For more info about this series please go to https://wordpress.com/post/catherinestrang.com/1455 This post takes about 2 minutes to read and the exercise as long as you wish.

Few inner activities lift our spirits in the profound way that gratitude does. The practice of gratitude is one of grace; it will bring into your life, manifest, more of what you are grateful for. As it’s a heart based practice this activity of drawing towards us what we are grateful for becomes one that is more closely aligned with the true Self, more in line with higher spiritual intentions of being for the benefit of all.

Still on the subject of manifestation, if what we are desiring is not in our highest interests or part of our divine plan then obviously we will either not bring that to us or if we do it does not last or manifest in a way that is balanced or easy. This is not meant as a judgement – our natural divine state is one of absolute and opulent abundance, our higher self, guides etc want the very best for us. However we are here on Earth by our own choice and for specific reasons with a specific plan and experiences we need to experience and issues to deal with and would no doubt be a bit frustrated if we went far off track!

The lack of information on this aspect of manifestation in most New Age circles is something I occasionally find frustrating and explains why so many feel thwarted in their desires and with lives often the complete opposite of what it is they are trying to attract. I’m not exempt from this either. I became a lot more peaceful and life seemed to flow more easily when I simply gave up having material goals and intentions etc. However I know it’s time to make changes again so am focussing intention in this regard – in a different way this time, though I’m so used to not doing this now I forget a lot of the time!

So todays suggestion, in the same vein as Day 1, is to drop all striving and wishing for today and simply focus on gratitude. There are several ways to do this, there is of course the gratitude journal, taking a beautiful journal just for this purpose and writing down a few things you are grateful for every day. This may not appeal to you but I found when I did this, despite only doing it for a few months, it set in motion a subconscious habit of being a lot more grateful for my life, I just naturally found gratitude rising more and more. So if you are having difficulty finding enough things to be grateful for this formal process may help.

You may already find it easy to express gratitude as you go about your day and so could just ramp this up a little more and see where that takes you

For today’s exercise I suggest that the HeartMath Meditation is revisited with the energy/feeling of gratitude- on your own or guided, I have included the audio below if you prefer to be guided. To take this a little further than before, really feel that you are inside the heart, that there is a sacred space in here you can inhabit and fill with gratitude. Once here go through each area of your life and state what you are grateful for; as you make each statement and are feeling the gratitude, and whatever else arises, breathe this deeply into your heart then through and around your body. If a negative feeling comes up breathe through this with gratitude for the opportunity to release that feeling.

As intentions are useful perhaps you could begin this exercise with the intention of feeling peaceful and relaxed.