GRATITUDE

The Self-willed are false to their selves; they feel no gratitude for what they have been given. Those who merely perform rituals of worship are not pleasing to their Lord and Master. Gratitude creates happiness because it makes us feel full and, complete. It is the realization that we have every thing we need, at least in this moment. Gratitude births only positive feelings- love, compassion, joy and hope melting away fear, anger and, bitterness. Joy is defined as an emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing whatever one desires.

While gratitude is the state of being appreciative of benefits received. As we experience the mental sunshine of gratitude; we begin to glow and our lives are full of people who want to be around us because we exude peacefulness, happiness and joy.

Positive emotions like gratitude and love are beneficial to health through the release of endorphins in the blood stream. Conversely, negative emotions such as worry, anger and, hopelessness contribute to high levels of adrenaline leading to stroke and heart disease.

Gratitude brings you back at the present moment now. When we see the glass half full rather than half empty, we notice what is there rather dwelling on what is not there.

Gratitude is an inner light we can use to illuminate our souls. When we feel the fullness of gratitude, we accept life as it is. You cannot experience gratitude with a closed heart. The more you feel grateful, the stronger is the impulse toward giving. And the more you give, the more you get-love, friendship, a sense of purpose and accomplishment, even some times material wealth. Thus gratitude also gives birth to a fiercely loving environmentalism. Some people find moments of transcendence trough meditation, others in nature, still others when making love.

Life is both wonderful and dreadful and some times we have forgotten the miracle of being alive. We should learn to count on today, love and, trust of our friends.

In some ways our attitude determines every thing, because they are the glasses through which we see the world. Our attitudes have the ability to enable or disable us.

Gratitude makes us feel like we have enough and He who know enough is enough will always have enough. Gratitude is the response of the receiver of the gift and you are worthy of all you receive.

Bernard Shaw writes that people always blame their circumstances for what they are. I do not believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want and if they cannot find them, create them.

To stand in line and waiting used to be waste of time for unnecessary aggravation and me. Now I think it is a wonderful opportunity to slow down.

Retroactive gratitude- realizing after some thing is over or some one is gone that I really appreciated what I had, but wasn’t aware of it until it was gone. The list what we might have taken for granted is endless. Regret is a poison that keeps us in the past. Thus gratitude is a natural response to the miracle of life as we experience it from moment to moment.

If you haven’t got all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don’t have and that you do not want. Counting blessings by virtue of their not having struck the more outrageous the better (accidents) is a great mood elevator. Some times we need to look at what haven’t befallen us to wake ourselves up to the joys of our ordinary life, because they are blessings by virtue of not happening.

This is where we truly ripen as souls, for it is easy to pay the lip service to the idea of gratitude and not to take the final step of embodying it. A pessimist is some one who has exercised the muscles of negativity till it becomes habitual, while an optimist is a person who has developed thankfulness and a can-do attitude until these are a second nature.

When we truly focus on what we need, as opposed to what we want or might like, life gets much simpler and it is much easier to be grateful. Nothing blocks the feelings of gratitude more than anger and resentments. At some point you realize that you are much stronger and more loving person that you might hadn’t been if you hadn’t been so hurt and you recognize the gift in your particular suffering. Forgiveness leads to gratitude and thus our suffering is redeemed.
The truth is, of course, that happiness is an inside job and, beyond the subsistence level. Money truly has very little to do with our happiness. I use envy as a trigger to remembering that I want to do a better job of giving myself away. Service of the humanity is well above meditation. Expectations are the killers of gratitude and joy.

We are so incredibly well trained to notice what is wrong in any given relationship, work situation or experience that it is very easy to over look what’s right because our entire education system trains us to notice flaws and mistakes. What if we spent as much energy in relationships noticing and appreciating the other person’s gifts, talents, beauty and strengths as we do in exposing and dealing with its flaws? There are three circles of influence for every person- you, other people and life it self. It is the contentment with what is that makes us happy in the moment.

It is not to look for as to why the suffering came but to learn from it and what it could teach us. When we fail to use the hardships that dog us to become more loving, more patient, more present and, kinder is our fault

“No matter what accomplishments you achieve, some body helped you”.

Honoring our connections to those who came before us gives us a sense of belonging and wholeness. It takes decades to acknowledge that one’s own unique self but also that you are the child of your parents and indeed whether it is good or bad. You are more like them than you ever imagined. By repeating the past we fail to grow beyond it. Why is it that we are so kind, tolerant and loving to the people we barely know and so demanding, cold and, down right mean to those who are closest to us?

When we become pre-occupied with the faults, Mistakes, shortcomings and lacking of our children, we become angry and shortsighted instead of thanking them for being as they are?
We should try to awaken the joy that is available at the present moment. Live as if every day is your last. It is man’s foremost duty to awaken the understanding of the inner Self and to know his real inner greatness. Once he knows his own real true worth, he can know the worth of others. The person who can judge himself is true judge.

One does not become wealthy only with accumulating wealth but one can be rich by developing virtues with spiritual growth. At each level of gratitude, our soul’s capacity deepens-At first we experience contentment, then meaning that we are there for some purpose and therefore thankful for life’s lessons. Thirdly we dwell in pure joy and may even experience all levels of thankfulness and the soul-gift that each offers.