If the only prayer you say is "Thank You" that will be enough.
Hello i am Abdo Chouchani and I am grateful to share with you my experience with the gratitude jar - I will add writing this blog to my gratitude jar too :)
Many years ago, I heard about gratitude and letting go jars, but I didn't give them any importance even was mocking these practices.
2 years ago or so, I attended a workshop with my Reiki teacher Mireille Hammal about forgiveness. So she offered me a letting go jar and explained about its benefits.
So when I went back home I was enthusiastic about this experience and couldn't forget the idea of the gratitude jar too which attracted and called me.
So I got a container, a pen, and some paper to get my gratitude jar going. Because I wanted to be an active participant I decorated my jar and I chose to cover it with a tissue paper collage and soak it in full moon energy.
A gratitude jar is a fun way to provide a visual reminder of the many blessings in our lives. Whenever I am thankful for something, whether it's an activity, a kind act, a person or simply some detail of my everyday life and routine, I write it down on a slip of paper and stick it in the jar. Over time, I accumulate a jar full of all the things that make my life beautiful.
It is also helpful to add to my jar on those days I am struggling or when I'm Having a tough day? I Think about all the blessings I have and I ’ll probably feel a little better.
Once I've got a jar full of thankful thoughts, i get to decide what to do with it. Here are a couple of ideas on how I appreciated all of those thanks:
I Read them at the end of each year.
I Read a few whenever I'm having a tough day or need a pick me up.
I Pick my favorites and frame them on my altar
Both writing and reading my thankful notes help me develop appreciation of all I have to be grateful for, but what I love most is reading my little notes. It’s such a sweet experience to pick out random notes from my jars. Some of my notes are simple everyday things, some are silly, some are cherished memories and some are serious. But no matter what is written on the note, reading them lets me relive those little moments.
The idea behind the gratitude jar is to make a routine of jotting down the little things that made me happy during my day, in an effort to remember to be grateful for the positive moments instead of dwelling on the negative. Then, I simply drop the piece of paper into the jar as a reminder of those simple moments that made me smile.
It has been shown that we, as human beings, have conscious minds that remember negative memories more easily than positive ones. This is linked to our ancestry as cavemen, where one would need to remember mistakes or ordeals in order to ensure the survival of the species. Remembering that fire burns is a particularly useful piece of information, far more so than the fact that dancing flames look beautiful in the moonlight.
However, this useful habit my conscious mind has also tends to make me focus on the less-than-fun parts of my life, and can prevent me from remembering all the positive moments. And that’s where the gratitude jar comes in! By erasing and cleaning my subconscious mind from all the negative thoughts and memories to the state of zero limits where nothing exists but everything is possible. This is when the divine inspiration interfere. In this stage miracles happen.
Adding happy memories to my gratitude jar every day encourages me to take the time to check in with myself and see how I am doing. If it is particularly difficult for me to find happy memories, I realize that I did not enjoy my day and that my mood is fairly glum in consequence. I find that it is on bad days that it is most important to search for memories to drop into the jar, as those are the times when you really need to work on focusing on the positive. It is also a fairly effective memory exercise to replay your day in your head!
I have found that making the habit of focusing on positive moments has reminded me that each day is an opportunity to make more happy memories. I believe that I often get lost in the pursuit of bigger goals that i think will make me happy, when really, i often already have everything i need. For example, I would like to live in a cute little country house one day, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be happy living in a flat in the meantime.
As I started writing down my gratitude notes and joys, I personally find that the gratitude jar works well for me as it is a colorful visual reminder of all the happy moments I have been lucky enough to experience! Just looking at the overflowing jar makes me feel optimistic.
I am really looking forward to rereading all my memories at the end of the year or when I feel attracted so, and I will probably start a new jar in January 2021.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Abdo Chouchani
