So I bough the workbook my Rhonda Byrne... I have been looking into the LOA for probably a month now and I like her approach the best.

First chapter - make a list of things to be grateful for.

I find this really difficult.

First my life view for ever is that I have struggled for every single thing that I have. So it is very hard to just give that up to some higher power.

Second, it only highlights that I don't have a lot. And, what I do have, has problems.

Anyone else have issues with gratitude?

[nicoleflynn]

I am grateful every day of my life...I also have struggled my whole life and worked so hard. I grew up with no father, abusive mother, molested, poverty, etc.......joined the army, married an abuser (31 years of abuse, then divorce); then abuse from a church. My life story won a scholarship and I began school at 60.......In a way I am grateful I grew up the way I did, because I am so grateful for everything I have....didn't have a refrigerator, tub/shower, car or phone growing up, so for most people, they don't even think about those normal things we all have, but I.....do!

[seeker33]

Perhaps you don't need to be grateful to a higher power. Be grateful to yourself. Magic as i understand it doesn't require belief in a higher power. The magical power is in yourself.

[CANDC]

I think LOA has a basic drawback even if it works: you attract more things into one's life. More things have never given me a lasting joy. They give joy for a little while but then their emptiness becomes apparent to me.

Our basic nature in my opinion is to be compassionate and kind beings that help others to achieve fulfillment. There is so much suffering in this world I think we will not run out of people to help or have empathy for. If we cannot give last fulfillment by trying to get more for me, maybe we could try helping others find fulfillment and see if that brings us joy.

What I do find is that what I focus on strengthens in my neural pathways. If I do self judgement, my self esteem falls. If I focus on gratitude for life itself without any higher powers, then I feel more joy and contentment for being alive.

One freedom we all have is to believe whatever we want. I think that what we believe also can affect the choices we make and the pathways we follow in life.
please include the following tag in any reply concerning this post so I get an alert to see your post: @CANDC thank you!

[bpcyclist]

I worked incredible hours for a very long time and became quite successful before I got sick. I'm sure I had some gratitude. But honestly, what I really had was a sense of entitlement. I had all these things, this position, because I worked so hard. Because I was good at what I did. Because I planned better than other people. It was all me. Really, I was grateful to me. I thought I was special. Which I am. But we all are special.

Now, I have lost essentially everything. I fortunately did plan well for a disaster, so I do have a modicum of money to live off, but it is very, very humble. A different universe compared to what I used to do. Am I bitter? To be honest, at times, yes. Yes, I am. But I don't stay there long. Because what I really am is grateful. I ride past a bunch of homeless campers on most of my routes here, pretty much every day. That could be me. It should be me. If not for a little, tiny bit of prudent planning and decision-making I did in, like, 1993 when the world was my oyster, if not for that, I would be homeless. Grace of God.

So, I am grateful today for food in the fridge. For shelter. So grateful for shelter. For my ability to buy my meds. For my physical health, which allows me to exercise and get out of the house every day. For my children, even though I don't currently get to see either of them. Maybe some day. For my father, whom I don't really see. Maybe soon. For the couple of friends I still have. For everyone here on PC, who quite literally, I do believe, saved my life. Because I was done. But I'm better now. And lastly, for God, without whom I would never have made it this far. Lots to be grateful for.

Okay, so now, I am going to try to do this tag thing. Not really a computer person. Here goes: @CANDC.

@CANDC Wow! Great posting!

@Emily Fox Seaton , good luck to you! You can always start with the basics (food, water, shelter) and move outward from there. Or find a prompt for gratitude, like "what made me smile today?" You could start a gratitude journal if you wanted as well. When I saw the title of this thread I thought it might be from Rhonda Byrne, A Book like the Secret. I didn't know she wrote a book called The Magic. It's fitting.