GRATITUDE by Joan Goldstein
During this
month of Thanksgiving, we might all take some extra time to give thanks for our
blessings, and notice how the fruit we’ve reaped matches the thoughts and
actions we’ve sown.
For example,
I find that when I act out of love and kindness, I feel the love and expansion
right inside me immediately, and when I come from a negative space, the instant
fruit I receive is sitting with a lot of bad feelings. I just don’t
feel happy. Over the years, what I’ve learned to do is when I’m
inclined to take an unloving action, I examine where I’m coming from and
try to get rid of the negativity within me rather than projecting it on the world
or another person - even if I can list 10 compelling reasons why I think the
other person deserves to be made miserable, and even if I can get my friends
to support me in these feelings. I’ve found that when I can work
on my own negative response to something, it somehow dissolves the outer situation.
Try checking
it out. Instead of lashing out with “that monster, just wait, I’ll
show him/her” and focusing all your attention on how to get even, sit quietly
and take some nice deep breaths, deep slow inhalations and long slow exhalations. Focus
on what negative chord was struck inside you, and breathe it out. With
every out-breath, breathe out the hurt and anger. With every in-breath,
breathe in love and healing. Try to sit quietly with this exercise for
at least five full minutes…the longer the better. Write your experience
in a Journal. When you get up, perform a positive action. It could
be putting some coins into a charity box, or cleaning your apartment as a metaphor
for clearing out your inner being. You might even buy some flowers to celebrate
the flowering of love inside you by performing positive actions. Another
thing you can do is walk into a church and light a candle for the person who
you feel caused you pain. Say a little prayer for him/her - and yourself. Don’t
be surprised if these actions find you being grateful to that person for being
the catalyst to an enriching experience and the loving feelings which arise from
turning darkness into light.
Just as in
the physical world, when you plant an onion you get an onion, and when you plant
a rose bush you get roses (you’ll never harvest roses from an onion bulb),
on the subtle plane, when trying to bring yourself into harmony with your loving
nature by performing positive actions, you receive the fruits of those actions. You
actually open yourself to Grace and begin to feel gratitude for the positive
things in your live; for the very simple everyday blessings that you might be
inclined to overlook. It takes will and determination, but the fruits of
sowing good actions will bring you a harvest of Grace and you’ll find feelings
of gratitude cropping up more and more often as you continue this practice.
Happy
Thanksgiving!
| PRACTICE: To
practice letting go, sit in a quiet place with your eyes
closed and take three long, even breaths; inhaling and
exhaling very slowly. With each in-breath, feel yourself
becoming very strong. With each outbreath, breathe your
negative thought patterns away. Repeat to yourself, “I
no longer want to hide behind this habitual thought (name
the thought). I’m letting go.” Repeat this
three times, then focusing on the breath as it flows in
and out naturally, on each in breath repeat silently to
yourself, “Breathing in I feel strong,” with
each out breath, repeat silently to yourself, ‘Breathing
out, I let go.” Spend 5 to 10 minutes repeating
this exercise three times a day and say “yes”
to fuller living. PS: You can also practice repeating
these phrases while walking, driving, doing chores that
don’t require mental focus. |
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