Line one of the Yoga Sutras reads “And now the teaching on yoga begins.”
And now.
and now.
And NOW.
I read this opening line in the same way our inhales enter us again, and again, and now, and now. As an opportunity to begin at any moment. There is no need to get ready with our preparations, we can just begin.
Like in the practice of yoga. I show up to my mat. I feel my breath. I move my body. The yoga teacher says “now come back to your breath,” because they know how easy it is to drift off into la la land even eight minutes into class. But the teacher knows that the invitation to begin again, to come back to the breath and the practice, is always there.
And now. Now that you came back. Meaning now that you’re aware that you’re here. Meaning now that the student is ready. Now that you opened the book, rolled out your mat, closed your eyes, took a look around you, the teacher appears.
I write my gratitude list every morning. Like taking vitamins. Like a prescription of the heart. Until one morning I didn’t. Like taking vitamins, you don’t notice right away when you stop. Until many mornings and a season later (this past week), a voice in my head, said “I don’t know what to be grateful for. Is it even gratitude if I have to force it?”
It shocked me.
It coiled my insides.
It was the thought that sparked the awareness that I hadn’t been taking my vitamins. But how do I begin again when I let it go too far, for so long?
Phone a friend.
I talked it out. I voiced the puzzle and lightbulbs and muck in my head and to her openness, I wasn’t alone. I told her I felt like that experiment with the bowls of rice. Three bowls poured from the same bag, left out in the same environment. To one bowl someone said kind, encouraging, loving, positive words. To the other, they said hateful, discouraging, mean and negative things. One bowl was just ignored. The positive bowl of rice stayed pure, light and fresh. The negative bowl of rice turned dark, moldy and rancid. The one ignored didn’t do so hot either. I felt like the negative bowl of rice.
To begin again.
We told each other we would send a photo of our gratitude journals every day. As accountability. As we walk each other home. I noticed instant renewal and lightness after day one.
I know the power of gratitude. I’ve lived little and grand miracles of Love just from projecting and attracting from the grounds of gratitude. I did not hesitate in believing a gratitude practice was the answer to me feeling depleted. It’s the action step that can be the most challenging. The discipline. I think I left my journal open to the first page and stared at it while I drank my whole cup of coffee before finally writing my list.
To begin again.
THE GRATITUDE FORMULA
There’s this wonderful book by May McCarthy called The Gratitude Formula. It’s here that I first learned and began my relationship with Gratitude. To sum up the process, although I highly recommend reading her book, is this.
Write three things you’re grateful for.
I am grateful for…
Write three things you feel good/aligned in doing.
I feel _____ when I…. (I feel strong in my legs when I run)
Write three things you’re grateful for that haven’t happened yet.
I am grateful for the job that brings me balance, purpose and freedom in my schedule.
I wish I could remember where I read or heard this but when you’re writing your gratitude list, it’s more beneficial to write three meaningful things than a whole long list. Close your eyes and think of something that happened to you recently that made you feel warm, light, loved, seen, heard, etc. Something in your memory that has a glow behind it. That’s gratitude. It can be simple. We can feel a glow around anything.
Be specific in your gratitude that hasn’t happened yet. This is something you want. A goal. A place in life you wish to be that you’re already fueling with gratitude and love. It will come to you.
I also recommend The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity to learn magical ways that language and writing can completely shape the life you love.
And now I begin.
so. much. love to you.
Nicole