“The purpose of life is to watch and experience living; to
enjoy every minute of it. The ideal purpose of your life is that you are
grateful—great and full; that you are alive, and you enjoy it.”
The frequency of gratitude is really a celebration of life.
For instance, a bird shows its gratitude by chirping, a dog by wagging its
tail, and a bee by buzzing. If you notice, all of life on this planet Earth is
forever celebrating life. We humans express our celebration of life through the
frequency of our hearts.
PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS
One of the greatest minds in Western history, the Greek
philosopher Aristotle, argued that we become what we habitually do. By changing
our habits, we can become more thankful human beings. If we spend our days ruminating on all that has gone poorly
and how dark the prospects for the future appear, we can think ourselves into
misery and resentment. But we can also mold ourselves into the kind of people who
seek out, recognize, and celebrate all that we have to be grateful for.
Now more than ever, you are either “living your life” or
“dying your life.” Trying to hang on to things, situations, and people that are
disappearing is “dying your life.” Yes, we are immortal beings living in a
mortal body but the one thing that most of us take for granted is time. Truly,
our tiny little mortal lives on planet Earth add up to only a tiny drop of
water in the ocean of human existence.
GRATITUDE’S BENEFITS
Research shows that grateful people tend to be healthy and
happy. They exhibit lower levels of stress and depression, cope better with
adversity, and sleep better. They tend to be happier and more satisfied with
life. Perhaps when we are more focused on the good things we enjoy
in life, we have more to live for and tend to take better care of ourselves and
each other. It is no surprise that receiving thanks makes people happier, but
so does expressing gratitude.
It is easy to lose touch with this deep sense of gratitude
since many of us have experienced so much loss these last few years. Many have
lost friends, spouses, family members, jobs, money, home or health.
Dreams didn't work out as we expected and left us with a profound
sense of emptiness. When the mind fixates only on the losses, it makes it
impossible to reach this frequency of gratitude that lives deep within our own
hearts. It is more important now than ever to send out gratitude—even to your
losses, for they are now the story of your beautiful unfoldment in Spirit. This
is about trusting that the Universe has removed everything that has been
burying your greatness so that you can truly shine
PRACTICING GRATITUDE
Celebrate your life by living with an open heart in all your
interactions with others. Show your gratitude through your smiles and your
laughter. Show your gratitude by appreciating those who are in your life right
now. Look around at everything you do have in your life—I bet if you start
taking an inventory, it is a treasure chest overflowing with blessings.
Much in our culture seems aimed to cultivate an attitude of
deficiency—for example, most ads aim to make us think that to find happiness we
must buy something. Yet most of the best things in life—the beauty of nature,
conversation, and love—are free.
There are marvelous respects in which we are equally
blessed—the same sun shines down upon each of us, we all begin each day with
the same 24 hours, and each of us enjoys the free use of one of the most
complex and powerful resources in the universe, the human brain.
Make gratitude your daily prayer. Embrace gratitude as the
new language you speak and you will experience the Universe responding through
the infinite blessings showering down upon you. To take your place in the Unity
of Life is to live in a perpetual state of gratitude.
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