The seasons are finally shifting and the weather here in the northern Midwest is starting to tiptoe into sandals. Summer seems just around the corner. We made it through another winter. 

I’m really hoping all these April showers, (and a few snowflakes) turn into an abundance of May flowers here. 

How did your new moon intentions go last month? What did you write down and has anything started to pop up because of it? 

Last month I asked you to launch a few dreams for the year. Now that you have launched those dreams in your journal, this month you will focus on amplifying your energy. Your focus, intention, and energy are what start to move mountains for you to achieve your goal. When you are focused on what you want inspiration can call you forward towards that goal. 

This month you will focus on what you have that you already love. For some, this will be easy. For others, you may feel this is an impossible task because you desire so many things to be different. 

It doesn’t matter how many things are going right (or wrong), you can choose to be happy now. 

Let me tell you a little story about that. In 2015, my marriage came to an abrupt halt. Even though I knew things weren’t good, I was blindsided and fell into a dark place. I didn’t know how to restart my life and part of me didn’t want to. I had lots of reasons that this pain was just too big and I didn’t know how to continue. 

As I sat crying in my therapist’s office, he shared that he also counsels parents that have lost a child, one of the worst pain you would have to bear. He shared that these parents often felt the same hopelessness of carrying on in their lives. 

I asked how they did it and he shared that you must find something small to be grateful for. Something like the hot water in the shower or the smell of your morning coffee. It does not take away the pain but it helps you see that in a small moment you can feel ok again. And as you enjoy that thing each day, you start to find other things to be happy about. 

The next morning when the water hit my back in the shower I brought myself to the present moment. Not the past thoughts of blame and regret. Not the future thoughts of anxiety and fear. The present thoughts of hot water on my skin. And at that moment I realized how damn good warm water feels on the skin. It was something so simple. Something I had taken for granted and saw as “something I just have to get done today.” Versus something to be basked in and enjoy. 

In that single moment of a few minutes, things started to change. They didn’t change overnight but every day I was able to maintain my happy feelings longer. Some days I leaped forward only to stumble back but a constant I could return to was the joy of feeling hot water on my skin. 

I still use this practice today to tune into good feelings. I am so deeply grateful for this simple practice that saved my life. 

This month your task is to find things that you love about your life right now. It can be as simple as hot water in the shower or a daily list of things you love. It does not matter the number of things on your list, just that you focus on how much you like them.

Journaling your appreciation 

Take your journal and flip to the back. Starting in the back and writing towards the front, fill your pages with things you love and appreciate about your life. When writing include what you love and why you love it. How does it make you feel? Each day return to this section and add to the entry. 

For example, “I love my bed. It is so soft and comfortable. When I wake up I like to lay in bed and feel how good it feels.” Then sit and feel how comfortable your bed feels.

As you build this practice, pop into your journal every time you notice one of those love marks in your life. 

“I love the lunch I packed today. This sandwich is my favorite.”

“I love driving my car. It makes my morning commute more enjoyable with its speakers and heated seats.” 

“I love how that meeting ended. We all worked together and the solution seems straightforward.”

Anytime you reflect and like something, write it down. 

This practice can be done to start your day focused on gratitude or at the end of your day to reflect on how blessed you are. As you drop into love and appreciation for where you are, the Universe can start to align your best path forward towards what else you want. 

Your magnet will pull in more experiences on the same frequency. 

Changing your life isn’t about hating where you are at. It is about embracing the season your life is in while you stretch for more. 

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. — Anne Bradstreet

The spring doesn’t hate the winter. Both serve a purpose and a place. Don’t hate your current reality while you work to build a new one. 

Xoxo

Erica