A Grateful Heart; Newsletter #27

4 Little Wonder Bites 💭

📖 Current Read; 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living — Ryan Holiday

The Daily Stoic Meditation for April 21 outlines how crucial it is to keep a strong grip on your attention.

You can read more in my article here.

“person standing on concrete road” by Luke van Zyl on Unsplash

“When you let your attention slide for a bit, don’t think you will get back a grip on it whenever you wish — instead, bear in mind that because of today’s mistake everything that follows will be necessarily worse. . . . Is it possible to be free from error? Not by any means, but it is possible to be a person always stretching to avoid error. For we must be content to at least escape a few mistakes by never letting our attention slide.”

— EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.12.1; 19

Everything That Follows

Letting Attention Slide

We may think that, in the moment, letting our attention slip isn’t so bad.

We may have the notion that we can easily get back on the course, and that this moment of pleasure will not cause great commotion.

Or, entirely oppositely, we may not even notice our attention slipping.

We may begin to get distracted from the task at hand, distracted from the course we’re on, and not notice till it’s much too late.

Everything That Follows…

The harsh truth of the matter is this: when you let your attention slide, even for a short while, everything that follows will be worse.

The mistake that you made today, to pick pleasure over hard work, to procrastinate over pushing forward, will negatively alter your life, and promote more struggle.

You will not be able to resume your grip on attention, focus and happiness as easy as you may have thought.

It will take more work, effort and energy to regain that attention.

An Easy Life

Trying desperately to live an easy life now only makes later life much harder.

If you let your attention slip, time and time again, you’re falling down a dark path, and it’s not so easy to get a strong grip again.

Avoid Error

Epictetus allows that, as humans, we will all commit errors and mistakes.

There’s not a chance that you will live a life free of mistake, he accepts and acknowledges this.

However, although you will not live a life free of mistakes, you do have the choice to strive to go against error, and avoid it at all costs.

You do not have to become victims to nature and the natural course of life; you can make the choice to avoid error and take back control.

The Choice

You can consciously try to avoid letting your focus and attention slip.

You can make the effort to ensure that you don’t fall off the course.

You can remove distractions, say no and prioritise deep work. Or, conversely, you can give in to every urge of procrastination.

This is your choice, and a powerful choice that you must make.

Do you want to take control of your life, or do you want it to control you?

🎧 Current Podcast; The Most Powerful Ways To Raise Your Vibration — The Law Of Attraction

A framework to help you raise your vibrations, and attract exactly what you want into your life.

Outlined by Natasha Graziano in her podcast episode, ‘The Most Powerful Ways To Raise Your Vibration’

You can read more in my article here.

Who Is Natasha Graziano?

Graziano, as it outlines in her website’s homepage, is America’s #1 Mindset Coach & ranked number 1 female motivational speaker under 40 in the world’ by Forbes Magazine and top female mindset coach by Business Insider.

She went from sheer homelessness, without a penny to her name, to a worldwide powerhouse when it comes to productivity, manifestation and living your best life.

Primarily a motivational speaker and mindset coach, she shares her brilliant ideas at talks, on podcasts and by working with other influential brands.

Vibrations

It is important to note what spiritual vibrations are, and why they are important, before the framework is outlined.

Spiritual vibrations regard the energy of a specific thing, person or place. It’s the idea that we are all simply energy, vibrating at a certain frequency; a frequency that can be altered.

There’s a range of frequencies, from high to low, and it is important to cultivate the frequency that works best for you.

Understanding and harnessing the power of spiritual vibrations is absolutely essential, for it can help you navigate the energies that surround you each day, and gain a deeper understanding of yourself and those around you.

GIVE — The Framework

Graziano outlines this framework for raising your vibrations, no matter what the situation is, where you are, or who you’re with.

It is essential to master the 4 aspects of the GIVE framework, so that you do not become overcome by circumstances, and you keep a strong grip on your spiritual self.

The framework itself;

G — GIVE

I — INSPIRATION

V — VISION

E — EXERCISE

G — Gratitude

What Is Gratitude?

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and appreciative for all that is around you.

It is the quality of wanting to show thanks, to prioritise seeing good things and sharing your appreciation for them.

Importance

Gratitude is important in all situations.

However, when you feel your vibrations slipping, and you feel yourself beginning to think negatively, or fall into a rut, practicing gratitude becomes absolutely imperative.

When you practice gratitude, a great deal of things happen. Gratitude aids you in:

• Seeing the abundance of good things around you
• Raising your spirits
• Coming out of a rut
• Finding inspiration and joy

When you take time to recognise how truly blessed and gifted you are, the problem you were dealing with becomes much less serious.

It’s almost like a shift; you recognise, when looking at the abundance of greatness around you, that the problem is simply not worth your time and energy.

You become, therefore, more inclined to direct your energy to where it truly matters; towards the abundance of good.

Manifestations

Manifestations play a great part in gratitude, and they are extremely important when dealing with low vibrations.

What Are Manifestations?

Manifestation is the act of bringing into real life the things you want. It is act of turning your thoughts, desires and dreams into reality.

Importance

Manifestations are extremely important when it comes to raising your vibrations.

They aid you in visualising and imagining a future that you want, and help you get it.

When you manifest, and affirm to yourself all the great things you want, those thoughts begin to blossom into your reality.

Shifting

When you shift your thoughts from a place of negativity (as you would have been experiencing when your vibrations were low) to a place of great positivity (when you manifest, it works to outline the great things) your life shifts with it.

When you concentrate on a bright future, and you manifest it for yourself, your world begins to shift in that direction too.

You begin to see, and receive, the abundance, the love, the opportunities that you were manifesting!

I — Inspiration

What?

Inspiration is something that you must prioritise when working to raise your vibrations.

Inspiration is something that influences, encourages and provokes you, into being better, and taking different action.

When you become inspired, you become motivated and excited, you want to do better things.

Importance

When dealing with low vibrations, it is absolutely imperative that you work on getting inspired.

Inviting inspiration into your life does a few things:

• It provokes action
• It helps you get out of a rut
• It reminds you of the bigger picture, and your overall vision
• It challenges you to be better and do better

When you have the motivation, and you are inspired by others living the life that you desire, you become much more inclined to get up and try again!

It works to lift your vibrations, for you see that other people can do it, and it reminds you that you can too. With inspiration, it encourages you to be better.

How?

There’s a great deal of ways that you can inspire yourself, and it varies from person to person!

Here’s a few examples:

• Listen to a podcast
• Exercise
• Stretch
• Cook your favourite meal
• See a friend
• Create a vision board

V — Vision

What?

Vision regards what you want from your actions, and exactly how you’re going to get it.

A vision is something you have for the future; it encompasses what you want, who you want, and the type of life you’ll live.

Visions can vary, and they are extremely personal!

Importance

Having a vision, no matter whether your vibrations are raised to not, is absolutely essential.

A vision:

• Serves as a why
• Reminds you where you want to go
• Outlines how you’ll get there
• Can work to inspire you

When you have a set vision, and you have your future outlined in your mind, or on a board, it serves as an incredible source of inspiration!

Visions give you clarity and consciousness on what you want and how you’ll get it.

With this clarity and knowledge, you can work at achieving your vision.

In regards to raising vibrations, when you create a vision, it aids with clarity, and can help you see the positives all around.

Clarity

Clarity is the state of knowing.

It is knowing what you want, how you want it, when you’ll get it etc.

More importantly, it is knowing these things clearly.

Work on gaining immense clarity for your direction, and that aids with raising vibrations

How?

To improve your vision and clarity, there’s multiple things you can do:

• Create a vision board
• Listen to a podcast
• Journal — all the reasons why you want to achieve
• Tell a friend your ideas

E — Exercise

What?

Exercise is the act of moving your body, in some way, to maintain or create a healthy physical state.

In blander terms, it’s just the process of consciously moving your body.

Importance

Exercise is highly important in general life, but especially in raising your vibrations.

There are both health and spiritual benefits to exercise.

Health Benefits

There have been many scientific studies conducted to explain the importance of exercise.

A few health benefits include:

• Improved cognition
• Prevents later health issues and conditions
• Improves your mood and energy levels
• Ensures a longer and better quality of life
• Improves gut health

Raising Vibrations

Asides from the health benefits, exercise also works to raise your vibrations!

The very act of moving your body serves as a shift; it takes your body away from the negativity, and helps cultivate positivity and different energies.

When you physically move away from the situation, you leave the energy behind.

And, the process of exercise itself encourages positivity and better vibrations, for it releases endorphins, which help to boost your mood!

How?

There are many different ways to incorporate a bit of exercise into your life!

There are extravagant ways, such as:

• Joining a gym
• Joining an aerobics/yoga class

But there are also many highly accessible ways, such as:

• Working out at home (maybe by watching a youtube video)
• Taking a walk (this is great if you have a dog)
• Going on a run, jog or bike ride
• Getting in a few press-ups or pull-ups

There’s always a way to get in some exercise, work on finding a way that works for you.

In Conclusion

Graziano outlines a 4 step method in helping you raise your vibrations!

G — GRATITUDE

I — INSPIRATION

V — VISION

E — EXERCISE

Work on mastering the 4 pillars, and you’ll be on the track to cultivating and living your best life.

Idea of the Week. 💭

The ‘3 P’ Framework.

This is a three part framework to help you in achieving your goals, no matter how grand or ambitious they may be!

To achieve truly exceptional results, no matter the magnitude of the goal you have, follow this ‘3 P’ framework.

Cultivate a strong sense of all the pillars, prioritise and implement them into your journey.

You can read more in my article here.

Plan

Before you start on any goal or habit, you must have some general direction.

Of course, it would be impossible to know everything and everything about where you’ll end up, but the stronger idea you have, the better.

You cannot afford to act carelessly and thoughtlessly. Rather, you must prioritise planning it out, as specifically as you can.

Figure out your vision.

Figure out what you want, how you want it, where you want to be etc.

With the knowledge of these details, cultivate a strong plan of action around them.

With a well thought out plan that, in the best case, is thought out right to the end, stick to it.

Stick to this plan like there is no other option. Of course, with an open mind, a few alternations may be needed from time to time. Make them and carry on.

Do not listen to other people, the incessant noice trying to distract you and get you down.

Stick to the plan, keep moving forward.

Purpose

Your purpose is the reason behind why you do what you do.

It acts as your higher good, your full potential.

Your purpose is the thing that keeps you going when you don’t see results. It keeps you going when you want to give it all up and quit.

Your purpose keeps you going. This is why it is so essential.

In regards to devising a purpose, there are important questions to ask yourself:

• What is the why behind your actions?
• Who, or what, are you doing it all for?

Before any major goal is set, these questions must be asked. And you must answer them with true honesty and acceptance.

Ensure that you remind yourself of your purpose.

Remind yourself why you started, why you invest so much time and energy, why you’ll be better off if you keep going.

When you take this conscious time to remind yourself of your purpose, you often let go of the insatiable desire to give up.

It may even provoke the opposite; you’ll likely get back up and keep going.

Cultivate a strong sense of purpose and then constantly remind yourself of it; you’ll be near unstoppable.

Preparation

Take the time to prepare. Emotionally, physically, mentally.

Preparation is the act of getting yourself ready for it all, the good and the bad.

Preparation is a mental, physical and emotional process that you must undertake before you dive right into any change, big or small.

Achieving exceptional results is not going to be easy.

No matter how much you may try convince yourself otherwise, that is the harsh truth.

Achieving your goals will be no walk in the park. If it were to be so easy, what’s the point?

In fact, it may be the most challenging journey you’ve ever embarked on.

Moreover, it may not even initially work! You may commit mistake after mistake, and you may become inclined to give up and resort to the easy path once again.

You must prepare yourself for all of that.

Prepare yourself for the worst; embrace the stoic idea of premeditatio memori.

Prepare yourself for the obstacles, for the adversity, for the turmoil.

Remember that you can handle it, that you can come out stronger, that you can achieve the exceptional results.

Quote of the Week. 🗣

Seneca, a Stoic philosopher, on what is most honourable.

“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.” — Seneca

To end, here’s a question from me! ⚡️

How can you strive for consistency when learning, or building, a new skill?

A visual from @tanoseihito to outline this idea.

Thanks for reading!

Sam. 😆