Today's Quotation:
Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be,
it's important to pause every now and then to appreciate all
that we have, on every level. We need to literally "count
our blessings," give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy
them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.
Shakti Gawain
Today's Meditation:
The end of November always brings Thanksgiving in the United States, possibly the most incredible secular holiday in the world. It's simply amazing that an entire nation of people will stop almost everything for an entire day simply to give thanks for all that they have. Gratitude is one of the most important keys to a happy life for all of us, and if we can learn to be truly thankful for our situations in life, we can learn to be happy, fulfilled, and content. Being thankful and having a heart full of gratitude is one of the prerequisites to happiness, for there really is no way to appreciate and enjoy what we've been given without a sense of gratitude to make every aspect of our lives brighter.
It's certainly not something that just "happens." Gratitude is an active concept, and it's important that we focus on it if it's to be a major part of our lives. We can easily go through every day of our lives without focusing on all that we're thankful for if we don't make the effort to see, to realize, to appreciate.
Gratitude also builds upon itself. The more we practice it, the more we see to be thankful for, and the more thankful we are. Likewise, though, the less we practice being grateful, the less we will see to be thankful for, and the less fulfilling our lives will be.
We all have many blessings, and if we choose to see them as such and be thankful for them, then our gratitude will go a long way towards making our lives richer and more fulfilling, with a richness that doesn't depend on material goods or financial wealth, but on all that we already have in our lives, all that we can be truly thankful for.
Questions to ponder:
1. Can you name ten things that you have to be thankful for?
Do those ten exhaust the list, or are they the tip of the iceberg?
2. What are some of the positive results of gratitude
that you've seen in your life?
3. How often do you count your blessings?
For further thought:
When we are grateful for the good we already have, we attract more good into our life. On the other hand, when we are ungrateful, we tend to shut ourselves off from the good that we might otherwise experience.
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