When we forget to live gratefully through intentional practice, we take what is good in our lives for granted and forget what is possible. This practice will help you release judgement and fear, connect with your imagination, identify possibilities, and find courage to take action.

This practice is part of a three-part series. Explore the other practices here:

Video Transcript

Take a moment to settle in wherever you are and however you are arriving. Remember, your life is this very moment you are living — the only moment that is guaranteed.

As you settle in, this is your invitation to imagine what is possible in your life. Let’s remember that what is possible is achievable, and what is impossible simply cannot be done. So, get clear about all that you can do and begin to recognize the opportunities that are available to you right now.

Begin by opening your heart and thoughts. By doing so, you are moving beyond — and leaving behind — the restrictive beliefs that say you can’t. You’re leaving behind those beliefs that constrain you to a false narrative about yourself and the world. Instead of allowing the word no to hold you back, invite the word yes to enter your being. This is a space and time for yeses.

As we nurture this realm of possibilities, it is important to remember that both you and those around you can either invite in or lock out the possibilities before you. Your ability to imagine a way forward or a different reality altogether is influenced by your surroundings and the information you take in. 

So let’s imagine a place and space that is free of judgment and the chatter of other people’s opinions. What is this space like? Is it calming, noisy, inside, or out in nature? What does this place smell like, and is it large or small? More importantly, how does this space make you feel? Do you feel safe to be courageous, maybe a little bold, or even outrageous in your thinking here? What would need to be different about this place for all of these things to be true?

Let’s enter this space trusting that it will welcome your courage to see beyond whatever is limiting your imagination for what is possible. 

In this space free of judgment and free of fear there is only one rule: the answer to any question can never be nothing. You are something, and you can do something. The only questions for you to answer are what you can do, and how you can be present in this moment.

So let’s ponder these things:

  1. What can you do to remove the obstacles that prevent you from moving forward as you wish to move forward? Let’s now ask, are these actions achievable?
  2. What can you do to let go of the thoughts and beliefs that tell you that you cannot? Again, let’s ask, are these actions achievable?
  3. Lastly, what can you do to more fully enjoy the life that has been given to you, including all that it contains? And are these actions achievable?

When we let go of fear, we open ourselves to possibilities. When we relinquish those ideas and beliefs about ourselves that tell us we cannot, we open ourselves to imagining possibilities within our reach. When we forget to practice and work towards living gratefully, we take what is good in our lives for granted, and then we forget what is possible. 

But when we have the courage to enter a space that is free from the chatter of judgment, we begin to recognize the possibilities before us and feel more empowered to take action. When we take action in our lives, for ourselves and others, we are expressing the ultimate thank you, an acknowledgment of all that is here for us and for all that is yet to come. 

Photo by Armand Khoury


Joe Primo - CEO, Grateful Living
Joe Primo, Grateful Living

Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. A student of our founder since his studies at Yale Divinity School, Joe is committed to advancing our global movement and making the transformational practice of grateful living both accessible to all and integral to communities and places of belonging. His TED talk, “Grief is Good,” reframed the grief paradigm as a responsive resource. He is the author of “What Do We Tell the Children? Talking to Kids About Death and Dying” and numerous articles.

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