Gratitude For Difficult Times

Do you harbor anger and resentment for the difficult times in your life? Do you keep looping back through those experiences, wishing you could change them or erase them or rewrite them?

Manisha Shrestha Bundela wrote “Hard times are often blessings in disguise. Let go and let life strengthen you. … Truth be told, sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones your spirit needs most. Your past was never a mistake if you learned from it. So take all the crazy experiences and lessons and place them in a box labeled ‘Thank You.’”

It’s true. Even though it may not be apparent at the time, it is often the difficult times that move you forward the quickest.

The hard times show you:

• How strong you really are.
• The things in life that it is time to let go.
• The people around you who have your back and support you … as well as those who don’t.
• The changes required to move forward into the life you would like to live.

So often you hang onto the things in your life that are familiar because it is comfortable, predictable and easier. You fear that if you let them go, no matter how miserable they may be making you, that it might get worse. You fear the change.

And yet, you will continue to complain about those same circumstances that you are refusing to change.

So, those conflicting requests you are making – change it but make it stay the same – sometimes result in what is referred to as the “cosmic two-by-four striking you in the head.” That means that something big finally occurs in your life to force you to make a change.

And it often feels like you have been struck in the head because of the turmoil that results.

You get angry and upset and may blame others and the universe for what “happened” to you. You fail to realize that you created it.

So, perhaps there is another way to look at what is occurring. Realize that you WILL get through to the other side of this and something good will come of it.

Here is an exercise that I do with my clients. I call it the “Gratitude Discovery Exercise.”

• Think of something you are not grateful for or are upset with
• Really look at what is occurring or occurred.
• See if there is some aspect of that situation that you CAN be grateful for, something that is contributing to you or will contribute to some aspect of your life. Some change that resulted from it that shifted your life into something that you may have been asking for.
• If you can’t find something, then just be grateful for whatever it will teach you
• Spend a minute or two really feeling that gratitude
• Is there less upset about the original thing now?

Realizing that you can have gratitude for difficult times, knowing that there will be good things that result from these situations gives you a freedom and strength to make changes before the “cosmic two-by-four” strikes again.

Maya Angelou said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

If you do not like something you can always find ways to change it. In those extreme situations when you can’t actually change your situation, you can decide to look at it with a more positive view and be grateful for how it will ultimately contribute to your life.

Join 3 Amazing Gratitude Goddesses: Geetha Krishnan, Vismaya Rubin and Dawn C. Meyer for a **FREE** ZOOM on World Gratitude Day on September 21, NOON Eastern time and learn to use Gratitude in your life and business

Register at  IAmPurpleDawn.com/world-gratitude-day