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Making thankfulness a “go-to” mindset practice, even in difficult circumstances, quickly creates a powerful shift in your attitude and brings you more satisfaction in life. In this episode, you’ll learn a quick exercise to help get you there. And you’ll see and hear the beautiful story of the stained glass window project that inspired the song “Through These Windows” by Grammy-winning Nashville songwriter, Wood Newton.
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SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, it’s Kimberly Cain & this is a Tune Your Vibes episode today.
I’ve got a special treat for you later in the show, so be sure to stick around to the end.
It’s Thanksgiving week in the U.S. & I’m so thankful for you, my listeners. And, even if you’re not celebrating Thanksgiving … (I have a lot of listeners in other parts of the world) – this episode is for you, too. I want to particularly shout out to my listeners in Australia, France, the UK, Japan, & Belgium. I’m thankful for all of you…wherever you are as you’re listening to this.
I may be catching you already in a thankful mode today…& that’s great. Or, you could be a bit challenged at the moment, feeling like things aren’t going quite the way you’d like.
Either way, you’ll eventually find yourself in the latter, because all of us vascillate between fulfillment & seeking fulfillment to varying degrees. You might even believe you’ve never felt completely fulfilled. I hope that’s not the case, but wherever you find yourself on that spectrum, I have a very simple exercise to help you shift your mindset in this area.
I’ve found thankfulness & gratitude to be one of the most powerful methods for getting a quick mindset shift. Make this a “go-to” exercise often enough & it will become a foundation for the way you live, instead of just something you hope to get to “one day” when everything is going smoothly.
When you’re on that downside, it can cause you to feel like you don’t have much to be thankful for – after all, nothing is going your way. So, the key is to shift the focus away from circumstances. And this is a good practice period because, if you’re used to tuning in to current events, you’ll note that the news media is not in the business of helping you feel thankful. Current circumstances do not necessarily equate with the truth of what is.
This is one of the reasons I chose to sit outside while talking with you today. So, you can see (if you choose to tune into the video) the beauty around me that I’m so thankful for. Even if you listen to the audio only, you can look around in your own environment & focus on the spaciousness. If everything around you is cramped & stifling, the first thing I’d like for you to do is get outside, even if it’s just for a short break. Find a place where you can walk or just sit & observe nature.
This is going to start the mental shift away from circumstances & into the larger world around you – into a world that sometimes seems to be hidden, though it’s right there in front of us.
If you watch the activity of birds for a bit, you’ll notice a carefree feeling…a sense of accessibility to all that’s around them. You & I have the same access to an abundant world.
Most of the time, though, we have to do some mental shifting to recognize it. We’re so used to focusing on circumstances as reality, that we forget there’s a much larger world around us with a different set of circumstances. So, the circumstances are ever shifting. What’s constant, though, is an underlying thread of peace, abundance, beauty, support, & love that we can choose as our focus.
What we focus on the most is what is going to become the more prominent energy presence in our lives.
Last week, my beloved aunt passed on unexpectedly. My family is all gathered together to celebrate her life. She had already been preparing food for our Thanksgiving gathering, so we’ll get to enjoy her cooking one last time…though without her physical presence.
This is a huge shift for our family – there’s a big hole where she stood in the kitchen doing what she loved to do for all of us. We are grieving. We can choose to focus on our loss or we can be thankful that we had the gift of this woman in our lives…& that she left us with so many wonderful memories.
When I gave her eulogy a couple of days ago, I was looking out on my family & on her many friends…& on the stained-glass windows she had created for her church…& I felt so thankful. So thankful to be a part of it all.
I want you to hear… that, even in grief, you can be thankful.
Do this today! Write down 5 things you’re thankful for – this can be people (or animals) in your life, meaningful work, opportunities that have come your way, the beauty of nature, physical abilities…you get the picture.
If you want to notch it up…focus your thoughts on being thankful for what’s eternal – Love. Because that grows your heart, it alleviates feelings of scarity. God…or whatever you call a presence (or knowing) that is within you, yet also larger than you…is eternal. We can be grateful for that. It means we don’t have to figure it ALL out on our own. I don’t know about you…but that relieves stress for me.
Do your best, then let the rest go & be thankful. You’re going to find that you feel lighter…like a weight has been lifted when you do this.
My uncle, Wood Newton, is a Grammy-winning songwriter from Nashville. He wrote a song for the dedication of some stained-glass windows that his sister, Gail, my aunt designed & created with a team she led at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Ark.
While our family is gathered together for Thanksgiving, as well as the memorial service for an amazing woman – Gail Wells – I thought I’d have Wood play the song he wrote for the window dedication. It’s called “Through These Windows”.
SONG / LIVE PERFORMANCE: Wood Newton, “Through These Windows” – ©Rope A Note Music Publishing, BMI
I feel an immeasurable thankfulness & gratitude for my Aunt Gail, for my whole family, & for friends near & far. I appreciate you, wherever you are, because I know if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re a person who is interested in tapping into your core strengths, giving your best, loving deeply, & leading at the highest level you can.
We need that kind of loving strength & leadership in our world. Stay in gratitude. When you feel yourself veering off into aggravation at what’s not going right, pull yourself back to center, refocus on what you’re thankful for. It will keep you grounded & moving forward.
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** Upcoming – Real Men Rock It! **
An online gathering, a happening, just for you guys in the early part of next year – to help you get really dialed in to your unique purpose and what you have to offer. Because your desires, your particular way of seeing things, your energy are needed in this world. Not in the way of an added responsibility on your shoulders, molded from everyone else’s expectations of you – but in the way of greater freedom for you – freedom to operate from the foundation of your soul. Your creative spark. That “thing” that’s been in you since you were a kid (and possibly locked away for a very long time).
That “thing” is what you need to be bringing with you – everywhere you show up – in your work and in your relationships, so you can be aligned with your core self. That’s when your life becomes fulfilling.
I’ll be telling you more about it over the coming weeks and let you know when the doors are open for that.
Here’s what you can do to get an early-bird discount:
Become a part of the tribe. Join The REALM
You’ll get immediate access to the private online group where we can connect more deeply and you can connect with one another (off of social media).
Go to Join The REALM tribe in the menu here on NakedVibes.com. Click on that!
Join my private group tribe, The REALM. You can get access to music before it’s released, regular live online meet-ups with me and other special guests, and a whole lot more. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned inside The REALM! So, come join me!