Gratitude

Practicing gratitude as an empath amidst the emotional complexity of humankind

2023 is finally upon us and it is common for some of us to have plans for a fresh start in one or two areas of our life. This could be to tackle our health, our mental health, a change of job, or to end a relationship that no longer serves us. It could also be a new beginning in terms of getting married, moving home or starting a family. It all depends on how fortunate we are, what part of the world we live in, how blessed we are to have safety, family, a job or even the freedom to live as we wish.

Survival in this world is tough when we don’t have the means, the support system, the education, a good start in life, good health and loving people around us. Leaving our comfort zone can be very scary when we don’t have some of these needs met.

War is still driving so many families to seek refuge in unfamiliar territory and for those who choose to stay, they are faced with daily uncertainty, fear and loss. Why is one human life more important than another? It is such a cruel world we live in yet many of us still want to bring children into it to satisfy our personal needs of being parents.

In my lifetime so far, I have encountered so much abuse, neglect and nastiness from people that it has been truly disheartening to believe in the good of humans. There is so much inequality, unfairness and immorality. Humans keep making the same mistakes, hurting each other, themselves and other beings. There is generational trauma with no end in sight.

How do you cope in a world with such emotional complexity when you are a highly sensitive person (HSP) or empath?

As one myself, I truly find solace in the little things and my daily routines. I avoid watching the news, aspire to filling my day with uplifting rituals and by cocooning myself and my family within our own little bubble, I feel completely at peace, safe and content. By practicing gratitude for the things I am blessed with, I find joy in being alive. By supporting and helping others, I feel a sense of reward. When I encounter people who are strong, compassionate and generous, despite the fact that they may have had it tough in their lives, I feel hopeful.

Humans can also be wonderful, caring & brilliant souls that inspire others and bring positivity into the world. I would rather surround myself with these types of humans and have a smaller social circle rather than subject myself to energy vampires or narcissists. There will always be good and bad and a mixture of both. Not everyone is our ‘cup of tea’ and not everyone will contribute to our life in a way that is fulfilling.

How do you cope in this world as a HSP or empath?

How do you deal with the rollercoaster of emotions that hit you when you are overstimulated by the injustice and wrongs in your environment?

What is your experience?

If you relate to this post, then feel free to share your experience in the comments below.

Love Athina

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all you wonderful readers and fellow bloggers a wonderful Christmas (although a little late) and I really hope that you managed to find beauty & love in your surroundings, even if you were grieving or not having such a good time today. If not, then know you were not alone in your grief! I hope that you were loved or at least were able to spoil yourselves.

Lots of love to you all! ❤️

Athina

How to live with gratitude

WP_20170310_15_41_44_Pro

Gratitude is a very important tool that most of us don’t use as often as we could.

To be grateful for all that we have in our life can bring a certain sense of contentment and peace.

Studies have been done, which show that gratitude improves both mental and physical health. Gratitude can reduce feelings of hopelessness and can greatly improve our relationships with others.

Doing a daily gratitude list just before bed, has been found to not only improve sleep quality but can also help with reducing depressive symptoms in people who are suffering.

”Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow” – Melody Beattie

The key to really benefiting from the practice of gratitude, is to write 5 or more things that you are grateful for on each day.The more specific the things you write about, the more beneficial the effects.

One example for this may be ”My friend suprised me with a ‘Thank you’ card today” or ”I enjoyed playing with my cousin’s puppies”.

Another way of practicing gratitude, is to have a little jar and pop daily gratitude notes in it..At the end of the month or after a particularly bad day, it can be useful to return to your gratitude jar and read all the little gratitude notes you put in it.

Do you practice gratitude and if yes, is there something specific you do?

Thanks for reading

Love Athina ♥

Beauty is in the human spirit..

What do you define as beauty?

Beauty for me is a lot of things.

dscn3174

Photography and art is beautiful.

The gorgeous colours of nature all around us is beautiful.

A message of love and comfort is beautiful.

The generosity & kindness in people’s eyes is beautiful.

The strength & courage of the human spirit is beautiful.

The ability to self-reflect & heal is beautiful.

The incredible firefighters, policemen, doctors, nurses, first responders, teachers, loving parents, foster carers, careworkers, psychologists, survivors and humanitarians that make a huge difference in this world are beautiful (and so many more I haven’t listed..).

Beauty for me is in the human spirit that perseveres against all odds.

Beauty for me is in the resilience of the poorest people, the people who suffer the most but are able to still offer love, compassion & understanding.

Beauty for me is in the highly sensitive person, the empath, the artist & the volunteer.

Beauty is all around us and it is found in the simplest things in life..

Beauty is about stopping to smell the roses..it is about living in the moment and appreciating all that you have in life..it is about loving yourself enough to accept yourself completely and treating others with respect & love..

What is beautiful to you?

Love Athina ♥

To all my wonderful subscribers..

Happy Sunday lovely people,

I just wanted to write a quick post today to let you know that although I haven’t been interacting much with a lot of my subscribers and the people I myself follow, I aim to do this over the next few days, as every single one of you is important to me.

WordPress unfortunately doesn’t show everyone’s posts in my reader and I also don’t get everyone’s posts in my email, although have subscribed to them.

I aim to go through every single one of your blogs and catch up on reading your content.

I also want to thank all the recent people who have subscribed to my blog and will look forward to getting to know you.

I will leave you with this inspirational photo.

inspirationalquotes-club-waiting-fix-wrong-strength-courage-own-hero-inspirational-encouraging-motivational-unknown

Enjoy the last day of your weekend.

Love Athina ♥

What 5 things make you the happiest? Practice gratitude

200op

I’m sure there are many things that make you happy. Hot bubble baths, holidays, hugs with your loved one, a favourite pet, a child’s giggle or even indulging in a favourite dessert.

If you could only choose 5 things that make you the happiest and that you couldn’t imagine yourself living without, what would those 5 things be?

When I started thinking about my 5 things, I must admit I got really stuck..

I started thinking about my feelings in certain situations..The moments where I have felt the deepest sadness..The moments where the things that made me the happiest, were no longer there…

To think of the things that make you happiest in my opinion, you have to think of the things you couldn’t bare to lose…

My 5 things would be:

My husband, as he is my best friend – He enriches my life and provides me with the family I never had growing up.
A beloved pet -I love animals and feel such a strong connection to them.
Close friends that I can be myself around
Kindness- I value kindness so much as I didn’t experience much kindness growing up.
Most things creative (music, film, art, doodling, dancing etc) – Creativity has been a constant in my life from a young age.It is a part of who I am and it brings me peace & happiness.

What are your 5 things? Thinking about the things that make us the happiest is good for practicing gratitude.

Love Athina ♥

FontCandy (79).png

Today I am grateful for my healthy body, my loving husband and the organic homemade food that I made for my little family.

I am grateful for the stability in my daily life, the ability to write my blogs & create YouTube videos and the love I share with my friends and family.

No matter how awful your circumstances, there are always things to be grateful for ♥

What are you grateful for?

Love Athina ♥

Be an inspiration

FontCandy (75)

Dear friends,

I am back from my brief holiday in Athens and feel happy to get back into blogging, YouTubing & Coaching. I have a 2nd follow up session with a coachee tomorrow and I am hoping she has managed to make some progress and feels a little better about things.

I hope I haven’t missed out on too much in the world of blogging but I definetely aim to catch up on your blog posts and interact with some of you lovely people.This holiday was a little mixed with being ill and dealing with a low mood because of this, but otherwise it felt good to have a change of scenery.

I thought it would be good to start the new week with an uplifting post. How often do you try to be an inspiration to others? How often do you strive to be an overall, good human?!

Some people are just naturally good at spreading positivity, love & and support but others do this less. Does this mean they are bad people? Not necessarily. It might be that they are suffering or overwhelmed by life’s challenges and just have nothing left to give at times..Just because someone isn’t supportive or understanding some of the time, this doesn’t mean that they are bad. On the other hand however, If someone is disrespectful, is always negative, is underminding towards others and generally goes around trying to ruin other peoples’ joy, then you want to stay clear of these people.

There is nothing wrong with having a bad day or feeling a little negative but if you purposely set out to bring others down with you, then this isn’t good.

In my day to day life, I hope to try and bring joy to others, even in the tiniest way. Even if I am struggling emotionally, I find that by spreading positivity in the smallest way, can make such a difference to my mood. This could be anything from leaving a positive comment on a great post, holding the door open for someone or smiling at the cashier in the supermarket.I am not superhuman obviously and neither are you, so we are all allowed days where we are less than perfect. As long as we are not hurting anybody, then it doesn’t really matter what we get up to.

If you had a choice to choose 2 of the 12 things listed in the above photo, which would you choose and why?

Love Athina ♥

Thank you for the follows and support!♥

FontCandy (37)

Sending you all warm wishes for a peaceful and hopeful day. I really appreciate your support of this new page and if there are any topics you would like me to talk about, then let me know in the comments below.

♥ Athina