Having a Gratitude Practice is One More Way to Enhance Your Feng Shui

My Feng Shui journey has led me to learn about so many other things, including the importance of practicing gratitude. Of course, if you are like me, your mother probably brought you up to be grateful, but of course, when we are young, we don’t always grasp it. Being forced to write thank you notes when you are little isn’t always a kid’s idea of fun, but as a grown-up, I certainly know mom was right. 

As I am posting this, it is almost Thanksgiving Day which is always a wonderful reminder to notice things we are thankful for. Even in trying times, we can all find something, even if it is small, to be grateful for. Practicing gratitude as a way of life is incredibly beneficial.

Attitude of Gratitude

I had never heard the phrase “attitude of gratitude” until I got into Feng Shui. Two key principles in Feng Shui are that everything is energy and that like energies attract like energies. They say the quickest way to have more to be grateful for is to be grateful for what you already have. Even though you might want a larger home, or want to live in a different location, start by being grateful for what you currently have. Here’s a Feng Shui tip – if you want to sell your house, be grateful for the one you already have. Or you want to find a new place to rent, be grateful for the current one. Just finding some aspects of either situation that you can be grateful for starts the energy flowing and raises your vibration.

Recommended Books on Gratitude

If you are interested in learning a little more about the power of gratitude, I highly recommend the following books:

• The Magic by Rhonda Byrne
• The Gratitude Jar: A Simple Guide to Creating Miracles by Josie Robinson
• Thank and Grow Rich: A 30-day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy by Pam Grout
• The Gratitude Diaries by Janice Kaplan

Benefits of Practicing Gratitude

Besides increasing your overall well-being here are some specific benefits of practicing gratitude:

• Improves physical health
• Improves mental health
• Reduces stress
• Improves satisfaction of life
• Improves prosperity
• Improves your relationships

It is no coincidence that these happen to be some of the most popular areas that Feng Shui improves as well. 

Examples of a Gratitude Practice

If you don’t already have some version of a gratitude practice, I encourage you to start one. It’s super easy, you just need to start training yourself. Here are a few easy ways:

• Start a gratitude journal: At the end of each day, write down 5-10 things you are grateful for that happened that day. You can get a designated journal for this, or just write it down on any piece of paper, or just get a spiral notebook. It can be as basic or as fancy as you want. 
• Try a Gratitude App. There are several gratitude apps available. See which resonates with you.
• Make a Gratitude Jar: Just take any jar, write down things you are grateful for on small pieces of paper and fold them or roll them up and put them in the jar. I have one sitting in my office. I spray-painted a Mason Jar. You could get totally creative if you wanted. It’s also nice to periodically go back through and re-read all the things you have written down.
• Do an appreciation challenge with your friends or family: A teacher of one of the groups that I belong to gave us what he called a “Micro Appreciation Challenge” at the end of last year. It was about being mindful and present and noticing even the tiniest things to be grateful for, for example, the pen you are using, your shampoo, the sponge you are using to clean dishes with, and salt and pepper. Nothing was too basic or unimportant. It really gets you to start noticing and appreciating everything.
• Say things out loud for a few minutes:  I often don’t feel like writing things down, but I do want to be grateful, so I will sit down and just start saying out loud things that I am grateful for. If you follow Abraham Hicks, Esther Hicks would call it a rampage. I personally do this when nobody else is around, but if you have people that will understand what you are doing, the more the merrier

I aim to be continuously mindful of things to be grateful for and to make it a practice as I am going throughout my day. I am not perfect, we all get busy, but I know when I am really good about it, I feel so much better. It truly does make a difference. 

And specifically regarding Feng Shui, go around your space, and notice 5-10 things in each room that you can be grateful for. That energy infuses itself into your space and raises the vibration of your home (or office). And raising that energy – that’s really what Feng Shui is all about.

The universe provides abundantly when you’re in a state of gratefulness.– Wayne Dyer