MESSAGE #515 THANKS-LIVING PART II

Yesterday I talked about thanksliving and one way that you can practice it. As promised, here are the second and third ways…

A second way to experience thanksliving is to give thanks ahead of time for whatever good you desire in your life. Feel as if you have already received this good. There is a law of life that can be stated in these words: “Thoughts held in mind will reproduce in the outer world after their own kind.” In other words, we create our outer life according to the way we have created our inner life – with thoughts, beliefs and attitudes. Thanksliving will help us to create what we want. Thanksgiving is then seen not as an effect of something we have received, but rather the cause of some future good that will inevitably be drawn to us. Instead of postponing your good, satisfied feelings until after the fact, practice having the good feelings now. If what you desire is a more prosperous lifestyle, start feeling like a grateful, prosperous person today. Your attitude tends to draw prosperity to you like a magnet.

A third way to experience thanksliving – perhaps the most difficult, yet the most powerful of all – is to give thanks for your problems and challenges. By facing our challenges and overcoming them, we grow stronger, wiser and more compassionate. One of the best ways to learn mathematics is to be giving problems to solve. One of the best ways to prepare for an athletic event is to practice with a strong, competitive opponent. Adversity, when overcome, strengthens us. So we are giving thanks not for the problem itself but for the strength and the knowledge that will come from it. Giving thanks for this growth ahead of time will help you to grow through – not just go through – your challenges.

The mind has power to cause. Thoughts and feelings have creative power. An “attitude of gratitude” (ie., thanksliving) is attractive; it is a power that will draw more good to you.

(Discovering the Laws of Life)


Thanks for reading.