8 Ways to Feel More Alive, Joyful and Grateful – No Matter What

From “Have to” to “Get to”

“There are only two ways to go through life. One is believe nothing is a miracle. The other, is to see that everything is.” – Albert Einstein

Are you ready to be done getting sick, injured or having so much drama and victimization in your life?

Speaking as someone who had had a very difficult life that seemed rife with mishaps and crises one right after another for decades, until I figured a few things out and shifted what reality I am creating, allow me to share some recent insights and real, tangible practices that can help you break free and get into a life of more flow, health, wealth, love and happiness.

Three weeks ago, I sustained a pretty serious ankle injury involving sprain, extreme bruising and multiple torn ligaments. Here I was, essentially lying in bed for 10 days in a row, then hobbling along in a cast, not able to drive, take hikes or my daily walks, dance, going up and down the stairs on my tush with my foot stuck out… you get the idea.

Of course part of the emotional challenge with any injury or illness that limits our mobility or ability significantly, even if it temporary, is this sense of “Wow, my world has gotten really small.” And the fear of “How long is THIS going to last?” And the self-judgment “How and why did I manifest THIS?”

So, let’s take a look and go from whys to wise, turn the wounds into wisdom. I believe everything happens so we can learn from it, and when we get wise to our patterns and deep soul lessons, we can thereafter create something even better.

Out of trauma and emergency, we can “emerge and see.”

We can learn and grow, develop a deeper appreciation for the simple things in life, and emerge even more joyful and full of aliveness

I should probably give you a little context.

I had experienced profound, even miraculous healing of four serious disabilities prior to this one – everything from a rare allegedly “incurable” lung disease at the age of 25 which caused excruciating pain with every breath, to a back injury so severe an excellent chiropractor told me “I don’t’ think you’ll ever be able to run, dance or jump ever again. But if we’re lucky and do both of our jobs right, I’ll be able to get you to walk without a cane or a brace in a few months.”

Well, to make those long stories short and sweet, I can breathe just fine now. And, up until this ankle injury happened, I have been fully able to enjoy jumping, running, dancing, even skipping! (When is the last time you allowed yourself to skip?)

And I have almost crossed over and died more times than I can count. Everything from having a gun pointed at me on 2 separate occasions, to a written death threat, to anaphylaxis, to numerous serious illnesses.

Until one day, I finally RealEyes’ed that I had been utilizing Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and illness as a form of spiritual acceleration.

At that moment, I chose to manifest other, healthier, more joyful ways to experience the “hidden benefits” such as opening my Third Eye, feeling gratitude, having faith, experiencing miracles and learning how to run energy more masterfully.

I decided that in order to break free from that cycle of illness and victimization, I had to commit, instead of having NDEs – to experiencing more FAEs: Fully Alive Experiences!

One of the things I have learned from many spiritual masters, including Buddhist monk Thich Nat Hanh, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Eckhart Tolle and others, as well as my own spirit guides and divine revelations from Source, is that we can CHOOSE to be joyful no matter what.

We can REMEMBER that there is a gift in every experience, a blessing in every moment.

So, this was a chance to apply that wisdom I had learned the last time I was disabled or very ill.

After two weeks of essentially lying with my foot elevated, not going anywhere or even contributing to the rhythm and the needs of my family, I had a sudden heartburst of joy when I was able to: DO THE DISHES! Whooohoooooo!!!

Then I had another huge excitement the day I was able to DRIVE again.  My husband had been stuck with doing all the chauffeuring of the kids, all the shopping, all the shopping and cleaning and cooking, oh my!

I had this lovely thought this morning, startlingly delightful in its rarity and simplicity.
And what I thought was this: “I can drive again. Wow. That means I can go food shopping! Yay! It also means I can take my kids to school. Woohoooo!”

So, as you have no doubt figured out, I generally don’t wake up and bounce out of bed with blissful exultation thinking:
“Yipppeee! Today is a day when I get to get in this moving vehicle that I own that is comfortable and reliable, and I get to use my body in these cool ways to MOVE this beautiful machine, with my amazing children in the car while we are CONVERSING and connecting. I get to feel part of their lives and like I am CONTRIBUTING. I get to get out of the house! Then I get to get back in this lovely car and I get to DRIVE to an actual store full of lights and choices and people and I get to consciously CHOOSE items to bring home and enjoy in so many wonderful ways!”

Seeing how much more I am heartfully, gratefully appreciating these incredibly simple pleasures in life…..standing…washing the dishes….driving….taking the kids to school….tossing the ball around outside for a few minutes with my son….I am learning again that the simplest pleasures are the greatest treasures in life.

I don’t know why human nature  – or it more a reflection of our current culture? Not our nature at all? – seems to be that when we are physically well and hale we get so busy trying to accomplish things, we forget to BE, we forget to give thanks for our 5 senses and hands and legs that move and create and hold one another.

We forget the preciousness of every single moment.

We have all heard stories and may even personally know people who had a huge awakening into joy and presence and grace when they came close to death or survived some kind of trauma, illness or injury.

I am one of those people, having experienced a tremendous spiritual awakening in August of 1994 in Mexico, the full story of which is the subject of at least two books by two authors….(more on that later). Suffice it to say it involved THREE Near-Death Experiences, a shamanic initiation and an angel encounter – in 18 hours!

I do not regret the incredible gifts that those NDEs gave me because ever since, I have served as an energy healer, intuitive, and I am now an angel channel as well as author, inspirational speaker, life coach and catalyst for transformation. Most people would give anything to have that experience and that degree of shift, and I give thanks for it with each breath.

I am also manifesting easier ways to awaken! And continue to keep awakening, over and over, with health, safety, abundance, joy and flow more the order of the day. You know what I’m talking about?

I am recommitting myself to go even deeper into the gratitude attitude, not just for those highlights of my day, the things that are easy to be thankful for, but for the harder parts, too. I am thankful for all the illnesses I have had, as well as the fact that I am now healthy and functional and able to fully participate in this wonderful classroom and playground we call life!

Will you join me?

So here are some great ways to build that Gratitude Attitude, to Be Here Now and Live the Love We Are. This naturally helps Fully Alive Experiences bloom and become our positive, new, true way of living from our hearts.

Let’s take some time every morning and every night to treat ourselves to a Gratitude Immersion and Gift of Love. A GIGL (makes me giggle just to think of it!)

Some great ways to GIGL and enjoy more FAEs:

•    THANK THE EARTH
Give thanks as your feet touch the Earth when you get out of bed in the morning, Thank Mother Earth with your toes wiggling and jiggling love into her, like  a massage. Reach your fingertips and head up to Father Sky and stretch your whole being while you tickle your angels’ wings with your fingers. It feels so good!

•    MOMENT OF LOVE
Put a message of love wherever need a reminder that “This, too, is love. This, too, is joy.” For example, I have an index card in front of the kitchen sink that says “Moment of Love.” As Thich Nat Hanh says, whatever it is you are doing, THAT is the most important thing in the world. It is important to cultivate not only mindfulness, being aware and present, but also to enhance our heartfulness, the ability to feel joy, love and gratitude right here, right now.

•    GRATITUDE JOURNALING.
Morning. Night. Anytime. Write down what you are thankful for. It sounds simplistic yet the act of setting it on paper deepens our ability to FEEL the joy and appreciation for everything in life, simple, everyday blessings to rare treasures. You can keep a separate journal for this, a section in your regular journal, or just include it amongst any other journaling you do. This is one of four Sacred Journaling practices that I teach in my programs and sessions.

•    STOP, BREATHE, AND BE.
When you are looking at your “To do” list, instead of overwhelming yourself and thinking “Oh, my gosh, look at all this stuff I have to do today,” first of all, take time to just BE. Do some meditation and fill yourself up with the Light you truly are. (Meditation  practices will be covered in other posts.) There are thousands of ways to meditate and come home to yourself. You don’t need to go to a monastery or mountain. You don’t need to sit cross-legged or wrap your foot behind your head. You don’t need to chant or hold crystals. You can just stop, breathe and be. Getting from Point A to Point “BE” is the whole point ( to paraphrase an Amtrak ad!). You will find that a regular, daily meditation practice will DO more for your overall happiness level, not to mention productivity, creativity, health and wellbeing, than anything else you can “do.”

•    FIND THE GIFT (or don’t do it!) a.k.a. From “Have to” to “Get to”
OK, now that you’ve allowed yourself to be first, look at your “to do” list again and if there is anything on there that you are not excited and delighted about doing, do one of these 3 things to reframe your beliefs and reclaim your happiness: 1) Delegate. 2) Wait. Or if those are not appropriate for your highest good, change your ATTITUDE about it by finding the gift in it. Instead of “have to,” tell yourself “Today I GET to do this.” You can also ask yourself: How does doing this lead to something else I do enjoy?

For example, let’s talk about something really exciting. Laundry.

Instead of “I have to wash these clothes, dry them, fold them and put them away. It’s a lot of work and drudgery.” You can train yourself to think, “Wow, I’m lucky to have these clothes. By washing these and taking care of this now, I will feel a lot more together and organized when I’m looking for something to wear. It’s like I’m giving a gift to myself (and my family, if you are washing for others also). I am lucky to have this washer and dryer that work. I don’t have to go down to the river and scrub for hours, this is actually kind of easy and it’s fun to watch the bubbles go around. It feel ssatisfying to put the clean clothes away in their place.”

With spiritual awakening, you can and will truly feel and think this way! It may seem a bit removed for you right now because you’ve been operating on the default disconnected-from-your joy-and-heart-mode for so long, as most people do.

You can actually feel love and gratitude while doing the laundry! Try it. Look for the blessing.

Now let’s look at an even harder example and I will show you a shamanic time travel technique that helps you find the gift and reframe it into a positive.

Let’s say you have to go to the dentist. (I heard that groan!)) Most of us dread that even to the point of procrastinating. Instead of thinking, “Dang, I have to go to the dentist today,” how can you see it as a positive?

Here’s what you do: By going to the dentist, you GET to save your future self a whole lot of dental bills and procedures, right? By going to the dentist, you get a sense of relief that “Whew, that is taken care of. Now I don’t have to think about it for a long time.” You mentally free yourself from the mild yet insidiously nagging psychic energetic “duck” or “alligator” nipping at the back of your neck. You know what I’m talking about. That sense that you are behind on something.

Now those examples may resonate for you or they may not. Maybe there are other “to dos” that you have been making a big mental “to do” about. Everyone has them.

COACHING TIP: The key is to just do the things you enjoy as much as possible, and if you are not enjoying the prospect, to either delegate, wait, take it OFF your plate … or find a way to find the gift.

Here are some other great ways to feel fully alive:

•    EXPRESS YOUR SINCERE GRATITUDE.
Give thanks to the people in your life, to your Source-God-Creator, and to yourself. Write love notes, letters. Send a card or email or make a call, just to say “I love you. I appreciate you. Thanks for being you!” When is the last time you wrote anyone a thank-you note? What about writing one to Spirit? Or to your own precious self?

There is a Zen parable that goes like this. A man is climbing on a steep mountain when suddenly he loses his footing. He falling and tumbling quickly and know he will meet his death soon. As he falls and rolls down the cliff, he suddenly sees a ripe, luscious strawberry. He grabs it, and as he tastes that strawberry, knowing it will be his last, it is the the MOST delicious thing he has ever tasted!

Now if we could only learn to experience more of life with that degree of focus and appreciation! It takes practice, attention and intention, and you can awaken into more of these mindful, heartful, joyful, lifefull moments.

•    FIRST, LAST.
Imagine that whatever you are doing, it is either the first or it will be the last time you ever GET to do this. How does it feel now?

•    FAE AND GIGL AFFIRMATIONS.
Affirm and breathe IN, feeling the Truth and Love:
This is it. This is my life, and I love it!
I am fully alive, awake and aware.
Present moment, beautiful moment.
I see everything in my life as a sacred gift, and I give thanks.

I give thanks for this injury and for the healing, on all levels, that it brought me. I give thanks for all the experiences in my life and I choose to find the gift in each moment. And I give thanks to you, dear reader, for opening your heart and mind in this energy of love through these words today.

I’ll be sharing more tips for awakening into Life and Love here and in my forthcoming books and programs. To make sure you’re invited to my free global teleseminars, meditation, intuitive development and Reiki Master training, and to get my Love, Spirit & Success newsletter and free ebooks, sign up below.

Thanks for reading this. Your comments and insights are warmly welcome. Blessings and blissings to you!

About the author: Sage is a spiritual abundance coach, intuitive, Archangel Michael channel, hypnotherapist, Reiki Master, interfaith minister, meditation teacher and energy healer known as the Life Transformation Catalyst. The author of The Radical Self-Love Workbook, she partners with conscious creators to align with their passionate life purpose, manifest prosperity, attract lasting soulmate love and create the life of their dreams. heartsoulhealing@yahoo.com