Embracing Awesomeness

Posted on May 27, 2020 by Tracy Baranauskas, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

I received a text message yesterday morning from one of my former clients,
Laura, that said, “Thought of you when I saw this!”  It was a meme that read…

In a society that has you counting money, pounds, calories, and steps, be a rebel and count your blessings instead.

I was taking a walk when Laura’s message came through, and it made me smile because it was exactly what I was thinking about at the time. 

It also made me smile because I know Laura truly “gets it”.  She has done a lot of personal development work over the years, and has embraced a mindset of abundance, sufficiency, and gratitude rather than one of scarcity, graspingness, and fear. 

Why is this important?

Well, because when we have an abundance mindset, we can live with less fear. Our thoughts are of sufficiency, and our brain finds evidence of this throughout the day.  We feel an overall sense of well-being, knowing that our basic needs are being met, and then some. 

These thoughts often bring on more feelings of joy, contentment, and gratitude into our lives.  And this is the exact energy we want to be in because it attracts more of the same!

When we appreciate all the good in our present situation, we keep finding more and more reasons to be grateful!

How awesome is that?

And of course, the opposite is also true. 

When we focus on lack and scarcity, our thoughts are of insufficiency, and our brain finds evidence of this throughout the day. 

We compare ourselves to others and start to feel resentful of those who we perceive to have it better than we do. We feel an overall sense of deprivation and our fear of not having enough becomes exacerbated.

These thoughts often bring on more feelings of unhappiness, panic, and desperation.  And this is not the energy we want to attract, for sure.

So, if you get stuck in a mindset of insufficiency and fear, what can you do?

Well, the answer is simply to practice thoughts of abundance, sufficiency, and gratitude.  I say “practice” because most of us have been conditioned from an early age to believe that contrary thoughts are more realistic. 

But, my friend, YOU CREATE YOUR OWN REALITY!

And if your predominant thoughts have been about scarcity and lack, and this has been reinforced by the evidence you have collected, then your brain is interpreting that story as a fact (aka “reality”).

The key is to practice new thoughts, and to be intentional about it. 

The absolute easiest way to do this is to start keeping a Gratitude Journal.  Now, before you start telling me that you don’t have time for such hippy nonsense, let me tell you, this doesn’t have to be anything fluffy or time consuming.

It can be as simple as using an ordinary notebook and compiling a list – 5 in the morning and 5 at bedtime – of things you are grateful for (and with no repeats). The “no repeats” rule helps to keep it interesting, and makes your brain search for the silver-lining in situations that you might not otherwise appreciate.

Of course, if you want to make this exercise more of a journaling practice, you can write more in-depth about each thing. But honestly, it’s not necessary.

One of my favorite authors, Jen Sincero, says, “Gratitude is the gateway drug to awesomeness.”

So, I hope you decide to give this a try, at least for 30 days, to see if it makes a difference in your perspective and overall happiness.  I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by the magic that unfolds from it!

I mean, who doesn’t want to add a little more awesomeness into their life, right?