I woke up happy and excited to face a new day today. And here’s why: before I went to bed last night, I became grateful for so many things in my life that I was taking for granted.
I’m as guilty as the next person for taking so much for granted. For instance, I take for granted that I can see. But when I imagine being blind, and then receiving the gift of sight, then sight becomes a wonderful gift. For that I am grateful.
The same goes for the ability to hear, to smell, to taste and to talk. When I imagine life without these abilities, I become grateful for having them.
But that’s not all. Some people need heart transplants. My heart is healthy, despite the fact that my father died of a heart attack. That’s exciting, when I think about it.
Some people need to live in an oxygen tent, because they cannot breathe properly. My breath is good. That too is exciting. It means, among other things, that I can play saxophone, which is also exciting.
My digestive system is working well, despite having been diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease over 30 years ago. I’m happy about that, knowing how terrible that disease can be.
I was reading yesterday how hunger is the next tsunami type disaster to hit the world. But for now, I have food to eat. But I can imagine the possibility when that might not be the case. Food shortages are becoming more and more of a threat to the world’s stability.
And with droughts, floods, financial collapse, over-population, and rising oil prices, plus the dwindling population of bees, it might impact us all. And that makes each meal I eat something not to be taken for granted, a meal to be grateful for.
Imagine having no food for a week and then having a meal sitting in front of you. If you are like me, it would be a very special occasion, one I’m sure you would be grateful for.
Why is being grateful so important? Have you ever given a gift to someone and they were not grateful? I have. It made me less inclined to give to that person again. On the other hand, when someone is grateful, it makes me inclined to give again and again.
I think that is how it is in life. When we are grateful for what we have, we experience abundance. When we are not, we experience a lack of abundance.
It also makes the present moment more inviting. It helps us enter into it and discover timelessness. Getting away from the past and the future is to get away from fear and worry.
Secondly, it increases our vibrational frequency. We become a magnet for more and more abundance in life. It brings with it joy. It awakens compassion and inspiration.
It’s one of the ways of loving God, according to Meher Baba, by considering ourselves more fortunate than many, many, others.
The universe is so miraculous that there can never be a moment when we don’t have the opportunity to be grateful. Right now I hear a bird singing, I see the sunlight shining through my window. And outside the window I see trees and flowers.
Life, at least for me at this moment, is pretty special. And I’m happy and grateful. I hope it’s the same for you.
________________________________________________
One Comment
You are absolutely right about gratitude making everything in life flow better. To be grateful for everything is true generosity of spirit and because of the law of karma which says that everything that goes around comes around, your generosity comes back to you. Every thought you have sends out a vibration reverberating into the universe which comes back to you as “causeless happiness.”