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Companion Journal: Believe & Receive Journal
Obtain Your Heart’s Greatest Desires by Embracing Your Universal Power
The universe wants you to achieve everything you desire in life, and with this practical book’s guidance, you can. Believe and Receive is a powerful reference book that examines forty natural laws of the universe through a realistic approach. These natural laws can be used to help you see the opportunities in any situation and work with intention toward your goals.
Melissa Alvarez dedicates a chapter to each natural law, providing description and history, an associated affirmation, useful application tips, and try-it-now exercises. Believe and Receive makes it easy to work with the laws and understand how they connect you to the universe. Once you learn how to properly combine your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and expectations with positive energy, you’l grow spiritually and live a successful, abundant life.
Praise:
“An inspired book brimming with practical application. Universal, spiritual laws can work in our favor, or against us, and Melissa Alvarez shows us how to make them work for us, every time.”—Nathalie W. Herrman, author of The Art of Good Habits
“What distinguishes Believe and Receive from the many laws of attraction books is its spiritual underpinnings . . . It is a wonderful blend of Divine inspiration and down-to-earth, practical application.”—Susan Wisehart, MS, LMFT, psychotherapist and author of Soul Visioning
“Melissa Alvarez shows you how to integrate spiritual laws and principles into easy daily practice for immediate and long-term results. Stop struggling and start living!”—Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of Guide to Psychic Power
“A comprehensive yet easy to understand guidebook . . . Align your life with these forty spiritual principles and watch as your life spins from ordinary to exceptional. Keep this easy to follow reference guide close at hand.”—Della Temple, award-winning author of Tame Your Inner Critic and Walking in Grace with Grief
EXCERPT
3
THE LAW OF
GRATITUDE
Today I express love and gratitude for the
people in my life, the things I’ve received,
and the joy these blessings have brought me.
The Law of Gratitude states that in order to get what you want in life, you have to be truly thankful for what you already have. When you show gratitude, you are rewarded by having your needs and desires filled in abundance. The Law of Gratitude means you must be sincere in your gratefulness. This gratitude has to come from deep within you, from the heart of your soul, and it must be felt through every fiber of your being. Just saying thanks without true gratefulness behind it does not work; you have to mean what you say. Spiritual gratitude is feeling appreciation for everything—it’s thankfulness of being, of consciousness, and of the Divine.
The Law of Gratitude has been prevalent in many religions from their beginnings because they evoked a core human emotion which enabled them to gain followers. To worship with thankfulness from the heart, in gratitude, is a common theme in Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist religions to only name a few. For those who don’t follow any set religion but who believe in spirituality concepts, living the Law of Gratitude helps keep them on a Divine path.
The Law of Gratitude enables you to move forward with purpose, a positive attitude, and with joy in your heart. Spiritual gratitude is powerful because it draws abundance and positivity to you. If you practice it every day it becomes an embedded part of your being.
Your thoughts and feelings are made of energy. As you send this energy to the universe, the universe will send you more of the same because you appreciated it when you received it the first time. So if you are truly thankful for the delicious buttered biscuits on your plate, don’t be surprised if the waitress brings you more without you asking for them. When you’re grateful for what you have, then asking for more is a request that the Divine is willing to fulfill.
Living in Gratitude
Let’s take a moment to look at the connection between the Law of Gratitude and the soul’s purpose. When you’re living in gratitude and are truly grateful for everything in your life, the depth of your emotions is the catalyst that can take you to greater heights of Oneness. Gratitude becomes part of your spiritual essence, it changes your perception and allows you to attract more blessings for which you can be thankful. Gratitude can help you remove negativity because when you give appreciation for that negativity, your light shines on its darkness and sends it scrambling out of your way.
Positive and negative energies are in everything within the universe, both living and inanimate. Being spiritually grateful means you don’t deny the negative while unconditionally accepting the positive. You have to know how to react to and counter negativity with your own positive energy when you encounter it. By denying its existence, you’re denying yourself the ability to counteract it with love and light. This means you also have to acknowledge your own negative feelings by looking for their source so you can understand where they’re coming from and why you feel that way. Only by doing this will you be able to work through the negative emotions and change them to positive ones by understanding them and appreciating the lesson they’ve taught you.
We experience life with others who are on the same path so it’s important to recognize the gratitude and support you’re receiving from others. We are interconnected to thousands of people, some of which will come and go while others are with us for extended periods of time. When you’re grateful for each of these people and their individual purpose in your life, then you can learn lessons from these relationships. Some lessons will be easy while others will be more difficult. Be thankful for each lesson because it will cause you to grow on a soul level. When you’re willing to give of yourself, to feel gratitude for others, you can appreciate them in each moment. Let them know how you feel and how much their support means to you.
Forgiveness is Gratitude
Forgiveness is a big part of gratitude. When you are able to forgive others for their negative emotions or actions and are grateful for their role in your life (even if the situation was a difficult one), it’s easier to release any negative emotions you may be holding onto because of the relationship. Forgiveness opens the door to gratitude and allows you to move to a higher spiritual frequency instead of hanging onto the hurt that keeps you at a lower frequency.
What if you were the one that caused another to feel emotional pain? One of the most difficult tasks on our spiritual paths is to forgive ourselves. You do this by first owning up to your actions. Looking at the situation from a place of gratitude can help you see where you went wrong. Once you’ve taken responsibility for what you did and see it clearly, then forgive yourself and appreciate the opportunity to right the wrong. Then, if possible, ask forgiveness from the person you hurt and let them know how much you appreciate the role they had in helping you grow spiritually. This can be really difficult to do because sometimes it’s simply not possible to reconnect to the person, and if you do, you will have to accept their decision. They may be unwilling to forgive you, but that’s their path and lesson. Regardless of the response, you’ll feel more at peace because you’ve forgiven yourself and feel gratitude for the experience.
When you’re living the Law of Gratitude it’s also important to release any feelings of resentment you have by looking at the situation from a different perspective. Feelings of resentment can block and consume you if you let them. Resentment means you feel ill will towards another person or a situation because you feel wronged, whether that wrong is real or imagined due to unfulfilled expectations or a sense of entitlement. It’s hard to be grateful when you’re placing blame somewhere else because your own feelings fill you with negativity. Once you release these feelings you’ll be open to allow the positive energy of gratitude to surround you.
It’s important to also be honest with yourself about gratitude. Are you truly grateful or are you just saying you are? Gratitude gives you the power to create anything you want in life. Gratitude increases your frequency, so when you ask for positive things to come into your life, you’re at a vibration where it is easier to recognize and receive them. Without gratitude your inner power is weaker, and you may not see opportunities or spiritual gifts when they appear because you’re too wrapped up in negativity. The universe has unlimited abundance and energy to share with you if you’re thankful for it.
It’s important to realize you deserve what you’re trying to accomplish. Try not to settle for less by having an undeserving attitude. You deserve everything you want and then some! If you just sit back and accept life as it happens and believe it is fate or destiny holding you back, then you’re not realizing your full potential. When you’re not moving forward to achieve your goals, you’re just settling for whatever happens because you’re not willing to do the work needed to succeed. This often happens when your feelings of gratitude are low. Boost your gratitude, know you deserve all you can achieve, and you’ll reach your goals. Don’t settle for less—instead, work hard to make all your dreams a reality.
When you want something in life, you are drawing upon your own energy and asking the universe to supply you with the extra energy you need to accomplish your goals. If you’ll only ask for what you want, move forward in strength, positivity, and with appreciation for all, you can achieve and receive everything you want in life.
Try It Now
The easiest way to show daily gratitude is by making a list of the things you enjoy doing, the people you love, and even the things that annoy you. Now take time to go through the list and express your thanks for each item, one at a time. Speak the reasons you’re thankful for each listing out loud because the spoken word is powerful. When you can appreciate even the things that annoy you, then you’re truly applying the Law of Gratitude and the results can be transformational.
Practical Application Tips
• Make a daily gratitude list. If you have limited time, choose one thing or person in your life that you’re grateful for and give it/them your appreciation and thanks all day.
• Set goals for yourself, give thanks for those goals every day, and imagine yourself achieving those goals with gratitude and love.
• Imagine your energy merging with universal energy to create a super high vibration. By working together with the universe, you’ll make it easier to obtain your desires.
• Tell yourself that you deserve what you’re asking for each and every day.
• Challenge yourself. When you set daily challenges and express appreciation for your ability to step up to those challenges, then you’re making yourself happy. Happiness and gratitude go hand-in-hand with successful achievements.
• Stop thinking about what you want to do to accomplish your goals and take action. You can think something to death but you need to take actions based on those mental plans to achieve results.
• Be conscious of what you receive every day because of the gratitude of others. Give your gratitude in return.
• Expect the unexpected. Sometimes the most unexpected things bring tremendous amounts of gratitude and joy.
• To bring more to you, give thanks for what you already have. Constantly asking for more without appreciating what you have can hold you back from acknowledging or receiving more blessings in your life.
• Be present in each moment, stop trying to control every aspect of your life, and be open to receive the great things that can be yours if you’ll only ask and then work toward achieving those goals.
See Also Chapter 40: The Law of Potential
Original Cover when Published with Llewellyn Worldwide
