Practice gratitude for mental health. When we practice gratitude we become more present. When we are more present we see more clearly. To see clearly is to know deeply. Deep knowledge is a reservoir of peace. It will steady us in shifting light. It will allow us to stay present even with that which we are resolved to transform. Especially with that…

Gratitude practice is both the outcome AND can be the path to mental heatlh.

It can be alarming to confront aspects of our selves that we thought we’d so carefully contained. These are the parts that we’d packed our bags and moved away from, put in the back of the closet or have worked so hard to transform. We might notice embarrassment, shame, sadness or other negative emotions arise when these parts emerge.

Gratitude practice for mental health is both the outcome AND can be the path.

Notice the range of emotion that you experience in a day. Notice that even when unpleasant feelings are there, there is also room for neutral and even pleasant feelings too. For example, you may be both embarrassed by past behavior and proud of how you’re more likely to act now.

Gratitude for mental health is the outcome AND practice is the path.

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity wrote the poet David Whyte. It is mindfulness in all things that will give us access to the depth of knowledge that comes in the absence of complacency. Don’t deny the insight that is possible when you pay attention.

Expose yourself to a different perspective… sometimes it might be a place or a person. Cultivate the power to change perspective from within by looking at your current surroundings with more curiosity. Focus attention there. Describe, with great detail, the more adjectives, the better, what you see!

Gratitude is both the outcome AND the path.

Practice paying attention. Practice offering careful, curious and loving attention to all aspects of your experience. Set time aside, it doesn’t need to be much. Even a minute will make a difference. Practice gratitude for mental health, flexibility, perspective, compassion and creativity.

I’m grateful to have just spent time with some of my oldest friends, the people who became my family after I left my parents’ house. Like families that start all nestled in shared space and expand over time, so have we. Over decades, our paths have diverged. If just starting from here, they may never have crossed.

Gratitude practice for mental health is both the outcome AND a strategy that can clear a path to a deep connection, an abiding love for WHO is present in these people with whom we find ourselves in this life.

I’m going to focus on these teachings over the next couple of weeks in classes on G Street. THIS is yoga for mental health. https://yogaformentalhealth.com/calendar-of-events/

You can register for classes in advance by following this link: https://yogaformentalhealth.as.me/

Thankful for you…

Margi