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Ask and Thank to Connect
Asking Without Shame One of the themes of the curanderismo class that I mentioned last week has been asking permission. Asking permission of the four directions, our ancestors, and mother earth to gather, to heal, to connect. Asking permission of plants to give of themselves to become medicine. This asking struck me as similar to…
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How Will It Get Any Better Than This?
A Fountain of Gratitude Some days are so ridiculously blessed. Over the top abundant gratitude. Today was one of those days. It started with me waking up excited to start my day because I was so grateful to attend a curanderismo class. For those who don’t know, curanderismo is a traditional healing practice. I have…
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Will This Make You Laugh? You Know You Want To.
I need a break from the seriousness. The website went down again. So much stress getting it back up. In the midst of it all I asked myself, “Where’s your gratitude?”. I came up with the usual suspects like being grateful for the opportunity to bring like-minded people together online. Then I stopped myself. Is…
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They Can’t Take Their Eyes off of You
You. Lit Up. I am inspired this week by the Maya Angelou quote you see below. I love the idea of doing something I love so well that people can’t take their eyes off of me. Although it could be the extroverted part of me that likes being the center of attention. In reality it…
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Gratitude in Times of Tragedy
How Can I Be Grateful When There Is Violence All Around? Unimaginable tragedy came into our lives last week. The loss of nine lives, nine people who graciously accepted an outsider into their circle, praying together and most-likely thanking God for their blessings together. Tragedies like these can It makes everyday gratitude seem very unimportant.…
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Notice and Savor
Tell Me What You Do Every Day and I’ll Tell You Who You Are I am working on establishing a new daily habit. A learning habit. Throughout the month of June I am committed to starting my day with a few minutes of skill-building as I learn Illustrator. I have been really liking this software…
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Desperately Seeking Calm
Take Yourself on a Journey to Now On Friday I found myself racing down a deserted dirt road, a dust cloud billowing behind me, skidding on the bumps and turns as I rushed to get to our campground. The landscape was beautiful, a rare treat to see it so lush and green in the high…
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Disturbing but True
I just couldn’t find gratitude in that situation so I looked away. You have heard my gratitude time and time again for the toads in my backyard. From mating calls, eggs, tadpoles, back to toads their life cycle brings me so much joy. When I bought this house the backyard was a wasteland of weeds…
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Will you be jinxed if you do this?
Release the Jinx Some people say that they don’t want to say how good things are going for them out of fear of jinxing it. This superstition directly stands in the way of practicing gratitude because that’s what this practice is, drawing attention to the good things we are experiencing. Feeling fearful that good things…
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One Fact Took Me from Appalled and Judgmental to Humbled
When you see a person, see the good I once worked at a middle school and was part of a team of people from vastly different backgrounds. There were middle school administrators and teachers, University directors and staff, college students who led after school activities, medical providers and me as the health educator. This was…
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This Is Where I Feel Gratitude
The Poetry of Emotion Gratitude, like all emotions, is like artwork, expansive and uncontainable. Sometimes these feelings in my body last a long time while other times they are fleeting. This poetry of emotion sometimes emerges as a sensation in my body. Gratitude does not always show up the same way but a couple of…
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Do you remember your dreams?
Saying Thank You for my Dreams For the longest time I have been intrigued by my dreams. I like to remember them, talk about them, and explore the meaning behind the images. The problem is that I often do not remember them. Even though I know how I can remember them if I really want…
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Giving with a Grateful Heart
Teaching Ourselves to Give with Gratitude We are taught to always say thank you when we receive a gift, a generous gesture or anything else. But very few of us are taught to say thank you for the opportunity to give. This realization came to me when I read the online rant of someone I…
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Today We Make a Positive Change
Transforming Self We are on our final of six weeks of focusing on our inner selves to be the change we wish to see in the world. This week is all about making positive changes. What a journey we have been on these last six weeks. A journey of self-discovery. A journey of gratitude. A…
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Today We Practice Self-Care
Nurturing, Caring, Healing We are on our fifth of six weeks of focusing on our inner selves to be the change we wish to see in the world. This week is all about self-care. Stop running around buying this and that, doing this and that, saying this and that, eating this and that. Just stop for…
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Today We Practice Self-Love
Love Love and more Love We are on our fourth of six weeks of focusing on our inner selves to be the change we wish to see in the world. This week is all about self-love. So here we are at self-love though it seems this should have been the place to start. Can…
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Thankful Thursdays
What are you grateful for? [su_button url=”http://www.ourgratitudecollective.com/wp-login.php” background=”#a2dc27″ color=”#444545″ size=”7″ center=”yes”]LOG IN & SHARE[/su_button] Not a member? JOIN US or just post in the comments below.
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Today We Practice Self-Compassion
You Are Your Own Best Friend We are on our third of six weeks of focusing on our inner selves to be the change we wish to see in the world. This week is all about self-compassion. Last week we talked about accepting and respecting ourselves no matter what. But we can take that one…
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Today We Practice Self-Acceptance
Notice. Accept. Release. We are on our second of six weeks of focusing on our inner selves to be the change we wish to see in the world. This week is all about self-acceptance. Earlier in the week I was having a hard time. It is hard to describe what was going on with me…
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What about You?
Make the world a better place – start with you. What does it take for you to be healthy in mind, body and spirit? You probably immediately thought about nutrition and exercise. Those are very important but what else? Maybe your gratitude practice, meditation, reading … There is so much we can do for our…