Alignment (part 1): Gratitude
Bartender's wisdom... or is it?
My dear beloved customers,
When
entered my cosy Café 42 a few weeks ago, sat at my bar and asked me if I wanted to share some of my wisdom about alignment with his readers, I was very honored and not quite sure I had the accurate knowledge of what alignment really was about. So I thought about it for a few days and realized that, for me, alignement was in fact a combination of several things, several behaviours and ways of looking at life mixed together.
As Taylor’s posts are formated to be short and straight to the point, I thought I really wanted to dwell a little more on the subjet in a few posts of mine, explaining further each part of my argument, starting with gratitude.
A little recap before we start…
What is alignment?
Alignment is a way of being that allows us to live in peace with ourselves and others and flow with the energies of life whatever they are. This state is devoided of unnecessary fears and filled with love and joy.
Gratitude
I can’t fathom exactly why - it probably has to do with the fact that our society is entierely turned towards consumption - but human beings always seem to focus on their lack rather than on their have. They never possess enough, focusing on what they want and thus don’t have yet, on what others have and they don’t, bringing jalousy into the game. Hence, we tend to live in eternal frustration, fear of lacking, ending up feeling not worthy: We don’t have enough because we are not enough.
Of course, life is not about having, it’s about being and that’s what gratitude is about.
Before it invaded self-development contents throughout the Internet and books, I got acquainted with gratitude on my own, as with a sweet old neighbor coming knocking at my door every once in a while.
Indeed, I had noticed that, after a well spent day doing things I loved such as taking a few hours walk in Paris or spending an afternoon at the movies, I felt so good I was naturally grateful for it, not really knowing who to turn my gratitude to for I lived alone at that time and spiritual faith came much later in the day. I nevertheless would sat on my couch at the end of that day and savour it as a tasty lollipop, feeling its blessing throughout my body. I vividly remember those moments up until now for they really were the first time I encountered gratitude in its most beautiful expression.
At the same period, I was just out of a profound depression, I trained myself every night, to counter the anxiety attacks I underwent before I went to sleep, to think about one thing I loved about my day, from the tiniest to the most spectacular one. It began to make a real difference before life happened again and I stopped doing it for another long time.
After my burn-out 2 years ago, watching lots of videos from well-known coaches and guides, I remembered those days and started a gratitude journal, which became part of my journal later on in which I try to make sense of life daily and in which I state three things I’m grateful for everyday.
It goes from my favorite Ghostbuster T-shirt I bought in Mexico - It reminds me both of the movie which is in my top 10 and my greatest vacations ever - to the fact that I live in a country where, as a woman, I can live my life freely. As surprising as it may seem, I’m equally grateful for both for there is no real scale in gratitude: I’m just grateful.
Of course, stating it is not enough, words may be powerful, sometimes even magic, they are nothing if they are not tightly linked to our body through emotions, mere insignificant sounds blown in the wind. So, it is definitely important to, first, know why we are actually grateful for the things we are and, second, take a few seconds to actually feel the emotion attached to it fill our body, sit with it. Our memories only truly engrave themselves inside of us when our body feel them.
After a while, not only finding three items/topics I’m grateful for became effortless but I don’t need to wait to write them down in my gratitude journal to notice them, feel them filling my body, they just come naturally and gracefully throughout the day, bringing lots of inner joy in the process.
This year, I’ve also decided to send gratitude messages to the people for the work they do that filled me with joy: books, songs, performances… So I take the time to send them a message of gratitude, when it’s possible, to tell them how much I loved their books or their songs and why.
The latest I did was with an actress I so loved the performance in La Thénardier character in the musical “Les Misérables”. We matched so well that we are now Facebook friends, chatting from time to time.
As a writer, I love when people tell me what they loved in my books so I find it appropriate to do the same with others and it feels so good to do it.
Being happy with what we already have is not renouncing to what we want more, it is only not focusing on it while we work for it or walk our path towards it. It’s the old trick about seeing the glass half full rather than half empty.
With gratitude, frustration is left outside the door, as an unwelcomed grumpy friend we don’t talk to anymore. We are so blessed with what we already have, we don’t live in fear of losing it or not be able to get what else we want.
As far as its cousin Jalousy is concerned, that’s an easy one to overcome: if someone else has what you long for, they didn’t steal it from you, steal your chance at getting it, they just showed you one way to achieve it for we can have anything we want as long as we take steps in its direction.
If someone else achieved what you want to, it means it’s doable thus so can you!
Alignment is always about how we look at life, it is a perspective with lots of different aspects but gratitude, according to me, is the main one.
For those who would like further guidance to their own alignment, remember that I am not only a Bartender but also a Life Coach who can help you with tools to achieve this kind of peaceful state of life.
So don’t hesitate to DM me on Substack or on my website G-Spotlight to schedule a session and assess your needs.
Bartenderly yours,
Geay
PS: If you like her stories but are not ready to subscribe yet, you can always tip the Bartender.
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I am grateful for you and your love filled sharing. Thank you.❤️
Dear Geraldine….I am so grateful to have this wonderful post of yours to read, as it made me feel calmer just reading it and reflecting on what I was grateful for, so thank you so much! Much love! 💕💗❤️🌈🙏