You can be heard more easily under the noise than above it.
- I'll Take Manhattan, Sidney Sheldon

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Daily Gratitude Log 15

Gratitude Challenge Roundup: 
Reflection, Feedback and Next Steps Moving Forward!








As this is the first time I have participated in a Gratitude Challenge, I am glad that I have managed to complete the 14-day challenge.  I was quite apprehensive whether I would be able to do all the tasks in the challenge and wanted to give up the challenge after the first few days.  I am glad that I persisted with the challenge although I have not been able to complete two of the challenges so far.  

I have not complete Day 10's Give a Gratitude Tip as I have not been to any place to receive service which warrant me giving a gratitude tip to the service staff.  The other challenge which I have not completed is Day 13's Do a Gratitude Meditation.  I did try to do the 15-min Gratitude Meditation yesterday and today when I woke up but I did not fulfill the challenge as I was not able to visualize the realization of my goals during the meditation.  

I think it is because my meditation practice so far is still very much on the surface and I will need to go deeper to be able to do the Gratitude Meditation. I will keep trying and I believe one of these days I will be able to do it. 

My favourite tasks have been Day 9's Share Something you are Grateful with Someone as I was able to share my love for my yoga practice by inviting my readers to visit my yoga blog.  Day 14's Give Thanks for Your Mistakes allowed me to reflect on my mistakes and what lessons I have learned from them.  It also act as a reminder that I need to be more confident with myself whenever I am given a task or venture into something new. 

The quote below sums up what Gratitude means to me.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enought, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.  It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing and mistakes into important events.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and create a vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie 

I will continue to improve on expressing and cultivating the actions of giving gratitude in my daily life not only in my dealings with other people but also to myself. 

3 Things (and more) that I am Grateful for Today....



I would like to thank Celes of Personal  Excellence for conducting this 14-day challenge and the participants for their supportive comments on my posts.  

Love & light,
Karin 

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Daily Gratitude Log 14

Gratitude Challenge: 
Give Thanks For Your Mistakes










Today is the last day of the Gratitude Challenge and the final challenge is to think of 2 mistakes that I have made which I felt bad over and to identify 3 things I gained from each mistake. 

The first mistake that I can of is thinking that I am not good enough whenever I want to venture into something.   I am always my own worst enemy as I would start to think of excuses on why I won't be able to do it.   A good example is when I was learning to do headstand in my yoga practice.  I would tell my teacher that I don't have the arm strength to hold the pose as I was afraid of falling.    But with the encouragement of my yoga teacher, I managed to overcame my fear of falling and I am now able to do the headstand and also add some variations while I am in the pose.  

The 3 things I have gained from this mistake are:

(i)   I have to approach each new experience with an open mind and heart.
(ii)  I can create possibilities if I am willing to take the first step. 
(iii) Have more confidence in myself.

The second mistake that I regret making is not having more time for myself when I was younger.  I was a workaholic and spend most of my time in the office and have little time for recreational activities and let myself get stressed out over my work.    I have since learned to have work-life balance where I now create time for myself.  I now go for my yoga classes after work and whenever I need to pamper myself, I would take leave to go for a facial and massage. 

The 3 things I have gained from this mistake are:

(i)  Self-compassion 
(ii) Creating space for my personal growth 
(iii) Generosity with myself and others 



3 Things I am Grateful for Today...


(i) I am healthy and strong. 
(ii) that my friend was not hurt when her bag was snatched this morning. 
(iii) for the mistakes I made which is part of life lessons.