I mentioned in the video about the time I went through a period of depression and I did a few things, including practicing gratitude, that got me through it. At this time in my life I can honestly say I was experiencing days where I hated life. (And I don't use that word loosely!) I kept wanting to put the responsibility of my happiness on other people or things. I'd say things like, "If my husband would just do this I'd be happy," or "If my situation would change in this way.... I'd be happy." The truth is, none of those things really determined how I felt. Once I took ownership for my own happiness I was finally in a space to change. 

I became so sick of being depressed and hating life every single day. One day I said to myself, "Charlotte, you know better. And the only one who is going to get you out of this is you." So I prayed and asked for help. I called upon the knowledge I'd learned through the years and started doing a few simple, yet invaluably profound, things.

1. Every time something negative would come into my mind I'd immediately change it to the opposite gratitude. Example: "I hate that I have to be home all day, every day having no friends close by." Changed to: "I'm so grateful I am able to stay home with my children and raise them." I could truly feel grateful for this! In the beginning I was countering my negative thoughts several times per day. But the more time went by, the less I found those negative thoughts plaguing my mind. (Remember the neural pathways in the brain I talked about earlier? This is another classic example of shifting those in the brain!)
2. I knew in order to change my yucky inside world I needed to blast myself with positive from the outside coming in. It was really hard and took so much effort at the time to originate positive from the inside. So I played inspirational music and I read an uplifting article in a church magazine and words in my scriptures every single day. I was intentionally combating the negative, so I knew I needed to fill my space as much as I could with positive things that invited the spirit into my heart and home and created a space where negativity and the adversary could not reside.
3. I prayed for help. I asked for angels to help me and a shield of the light of Christ to be placed around me to guard and protect me.

It took some time, but eventually things started to turn around and I felt so much better. The situation that elicited the depression didn't go away. But the way I was handling it dramatically changed- and that made ALL the difference. Gratitude was a huge factor in helping me shift! Use it, it's powerful!!