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Focusing On What We Have

We spend so much of our energy and focusing on what we want—the things we don’t have. 

What happens when we choose to focus on what we do have? Finding gratitude shifts our perception towards the abundance of gifts and blessings that are present for us in this moment. Especially during hard times, a moment of gratitude can remind us of just how much we’ve been given: love, support, simple pleasures, material resources, our health and safety, this breath, this moment, this life.   

To take it a step further, we can give thanks not only for the good things in our lives, but for the challenges and difficulties that push us to grow and give us the opportunity to put our spiritual work into practice. 

“We should be especially grateful for having to deal with annoying people and difficult situations, because without them we would have nothing to work with,” writes Acharya Judy Lief. “Without them, how could we practice patience, exertion, mindfulness, loving-kindness or compassion?”


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