Attitude of Gratitude

Beautiful spring morning -- sitting outside and having a cup of tea -- there is a little bird with a nice orange tummy. We are both at awe at the beauty of this world and the opportunity to be in it. That is how I see life; sometimes from a point of view of a bird or a tree or a flower. All and all, I feel connected to this universe and it really feels right. This great state of being is called bliss, and I owe it to my attitude of gratitude.
How my life has been unfolding these past few years is due to nothing else but the choices I have consciously made. I decided to be happy and in love with everything and everyone that comes my way. Instead of regret or blame or sorrow or pain, I decided to be proactive in the game of life and not re-active. How does one choose to experience bliss? Simply, by being in a state of gratitude! Sure life has showed me plenty of unkind, painful challenging cards, but I choose to make lemonade with lemons and move forward and connect to goodness. This little bird and I have more in common than I thought. We speak the same language, perhaps sing and dance to a different tune. We both fly different distances, mine for sure is a journey of mind, body and soul.

As I grow older and wiser, I feel better. Why do I feel better? Because I choose to. In eastern cultures, the answer to everything is thank God "alham dolelah." How are you? How is your family? How is life? We respond to all these questions by saying thank God. But I did not mean it until recently. I started understanding the meaning and definitions that we gave to the words thankfulness and God.  Life shifted when I did.
Being thankful gives you access to excess of life. "Shokre nemat nematat afzoon konad."
There has been a school of thought that its main focus is to create and emphasize the energy field of positive attitude. Over the past few years with the emerge of CDs such as “Secret” or books about the power of now by Eckhart Tolle, or the power of attraction, we in the west started to understand the power of our thoughts and our words.

In other words energy flows, where attention goes. As a conscious human being, I like to bring forth this energy field to use its power to better myself and be able to influence and inspire those around me as well. The result of such behavior is better physical and mental health. More relaxed and more centered, more vitality and hopefulness are the side effects of such a process. I like to share two of my recent experiments with you.

Experiment one:
On my day off, I treat myself to $18 dollars of one hour of reflexology massage, a taste of champagne and beer -- nothings wrong with that, is it? I intended to relax and silent my thoughts while getting the massage.  I became aware of the efforts of the non-English speaking woman, who was working to guarantee the removal of some knots in my body.
In the middle of her work, I thanked her and broke our silence. She was so surprised and thanked me for thanking her. She continued her work with an extra effort and energy and love -- twice as much as I was receiving before. I felt great and she felt appreciated. How often do we say thanks in the middle of a service, in the middle of a relationship, or a friendship? Why don't we say thank you to people we don’t know -- bank tellers, people who wash our cars, or pack our groceries?  The list is unlimited, so choose to be mindful and thankful and say it as loving as you possibly can. We all appreciate kind words.
 
Experiment two:
My 50th birthday party took place in April. I decided to make it powerful and meaningful. After all, I was celebrating my life, so I decided to call it a “Gratitude Party.” I have all these great groups of friends, family, and clients. I am truly blessed beyond my expectations, but some people are not and I have spent my past vacations being a service to them. What a fantastic opportunity! What do you give a person that feels like she has what it takes to be happy in life? I have enough clothes and perfume. Though books are my best friends and everyone knows that, I prefer to choose my friends myself too. I asked everyone to donate to my cause in Nepal and make me happier by being part of my giving world, not having world. My friend Raj, back in Nepal, has had his leg amputated and he needed a prostatic leg badly. And then there were my orphans and the medical camp this year that needed some money as well. I have promised myself to do what ever it takes to help these people and here was my chance. I knew that my party and my invitation would make a difference. And I like to tell all the people who came through and helped me make this world a better place, thank you. The night of my party I met a lady named Jenifer. She had her 40th birthday party the night before and after hearing about my story, she decided to ask all her friends and family to give her money for my cause in lieu of her birthday presents. What an act of unselfish kindness! She gave me $584. I thanked Jenifer and people like her who give me the ability to make a difference in this world and be a better person by choosing to think of others once in a while. My friends, Sandi and Cheryl, put their hearts and souls in catering my party. My mom and uncle gave their love and time making some beautiful dishes. My friend Mustafa from Afghanistan gave me the gift of a beautiful big cake fit for a queen. All evening, people came and donated their money and were able to share the feeling of love that was decorating my party room. I am truly grateful and blessed. I was able to raise $9000. . Can you hear me? At the time when we can not even borrow a $100 from any friends, I was able to collect that much money. I cried and laughed at the same time. Few days after I sent Raj some money so he can buy himself his leg. The rest of the money goes to Rescue Humanity 2011 medical and dental camp that will take place on October 21st thru November 7th in Nepal. If you are interested to join me on this pilgrimage of love, you can contact me at Ferialm@hotmail.com. I will bring the pictures of what an act of kindness can do and how we all collectively made a difference. Now that is what I call a life worth living!