Online Gratitude Journal November 2009 Edition #35

Hi! Did you have a good Thanksgiving? (that is, if you are in the US, I guess.) Are you excited about the coming holidays? My November was filled with gratitudes. And one milestone achievement. . . (Photo credit)

November in Review

My highlight this month was definitely the completion of my eBook “Lightworker’s Guide to Self-Employment”. I’ve spent considerable amount of time and energy writing this eBook on spiritual entrepreneurship. It’s my gift — it’s FREE, so please check it out if you are interested in starting your own business.

Thank you all for your readership. A writing needs to be read, so you are supporting me a great deal just by reading this blog. ^_^

Fun

Have you noticed I redecorated the front page of this Yes to Me blog? The center column now shows random posts from “Ascension” and “Spirituality” categories. Because “Spirituality” is a huge category, I added subheaders that show the ten subcategories. (Everything on this blog is about spiritual growth, but I set aside” Ascension” as a special independent category, and also set aside “What’s Akemi Doing?” for posts that are mainly about sharing of my life — like this post.)

If you are reading this article by subscription, please click here to see the new front page!

Yes to Me now has nearly 200 articles. I hope this new design helps you to find older articles that you may have missed.

I also updated my About page and the blurb on the sidebar. Do you like it?

Challenges

As you probably know, English is my second language. I do quite well but I have a slight accent (and I make some grammatical errors, like with the singular / plural rules. . .). Most of the time, I hardly think about this. I know I have important messages to convey and I express them well in writing. When I do phone sessions for my Akashic Record Reading, most clients have no problem understanding me.

Except when I need to do public speaking.

I’ll be on Small Business Trend blog radio (podcast) in January, talking about spiritual entrepreneurship and my new eBook. Aaaagh! I feel a bit nervous! Wish me luck.

Where in the blogosphere Akemi has been

During the Thanksgiving week, I spent a lot of time on Twitter for the #RadicalGratitude experiment.

Twitter is fun. If you are willing, you can find interesting people worldwide to chat. I’m not sure how effective it is in marketing because I’m personally put off with people who only shout what they want to say and never seem to listen and respond to others even when they are talking straight to them (that is, using @, like @akemigaines. When you put in @akemigaines in your tweet, it shows up on the “Mentions” timeline on my Tweetdeck, so I can respond.)

If you are new to Twitter, a piece of advice is NOT to turn on auto-follow. There are so many internet marketers and hookers (I’m not joking) who just want to increase their follower numbers by preying on those who have automatic follow on. Let’s use Twitter for real conversation and learning. I follow people who have valuable messages (even if they don’t follow me back).

Some well-known spiritual teachers are on Twitter. My favorite is @Deepak_Chopra. He tweets great insights, and he often responds to tweeted questions.

Word of month

“How unconditional is your love for yourself?”
– Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, aka SARK

I found this line in her article at Crazy Sexy Life. In the article, she describes how self-love helps to love others. Self-love is not about self-indulgence — it’s about loving life and the world as it unfolds from within.

The world is a mirror that reflects your beliefs, as Gregg Braden explains so eloquently in his book. Self-love, then is the beginning and the end of all LOVE.

Stay warm, friends. With gratitude,

Radical Gratitude: My Twitter Experiment

The missing key to the power of gratitude

How often do you say “Thank you”? A few times a day? Maybe ten times or so? Or is it more like you cannot remember when was the last time you actually said it? (Photo credit)

Much has been said about the power of gratitude. For instance, Dr. Robert Emmons maintains in his book Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier that practicing gratitude increases the sense of happiness by as much as 25%. He also found that gratitude can boost social relationships, creativity, and immune system.

Gratitude is also a key to the effective use of the Law of Attraction, or our power to create our lives. We cannot create something new until we are grateful for what we already have.

On the other hand, there are people who say something like, “I’m grateful for all the things I have. I just wonder why I have so little even though I work so hard.”

What is going on? Why gratitude works for some people and not for others?

The key is the quantity and quality of gratitude. And in this case, quantity brings quality.

Radical Gratitude

Most people just don’t use the power of gratitude often enough. They reserve it for some special occasions, like when something notably good happens. Or, they say their gratitude routinely with a feeling of obligation, not with a true feeling of gratitude.

The remedy is to boost the quantity of gratitude to see its effects.

So I started the Radical Gratitude movement. The idea is to say 100+ gratitude a day for seven days. Now this gets you going. Of course, you can continue after the seven days, but I think you get the hang of it in seven days.

Don’t just think about gratitude and how important it is. Say it aloud. When you say it, 100 times a day, it starts to sink in your feelings. You start to really feel the gratitude. And feeling is what matters in the process of creation. This is why I say quantity brings quality in this case.

As an experiment, I started this #RadicalGratitude on Twitter on Sunday night. I tweeted the idea along with some of the things, people, and events that I am grateful for. Here is how the experiment is unfolding. . .

How #RadicalGratitude spread around

Say it aloud, sing your gratitude. 100+ a day for a week. Take the #RadicalGratitude challenge. Your life will change.

Within several minutes, @lymanreed, whom I haven’t been talking with for over a year, tweeted back. @hnuttall also tweeted, with a question:

Do all 700+ things have to be different?

No. You don’t have to keep track of your gratitude. Just bump up the volume of your gratitude to 100 level. I mean, wouldn’t your spouse be thrilled to receive “Thank you” every morning and night?

Can’t think of 100+ things to be grateful for? Here are some of the things I’m grateful for:

• My vision, hearing, sense of smell, taste, and feeling. They bring me joy and pleasure.
• My arms, legs, head, butts, breasts, tummy, hair, skin . . . my health and beauty.
• Every food stuff in my fridge. When I go grocery shopping, I thank each item I purchase. Apples, bananas, kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, almonds, water. . .
• And the farmers, transportation, the people who work at the market, and the Earth.
• The sun, the air, the trees, flowers, the stars, the moon, the universe.
• The bills I need to pay — because I received the service and products.
• When I drive, I say “Thank you,” at every green light. And at every red light — for safety. And when I safely change lanes. (Oh, I remember @rawliving’s suggestion to send gratitude to cops. . .) I say thank you when I arrive at the destination, and I say thank you when I come home.
• Money in the bank, my apartment, my car, each of my furniture.
• Every book I’ve read and their authors. Thanks to Gregg Braden, Bruce Lipton, Seth Godin, Deepak Chopra, Karen Bishop, Rumi, Lao Tsu, just to name a few.
• My macbook, the internet, WP, twitter, facebook, that connects me with my friends all over the world

My gratitude to the people in my life. My mother, father, my friends. Sometimes, it’s hard to express gratitude to people who are so familiar, but don’t be shy. Tell each person how much they mean to you. Thank them for being the person they are.

Some more gratitudes:

• That I am in this country. My greencard.
• Artists who make the world so beautiful, including Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Rothko, Frankenthaler. . .
• As I recall my life, I’m grateful to all the events — they all served as learning experiences.
• I’m grateful for God, the Universe, the Nature, the Energy, whatever you call it, and my spirit guides.

@JaySchryer joined, mentioning his favorite music. He is also grateful for:

Big dreams, and the courage to pursue them. Common sense and intelligence to make them a reality

Sense of humor to laugh at myself should I fail

Friends near and far who keep me sane, family who keeps me insane.

@lance02 @thatgirlisfunny @EvitaOchel also joined. I just love the ripple effects! I’m grateful.

@SuperSpiritGirl says:

Feeling grateful today for so many things… Even feeling grateful to feel grateful

So true. And the side benefit of this Radical Gratitude was that I found some cool tweeters who share the same kind of passion for life.

I suggest you include not just the things you like, but also the things you don’t (like the red lights). Because they are all connected, like the sides of a coin.

The true power of gratitude

When I first did Radical Gratitude personally, I was just going through the motion in the beginning. I thanked each dish, bowl, glass, and cutlery when I washed the dishes. I thanked the toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss and water when I brushed my teeth. At mealtime, I put my hands together and said thanks three times. I said gratitude when I woke up in the morning and I said gratitude when I tucked myself in bed at night.

This may sound like crazy, but because I live by myself, it didn’t matter. I just kept saying “Thank you.”

Something changed. It was when I was taking a shower and saying thank you to the abundant water that so readily came out of the faucet. I got it. It broke me into tears.

Everything in life is a miracle. Every single thing, person, and event.

Gratitude heals.
Gratitude humbles.
Gratitude opens your eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving. And remember, you can start gratitude any time.

My eBook On Spiritual Entrepreneurship

Finally! My eBook “Lightworker’s Guide to Self-Employment” is ready for your free download.

I feel strongly about self employment. I love being my own boss, and I envision more and more people will be self-employed in the New World. Having made the transition from a corporate employee to a small business owner recently, I also know there are a lot of questions and fear among aspiring entrepreneurs.

This eBook guides you from the embryonic phase of “Can I possibly start my own business? Do I have what it takes? What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur anyway?” to the point you make the leap of faith with a clear vision of your success. It consists of three parts:

Part I: Myths & Reality
Part II: 5 Steps to Self-Employment
Part III: Your Success

A lot of materials comes from the posts I wrote on this Yes to Me blog, but I have added new ideas and insights, and put them all together in an integrated one vision, one process. It discusses paycheck mentality vs risk management skill, our attitude about marketing, very practical suggestions about business names (which is a key to effective marketing), the unavoidable issue of money, our secret fear of success that deters us, and a lot more.

Spiritual entrepreneurship

Throughout the eBook, I point out how spirituality can help you in the endeavor of starting a new business. If you think spirituality has nothing to do with the real world challenge of making money, you are in for a good surprise. If you think spirituality is a drawback, putting you to a disadvantage against those aggressive “practical” type who would do anything to make money, you are in for an even bigger surprise.

I know this from my own experience. I don’t think I had the courage to quit my cushy corporate job if it wasn’t with my spirituality. I don’t think I could survive the transitional phase when nothing much was happening (at least on the surface) if I didn’t have the willingness to contribute to the world. Now, this year, which is my second year, I’m making more than I did in the corporate world and my business is growing. Doing what I love and by helping people.

This eBook is a gift to you and to the world. You can just click on the icon on this page or on the sidebar to download it. You are also welcome to share it with your friends.

Social entrepreneurship

The eBook is free, but if you find it valuable, please consider making a contribution to Kiva. Kiva is not a charity — they help entrepreneurs in the developing countries by lending money for their businesses. Those entrepreneurs will pay you back. You can then take back your money or re-loan to another entrepreneur.

When I think of the many small business owners all over the world, I feel so inspired and I’m sure the feeling is doing me good in my business. Plus, by making them rich, we are developing a worldwide market — for your business.

I appreciate if you could leave a comment with your thoughts on this eBook. Perhaps I will revise and enrich the eBook in the future to make it even better, and your feedback is priceless in such an effort.

My gratitude also goes to those many entrepreneurs who have inspired me through the interviews and other communications. Entrepreneurs are never alone (which is another critical point I make in the eBook). In fact, I will be publishing several more Interviews With Successful Entrepreneurs soon — interviews with some spirited business owners that I came to know recently. (Stay tuned!)

Next Page »