Day 66 on my journey: Day of gratitude…!
On this day I am very grateful for having such a loving husband.
I am grateful for getting a web cam that can also record videos.
I am grateful for finding the courage to record my first gratitude video.
I am grateful for having everything I need in this moment.
I am grateful for being on this journey.
I am so grateful for having this computer.
I am so grateful my kids are fine…
I saw a very nice video by one of the members of the Hurricane of Gratitude group on this day. The title of her video is “Amy’s Attitude of Gratitude”. She spoke about gratitude and what it means to her.
She said something that really spoke to my heart: She said that you always have a choice between two states of being and those are to either be in love, gratitude and abundance or to be in fear and lack. At any given moment you have the choice to experience something from either states.
She advised us to write down what we’re grateful for every day. It’s a great thing to be able to look back as you move on your journey.
She challenged us to honor someone every day, in any way we’d like to.
I thought, this video was really nice, because I’ve learned that being grateful for what you have is a great way to see the abundance that is all around us and when you focus on that more comes to you. For example I have gotten pay raises after showing gratitude or connecting to more people. But the moment I kind of go back to my old ways and don’t feel as good, I notice a change in my finances as well.
Being grateful is also a great way to feel more prosperous, which is of course really important to me.
So I’m adding spreading gratitude to my list of things to do.
Let me start by saying that I am grateful for:
1. Being a member of the Hurricane of Gratitude group on facebook. If you’re on facebook you should check the group out.
2. Having a great husband. Our relationship is improving. I’ve noticed a change since I started on this program. A change for the better.
3. Joan’s program.
4. Having great daughters, who make me smile 
and mad 
every day.
5. For social media websites, like facebook and Twitter…
I’ll try to make a list of at least 5 things I am grateful for every day from now on.
I just love this program. It is so wonderful to connect to others, even if it’s over the Internet. Some people have befriended me on facebook and the founder of the group “Hurricane of Gratitude” has offered to make me an officer of the group.
He asked me to come up with a title and after some thought it occured to me that I have a passion for learning. I enjoy acquiring knowledge, especially about life. So I decided on the title “Life Explorer”.
I realized that there are two questions that are keeping me on my path to self improvement:
1. How does life work?
2. Where am I really from?
It feels great to know this about myself. To finally know what my passion is: to learn!
Personal development has been a part of my life because of this passion and because of my willingness to change.
I am not saying it’s easy, but I am willing and that helps.
There is an audio in the BYMM program called the Identity Factor. This is something Joan talks about a lot. This identity factor is the one that likes to keep us where we are. It loves the predictabilty of our lives.
I can fully understand that.
Moving forward is not just about getting rid of bad money habits, but it’s also important to replace them with healthy habits. Learning to take better care of myself and my money is very important.
I see that, but to be honest I find it hard to replace my old habits. I am getting impatient.
So in order not to get discouraged I am going to make a list of what I feel I have achieved so far and pat myself on the back for that:
1. I am keeping track of my spending. Which has, by the way, taught me that I am still overspending. I bought something that at the moment of buying I thought I shouldn’t because I wouldn’t have enough money left for the rest of the month. I bought it anyway and to be honest I don’t regret I did. I am using what I bought. It’s not just sitting there and it’s something I will be using in future. For how long I don’t know, but I am using it now and that’s all that matters.
2. I am still writing in this journal every day. I am really proud of myself for doing that.
3. I am connecting to others. I am on facebook, twitter, hi5, a women’s self-esteem forum and so many other social networks I don’t even remember.
4. I cleared out some of my clutter. My desk is staying tidy, although the rest is a bit messy again. It is still a lot better than it was.
5. I found a prosperity buddy and have spoken to her twice now. It’s nice to have someone to share some of my concerns with and to be there for someone as well.
At times I feel the resistance and get upset, without being able to control myself. I guess I shouldn’t try to control my emotions, because that might lead to future problems.
I am just very grateful to be on this journey… taking baby steps is better than standing still… wouldn’t you agree?!
On this day, after all that has happened these two days before, something really nice happened. I was mentioned in a video on facebook.
You see, I’m a member of a group on facebook called Hurricane of Gratitude. The founder of the group put together a really nice video and included the pictures of members of the group, showing them how much he appreciates them. It was a really nice thing to do.
So this was my up after a down. This group is really growing and that shows me how gratitude works. As you become more and more grateful you get more and more to be grateful for. Every few days I post a list of 5 things I am grateful for on the wall of the group. I haven’t done if for a while, because of a few things going on with me.
At the moment I am grateful to have my glasses back and to have some money in my pocket…
There is so much to be grateful for.
To get back to my goal of living a debt free prosperous life. I have been walking around thinking about getting a PDA or a digital camera. I like taking pictures and uploading them to my Picture trail account, but I haven’t done that in a while, because my digital camera broke.
It’s nice to take pictures of the girls now that there so young, but a digital camera is pretty expensive if you want a good one. A PDA is even more expensive and I already decided I don’t really need it. I could get a diary or use my mobile to keep track of appointments and I am already using an excel sheet to keep track of my cashflow, so I don’t need a PDA.
So, now I’m still thinking about this digital camera. I can take pictures with my mobile, but they’re only 2 mega pixels.
I think I’ll just take a few months and save up for one or think about it a bit longer, who knows I might find another solution…
Day 24 was a day I will never forget, although I wouldn’t mind if I did. Like I said, a crazy guy punctiored two of my tires and then attacked me. I’m fine and I feel great for being as strong as I was handling every thing.
So on day 25 I was with the police most of the morning. I think I told the story over 5 times. The final draft of my statement was in Arabic, so I have no idea whether the officer understood everything I said and noted it down correctly. He said we had to trust him. Not easy after another Arabic man attacks you, but what can I do. I think I saw the “suspect” about four times. They kept asking me whether he was the one that attacked me. The fact that this guy kept lying about what happened, made me stop feeling sorry for him, because believe it or not I felt sorry. He is living out on the streets and probably just desperate, but I don’t like people lying. Maybe because I am an honest person, I expect that from others and hardly question people’s integrity.
If not for anything else I have learned to be less trusting, but I am still me. I will still be nice to people, because I really want to do that, not to please them, but just to be nice. I will not let some *&%* guy mess that up for me.
I really feel like the Universe was testing my progress, because when I left the police to go pick up my girls from school, I was already late. I then got into a terrible traffic jam and finally picked up the girls two hours late. Normally I would have gotten really anxious, because I just hate being late, but I was surprisingly calm. I only lost it once and just pleaded and said I had enough, I asked how much calmer I had to be…:-) And the traffic started moving… I was so grateful and amazed.
We really do create our reality and I see proof of this almost every day. It is our choice to what we create, by what we focus on. I am of course focusing on getting my debt free prosperous living…
There was one nice thing that happened, I got payed for the extra work I’m doing in the mornings… YES! I am really grateful for that as well.
I’m sure there will be a lot more tests on my journey, but I am more than confident that I will be able to handle them…
There is one thing that has definitely improved for me and that involves groceries… Groceries? Yep groceries!
When I was young and still living with my parents, my mom would always make sure we had food on the table. There were times it was not easy, but she was always able to do it. I see myself doing the same for my family now.
I have gone through a period of really feeling stressed when doing my grocery shopping, because I felt I didn’t have enough money to get what I felt my family needed. On top of that I just couldn’t convince my husband to increase our food budget. He is a very stubborn man when it comes to money and there has to be a really good reason for him to give me more money. So I would walk around the supermarket comparing prices, with my calculator in hand to make sure I would not put too many items in my cart, so I wouldn’t be humiliated at the counter for not being able to pay for everything.
But then I did Nick Arandes’ e-course on manifesting miracles and one of the things he asked me to do was to start a gratitude journal. This was not easy for me, especially on paper, so what I did is after some time I started two journals online in two forums I subscribe to. The reason I did this is because I really wanted to express my gratitude and share it with others.
From the very beginning I started showing more gratitude for the things I already have, I noticed a change in my perspective on groceries. Now I can see that there is always something for us to eat in the house, which I am very grateful for. I don’t stress anymore when in the supermarket, because I somehow know I’ll have enough money and by now I know which items to get and which not. Even when my husband is late giving me grocery money I can stay calm.
Just by realizing and being grateful for the abundance that is already around me, I have been able to make this change for myself. Something I am really grateful for, because it has reduced my stress levels and given me peace of mind when it comes to taking care of my family…
Now, why am I telling you this on this day on my journey? Well last night my babysitter told me that we were almost out of diapers. Normally I would freak out and start worrying about what would happen if my daughter needed more diapers and I couldn’t give it to her. At the moment there’s only one diaper left and I don’t know whether my husband will give me the money for this week’s groceries, but I am not concerned. I know the Universe will provide. There will always be a solution to a challenge as long as I am not standing it the way with my worrying…
So start looking around and be grateful for all the things you have in life and more of it will come to you!
