The other day I got a Facebook messenger message from an acquaintance, telling me that I need to do a daily journal and write down 10 things for which I am grateful. This is a great practice for anyone wishing to build up their attitude of gratitude. But I ignored the message because I didn’t need to do that practice.
The truth is, I seek to go deeper into gratitude. With a list, you write it down, think about it for a moment, then set it aside. There is benefit in this practice, and I do not wish to dissuade anyone from doing it. However, for those interested in truly raising their vibration, I recommend what I call whole-hearted gratitude.
Grateful for the things that benefit us
How grateful are you for your body, for all the systems inside that work in unison to allow you to get through your day? Have you stopped and wondered at the unending parade of electrical impulses that keep your synapses glowing? Do you have any awe in that your lungs breathe, without thought, supplying oxygen to all of your systems, keeping things running? Have you marveled at your skeletal, reproductive, endocrine, or digestive systems? Even if there are parts of you that aren’t working, you can still be deeply grateful for the parts that are.
Can you take a moment to be deeply grateful for the rays of the sun? Such abundance! Bringing us light and warmth, and supplying the necessary ingredient to cause plants to grow. And the air we breathe, what would happen if it wasn’t there; if it disappeared? We have all taken it for granted; but we can choose consciously to celebrate the fact that it is there, abundantly, for us to use.
Grateful for the things we don’t like
It’s almost too easy to be grateful for these things because we perceive their benefit to us. When we choose to be wholeheartedly grateful, we choose to see the benefit of every single thing that comes into our life. That traffic jam – is it showing me a part of myself that could use a perspective adjustment? What about that guy who was mean to me at the grocery store? If he triggered me, he is holding a mirror for me to see what wounds I have inside that are crying to be healed. When I am in wholehearted gratitude, I expect myself to be thankful for the person who held up that mirror, in service to me, to help me grow.
Like surrender, whole-hearted gratitude is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to look inside, find, and acknowledge our wounds. It takes attention, for this isn’t a write a list and be done kind of thing, it is a commitment to yourself, to see the value in all that becomes present in your day. The benefits of this practice are immense; by having gratitude of this magnitude, the magic of your life begins to unfold.
May you be blessed.
