I receive a weekly newsletter from Christine Kane and I thought this would be a good one to share.

Why Gratitude Makes You Happy and Wealthy

by Christine Kane

Gratitude is more than being thankful one day a year. Gratitude is a practice. For some, it’s a way of life.

Why do some people swear by the practice of gratitude? Why do these people have joy-filled and abundant lives?

In other words, why does gratitude make you happy and wealthy?

• Because gratitude is about presence.

It’s about waking up in this moment and being here – really being here – and noticing what’s around you. Most people are so busy thinking about the next thing, or about their horrid past, that they don’t wake up and look around at their present moment – the only moment there is.

• Because gratitude is about honoring YOUR precious life.

Do you ever compare your life with someone else’s? Do you ever wish your life were better and more like [insert famous person's name here]? Sometimes we can lose ourselves in wondering how we “measure up” to some standard set by our families or by the media. Comparison is the mind killer. The antidote is gratitude.

Gratitude requires that you validate your own life. (And you really don’t have any other life, do
you?) It forces you to say YES to the gift that is you. The choices you’ve made and the changes you’ve gone through – they have brought you here. Even if here is a place that needs a little adjustment, that’s okay. There are always gifts in any present moment.

• Because gratitude is about attracting.

It’s difficult to attract abundance and joy if you are constantly saying “no” to what IS. You say “no” each time you focus on the future or past, or when you criticize something that is in your present moment.

Attraction is about saying Yes. When you say Yes, you shift.

Gratitude says, “Yes, I love this!” And then more of this is attracted, because the this is what you’re focusing on.

• Because gratitude is about choice.

How you translate any situation is the situation. What you choose to see is the truth (for you).

This isn’t proposing that you live in denial or phoniness. It’s reminding you that your translation of any life situation is your choice. We’ve all heard stories of people who have ignored others’ translations of their talent, their projects, their art, their looks, their lives. These people chose their own translations and succeeded. You always have a choice when it comes to how you look at things. Choose to choose gratitude.

• Because gratitude is about wisdom.

I think people believe they’re being smart if they criticize, complain, and focus on the problems of the world around them.

Smart? Maybe.

Clever? Sure.

But not wise.

It is wise to look for and find the knowing place in your heart. It is wise to choose joy. It is wise to honor your riches. It is wise to focus on and grow the blessings of your life.

• Because gratitude is about recognition.

Use your power of focus to hone in on beauty and on what makes your heart sing. Recognize the spirit in your life. It’s all around you waiting to be noticed. In the words of Franz Kafka, “It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

• Because gratitude is about receptivity.

Gratitude makes you receptive. It makes you a vessel, waiting to be filled.

I carry a tiny notebook with me everywhere I go. In it, I write down song ideas. I write down quotes I hear. I write down ideas for stage stories. As I do that, I become more receptive, and more ideas and songs come to me. It’s a tool that says to my subconscious, “Send more my way!” And the subconscious always responds.

Gratitude is the same way. It says, “I am receptive! Send more!” And more arrives.

• Because gratitude is about creativity.

Creativity is really all about attention. (So is genius.)

When I write a song, I build a relationship with that song. I spend time with it. I get to know it. I pay attention to it. Artists do the same thing with drawings. They spend time in rapt attention, and the drawing is born.

Gratitude is how we Live Creative. It is a creative act to notice and pay attention to the moments of your life. Some days it’s an enormous act of creativity to find things for which to be thankful.

Start today.

And have a Thanksgiving of presence, creativity, and gratitude!

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 8,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FREE subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

I’m going to be offering an online workshop starting November 27! This is a four week class where I will teach you how I make my ORBIT ART QUILTS! They make great holiday gifts! AND would be a great way to use up some of your stash! What’s really great is the class is only $8 USD!!

The class will be conducted from a password protected blog. Each week you will receive instructions on how to complete an ORBIT. The class ends December 18, but you will have access to the class and me for questions until January 8, 2010.

You can sign up for the class over on my NEW BLOG! So, I’ll see you over there!

Orbit’s 7 and 8 are done. I will be adding them to Etsy soon.

I have 4 more Orbit’s in the process AND an Orbit pattern. So, you can make some Orbit art quilts for yourself or they would make wonderful holiday gifts!

My Orbit art quilts are a hybrid quilt. Which means they are a fused and traditional pieced quilt. Actually the only piecing involved is the background. The pieces that make the orbit design are fused. So really not much sewing involved, just cutting and pressing. Then the fun part…sewing in a circle!

Some painters have this wonderful goal of painting a small painting every day. They are a group called the Daily Painters. You can see some of these artists here.

This summer I started a series that I call “RAW” with the idea I could create a small textile painting daily and offer it for sale. While I was taking a break last week, I thought about this more and more and decided I should really try to do this daily or every other day. So, here is today’s DAILY TEXTILE PAINTING.

This textile painting is available in my Etsy shop.

I found this great book last week.

AND just as the title says it IS the painting course I’ve always wanted. How did the author know? So, I’ll be sharing the exercises over the next few weeks.

I’m also taking a class on line with Kingslan & Givilisco Decorative Arts Studio. The class is a design course that covers:

• How to be a Creative Thinker
• Color Theory and Schemes
• Perspective
• Design Principles
• Design Elements
• How to Work with Reference Material
• How to Work from a Set-up
• History of Composition

I have really enjoyed it so far and LOVE the section about color!

BEFORE I start painting again (Wednesday or Thursday), I’ll be working on some quilting projects. I have some ORBIT quilts to finish and I’m very excited to offer an ORBIT Pattern very soon! I think you’ll enjoy making this fun little quilt textile painting!

Three is a Crowd

“Three is a Crowd”
Daily Painting Series
6″ x 6″
Oil on paper

I feel like my painting skills are definitely improving!

My son is out of school next week, so I won’t be working on any new projects. I’m just going to try to get all my existing art on Etsy.

I finally got the “Bella” series added to my NEW Etsy shop…Originals by Heather Bennett. Check it out!

Here are a few fun pieces I’ve been working on lately and will be adding to my etsy shop soon.

I call these fabric collages. Each has it’s own name.

They come mounted in a 8.5″ x 11″ mat, so they are ready for framing.

Red Purse Still Life

This weeks plan was to paint a still life every day. It’s Thursday and I got one painting done. Above is Monday’s painting. I sketched the outline using only my paint brush. No preliminary drawing and no sketching on my surface.

To make up for my lack of “daily painting”, I have been working on getting some encaustic paintings completed before it’s too cold to work outside. More on that coming soon!

Purse & Shoe Still Life

It came out better than I thought it would!

I have to tell you, I have ALWAYS wanted to be a painter! AND I have always been intimidated to try. So many doubts. So many times I just wouldn’t let myself. FEAR!

All I can say is YOU CAN DO IT!! Whatever it is you have been putting off trying or starting…just do it! You’ll be happy you did!