Awareness and Gratitude heal almost everything

If I had a shortcut to wholeness (read why I don't like the word healing here) it would be awareness and gratitude.

You see, we can not begin to journey back to wholeness if we are not aware of what is holding us back. Awareness of our physical and internal state is our north star. Awareness of what brings us deep joy, awareness of how we authentically show up in the world, awareness of what our shadow and Divine Knowing is asking of us is all important our journey.

When we're overwhelmed its common to say 'I don't know' when asked what is wrong or what you need. But it is the 'I don't know' that is also holding you back. Now I'm not saying that you always need to know, but we do need to be curious about what we need and want. Curiosity is another form of awareness. Curious about what we are hiding from. Curious about what feels good. Curious about why we find our self in the same relationship, job or other pattern once again.

When we can have awareness we can identify what is not working for us and maybe even what we need to feel better. Seems obvious, but is hard to put into practice. We are taught from such a young age to ignore how we feel, ignore what we want and need. Not because (for most of us) our parents and caregivers were abusive or neglectful, but because they didn't have awareness around what they needed. We weren't shown what it looks like to have our needs met by the adults in our life and therefore didn't have our needs met, or had them met at a minimum level.

Awareness can be hard for this very reason. It makes us acknowledge that things maybe aren't as good as we pretend that they are. Awareness can uncover old wounds and painful memories. Awareness can bring out our shadow side for everyone to see.

We can't address what we're not aware of and I firmly believe that there are answers and solutions to all that we drudge up in our awareness of what is wrong and what we need.

Sometimes those answers come slowly. This is where gratitude comes in. I truly believe, in the depths of my being that everything has purpose. Not just the spiritual bypassing that everything happens for a reason and we should just move on, but that everything in our life has purpose and meaning to move us closer to what we are being called to do in this lifetime.

Having gratitude for all that is happening, whether you understand why it's happening or not, it what gives our experience meaning. Gratitude is what speeds up the healing process. Gratitude empowers us. Rather than ask 'why is this happening to me', gratitude says 'thank you for showing up and showing me where i am being asked to grow'. Knowing that our growth process and our journey back to wholeness serves the greater good.

I invite you to practice awareness and gratitude in whatever you are dealing with today. How is the situation you are in asking you to grow and how can you be grateful for that? See what shows up when you make the shift to awareness and gratitude.