about your day as usual. But, at the end of each day, I want you to make a list of three things for which you felt grateful that day. And they don’t have to be big things. It could be that the rain stopped just as you got to the office, so you didn’t get soaked and have to spend the day shivering in wet clothes. Or the nice lady in the window at the drive-thru called you ‘honey’ and it made you feel special in that moment. The smaller the better, because it means you’re learning to appreciate Everything the universe has already given you, and not just the big things.

And now, to end today’s post, I’m going to share my choices for the
Top 10 Quotes about Gratitude.

Until next time,