Well it is, but I've found it a state of action as well.

Growing up, I thought that gratitude was something you felt or expressed after something was over. I'm so grateful I Aced that test!

Yesterday one of my mentors challenged me. She said that I cannot be in fear and in gratitude, the 2 are mutually exclusive states.

This morning I realized that when I'm in gratitude, I see things differently and take action differently.

Gratutude is not a static state at the end. It is a place from which Postive Action can spring forth!

Let's take the world of fashion (one of my fun hobbies 😉

On Project Catwalk, the designers were challenged to come up with a bikini design. One of the designers was a Bib Beautiful Woman and felt the project excluded consumers such as herself.

In outrage, she staged a protest and designed a one piece instead. She had a voice and used it, but what if she had come at the project in gratitude?

I'm so happy and grateful that I have been assigned a project that I can reimagine for women of all shapes and sizes! What would she have created from that space?

Maybe she would have designed a sexy toga that you could wear as a coverup or was swimable and brought elegance and fashion to the beaches.

Another designer on Project Runway refused to design a pet outfit to match his model when he said the dog was already perfect and needed no adornment.

I'm so happy and grateful that this assignment to clothe a dog allows me to give voice to pet lovers.

Perhaps he would have designed a cool Dracula collar to accentuate the dog without overwhelming the already distinctive _____ and then dressed the MODEL like the DOG.

Acting from a place of gratitude expands the creativity and consciousness and ads value and Joy to the world.

Those two stories have nagged me for years. I knew there was a better answer, a more creative answer than throwing the project. There had to be a way to be true to themselves AND win the competition.

It wasn't till I started from the state of gratitude and initiated my creativity from that space I finally got it. (I too am a dog and couldn't stop knawing those ideas! lol)

And you know the hardest part? Fear didn't want me to move to gratitude and I was so used to fear it took the kind hand of my mentor holding me to allow me to make the shift.

Now when I feel fear, my automatic response is, “I'm so happy and grateful that…”

Because when I find my gratitude, I act from my core and in harmony with the Universe and my highest self.

Namaste,