By Brittney Hiller

Do you ever find it difficult to just chat? To just take the moment to conjure up the words you want to say? Or find that perhaps, no words come to mind at all? Is this just me?

Gosh, I hope not! Recently I felt that way and all I could find myself doing was beating me up about it. Constantly telling myself how silly I was for not being able to say what I wanted or continuing the conversation or being clever. How dare I have a mental block!
To make matters more entertaining – not too long ago I experienced yet another chance to berate myself; I was LATE for my OWN workshop! “WHOA! Where did the time go?” I had nothing at all to blame it on, but myself. <em>(Isn’t that how we should all react to situations we find ourselves in? I mean, typically in these situations our own fault is to blame..)</em>

While beating myself up again with a few ‘stupid’s’ here and a few ‘goof-ball’s’ there, I made it to my workshop.

Guess what happened when I arrived?

Nothing - Nothing, but kind words from wonderful participants. The world didn’t end, they didn’t scold me, and we had a fabulous hour together! Creating, laughing, and meditating, it was an absolute pleasure!

Do you find yourself doing this sometimes? In the moment where you are in a pickle - do you berate yourself as a WAY to feeeel better? Isn’t that odd that we do this?  I think so!

Since this experience I have begun to implement more gratitude statements instead of dwelling or replaying what I could have done. When we give gratitude attention, for example, “I am so happy and thankful for...”, we shift our psyche, we open ourselves up to physically feel better, and we lower our anxiety. When we choose to dwell - we become anxious, frustrated, and perhaps even angry with ourselves - what good does that do for us? I don’t believe it does very much good, do you?

Here is an idea that I would like to suggest - I learned this trick during my Teacher Training for Kids Yoga - as a way to encourage happy thoughts or gratitude statements for the teens I taught. Each student was given a penny and instructed to place it in their pocket the next day before they went to school.  Each time they felt the penny or saw the penny they were reminded to think of something they were grateful for.  Now, when I gave this as homework I don’t actually know if they tried it, but I hope that you do.

When you do try it out - tell me how it worked for you and what you may have experienced, I’d love to hear!  You may notice you are thankful for things you didn’t realize you were thankful for - Like, say... that pillow that held up your journal as you wrote your latest gratitude’s.

I am thankful for YOU!

<em>Brittney Hiller is known as one of the happiest Yogini’s — she has practiced yoga for over a decade and can be found at every yoga studio in Beaufort. Find out more information on her at www.brittneyhilleryoga.com.</em>