Being Grateful For What Didn't Happen

When practicing the Laws of Attraction, most people know that a big part of it is being grateful for what they have as well as what they want to happen in the future. Recently something happened to me that reminded me of another aspect of the gratitude principle, and that is, being grateful for what didn't happened.

Last week my alternator broke down on my car and it was barely able to limp into the repair shop before it died completely. The battery light had gone on the night before and I made an appointment the next day to have it checked out. I ran one errand before going to the shop and when I came out the car wouldn't start at first, then would only go about 15 miles an hour, and the lights, clock, and turn signals weren't functioning all the way to the repair shop. It was kind of scary.

But what was even scarier was that it didn't happen the day before. We had just driven to Milwaukee (a 7-hour drive) and back for Thanksgiving weekend. When I brought the car to the repair shop, the attendant couldn't understand why I was so happy. "The alternator broke today, not yesterday," I said. I was so grateful for what didn't happen---that it could have broken during the trip.

And that's what reminded me that we have many opportunities to practice gratitude that we can easily miss out on. I could have gotten really bummed out that I had another unexpected expense and the inconvenience of no car for a day. But instead I practiced being grateful.

The phrase that comes to mind is "dodged that bullet" and it's that "whew" feeling you get when you realize that you just had a close call. Most of the time we have no inkling of the amount of close calls that happen in our lives. We usually try to avert the danger before it happens.

In fact, the Vedic traditions in India take astrology to a much deeper level than the western world. In the West, we get our chart done for the information it provides.

But in India, astrology or jotish, as it is called, is also used to determine what might happen to you and then a ceremony, called a yagya, is done to avert the danger. Many people who use jotish have a yagya done on their birthday every year just to avoid any negative possibilities for the coming year, even though they don't know what they might be.

So the next time something unpleasant happens to you, try to turn it around and see what is good about it and if nothing comes to mind (since many times we don't see the good until later), be grateful that it wasn't any worse, or for what didn't happen.

When my husband had his bad accident and people asked him about it, he always said he felt lucky to be alive and able to recover and still have all of his faculties. He never looked on it as horrible and negative. Instead he felt like he had just "dodged a bullet" and inspired me to have the same attitude.

By taking control of your mind and practicing gratitude even for things that didn't happen, you will maintain the high vibration that enables you to achieve all of your desires.