Thank you for the
opportunity to speak with you today about
Gratitude. Gratitude has come to be associated
with prayer, with specific holidays like
Thanksgiving or with a way of saying thank you
when something wonderful happens. All of these
are great ways of expressing Gratitude but we
wish to talk with you about Living in Gratitude.
Living in Gratitude is
making prayer all the time. Have you ever felt
joy in such a large amount that you just want to
cry? Gratitude is wonder in your hearts at the
magic of it all, even in everyday things that
you often tend to overlook. When you expect
Gratitude you will find it. The more you live
with Gratitude in your hearts, the more
opportunities you will have to live it. Living
in Gratitude is not about manifesting, although
it is a great means of doing so. When Gratitude
is about needing a result, then you offer
Gratitude only when you achieve that specific
result. Living in Gratitude is acknowledging the
results all around you.
Have you ever seen those
films where time is sped up and you can see a
flower bloom in just minutes? Living in
Gratitude is like that. As you see Gratitude
unfold all around you, life becomes like that
flower, blooming over and over again. Gratitude
is knowing that flower will bloom. It is one
thing to feel/express Gratitude for what you
already can see and feel all around you and
quite another to feel Gratitude for what has yet
to occur in a way verifiable by your standard 5
senses.
The key here is to know
the flower will bloom and yet be unattached to
seeing it happen. People have a need to know
when the flower will bloom and by what means.
You look for evidence that things are happening
the way you wish. There are sayings like “a
watched pot never boils.” While you know that is
not the case, we wish to point out that when you
are watching for the flower to bloom, you are
missing the fact that many other flowers are
blooming all around you. You forget that you are
in the most beautiful of gardens because you are
focusing all your expectations and impatience on
that one poor flower. Gratitude is love for the
entire garden.
We suggest this quick
little exercise for you to try if you wish to
cultivate Gratitude in your life. Pick someone
or something you are grateful for. This must be
something you feel very strongly grateful for.
Allow the feeling of Gratitude, of love and joy
overflowing to become you. Allow it to build and
build and build. Now focus on your surroundings
and feel this feeling of Gratitude extend to
other people and other things in your life. You
may try this as much as you feel you can handle.
The feelings are quite intense and most people
are not able to contain and allow this intensity
for too long. But we promise that the more you
do this activity the easier it will become. This
is also true for those around you who may
question why you are smiling and in such a good
mood! People are not accustomed to being and
living in the garden of Gratitude! We thank you
for gardening!
