When our minds are filled with subconscious noise, it can be difficult to find things that we're thankful about in our lives. And then, as we begin to empty out all the old negative patterns, something amazing begins to happen. The world around us seems to begin transforming. Not all at once. Perhaps not even noticeably at first. But gradually, our minds begin to see the world as a friendlier place, one in which we come from gratefulness naturally.
This month we'll suggest a couple of fun ways to look at and work with gratefulness. Thank you for reading on and joining in the fun!
Gratefulness exercise
- Have a piece of paper and a pen or pencil handy.
- Get set up to begin a session with your ICAP™ Release Meter System.
- Choose your user icon and then the Live Session option on the classes screen.
This option is not recorded but is excellent to use for looking at what is happening in your mind as you listen to other audio courses, are on the telephone or want to try an exercise like we're doing now.
- Press the play button so that it begins to show your score on the meter.
- On your piece of paper number from 1 to 100. Then quickly list 100 things you are grateful for in your life. See if the number 100 makes your numbers spike. If so, notice that and simply get going. Move fast. Get big and small. Let your imagination roam. See if you can find things you think are silly...like breathing or the nice way the lint from your clothes dryer balls up when you clean out the lint pan a few minutes ago, or the great way your pants went on this morning.
- Now, notice what happened to your score while you did that part of the exercise. Did it go down as you focused in this way.
- To go further with this exercise begin at the top and take a moment to imagine what you are grateful for in detail...add color and sensory details. Imagine a person's voice, face. Imagine yourself with that person or event or thing right now being grateful.
- Open your eyes and see if your score has changed. If it hasn't, that's OK...just notice.
- If there are some that your score goes up on, mark them and then move on through the list. Just notice how you react to each thing on your list as you imagine it in detail.
- If there are some that you reacted strongly to, you could go and do attractions and aversions on that subject to see if you are able to work your score back down on that topic.
High scores are something to be grateful about -
they tell you exactly where you are still reactive in the world
Now that's some wonderful information!
Thank You Play
Try this little bit of fun.
The next time to open your mouth to disagree - try saying "Thank you" instead. Just say it and stop and settle down and listen to what that person is saying. Thank you switches you to gratefulness and opens up possibilities. It may also cause the other person to stop - particularly if you say it sincerely.
Try putting it in front of a no as well. "Thank you and no." That certainly has a different ring to it doesn't it?!?
And the next time a "negative" emotion or experience appears, stop, hunker down with it and say "Thank you." Watch what happens.
The CAP in ICAP
Many people ask us where the name ICAP came from. While the name has a rich and layered legacy the CAP in the name came directly from the acronym in Lester Levinson's system that stands for Courageousness, Acceptance and Peace.
Lester taught that as you release and clear your subconscious mind that you are able to move up through emotional content to what he called Imperturbability. Imperturbability is when you are able to move through life freely rather than reacting all the time.
Reactions can usually be categorized in the earlier part of the spectrum - AGFLAP - Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger and Pride. If you look in your Abundance Course Workbook on page 20 and 21 you will see these lists with the associated emotions.
One of the goals of working with the ICAP™ Release Meter System is to work your way into living your life in CAP rather than AGFLAP. Sounds great, doesn't it! The amount of energy that is returned to you when not having to try and avoid, suppress or hide from those other emotions is amazing.
Gratefulness, although not mentioned specifically, fits nicely into Acceptance. When we are in a place where we can be grateful, even for a moment, we will see our score lower on the ICAP™ Release Meter. And you'll notice this more and more as you work with the system.
One way to help this process along is to notice and write down the things you are grateful for in your life as they happen. We also call these gains. These are the changes that fulfill our goals and achieve our desires, and often far beyond what we could imagine being possible. Our minds can try to keep us away from noticing these changes, but by making a practice of noticing them and being grateful for them, we speed up the entire process. We celebrate our movement in every moment.
So, feel free to share your gratefulness and gains with us. We'd love to hear how things are going with version 2.0 and your ongoing practice with the ICAP™ Release Meter System. |
