Cherish the Present Moment | A Practice in Gratitude
Gratitude doesn’t always come easy. I remember when I first heard about making a gratitude journal and tried it… it felt forced and kind of obvious. “I am grateful for my life, my health, my friends, my cats, my house, my colleagues…” it was hard to go deep which surprised me, because I don’t feel ungrateful, I just couldn’t easily find the words or expression of thank-ful-ness. I kept that journal for a little while, but like most journals, I stopped.
I asked myself, what does gratitude actually FEEL like? And I looked it up…
Gratitude is a positive emotion felt often directed
towards a person who gives you a gift or felt towards a higher power.
Humm…when someone gives me a gift? That doesn’t happen very often. If gratitude is always connected to getting something from someone…like a gift, we are in dependency trouble. So, I looked further…
What is gratitude spiritually?
Gratitude is the act of feeling and communicating appreciation for the people, circumstances and material possessions in our lives. … It allows us to cherish our present in ways that make us feel in abundance rather than deprived.
This felt better, it allows me to connect to the larger sphere of life and circumstances and feel into the big picture of my life where health, shelter, care, concern, love and tenderness are a part of life. I recognize that these things, while they seem very solid, are not certain. We all have (or will have) examples of people and situations where health turned to crisis, or resources fell away, or love was lost. Yet, as we all can intuit, sometimes learning to consciously name the small, little specific details of life that bring us joy can open-up a whole experience of awe and connection.
So I looked for suggestions:
Simply take a few moments and focus on the present, wherever you are, and start noticing and mentally saying everything you’re grateful for. And I practiced…
I am grateful for my window view as I sit here and write this. I feel so happy to look outside and work. It is small pleasure, but I love it so much and feel lucky to have a safe and warm home to work from.
And…
I am grateful for my colleagues who so beautifully took over the lead role in the teacher training program this past round and for whom I got to witness them working together yesterday creating a beautiful graduation ceremony. It feels good to be able to pass on things and to see them shine. I am grateful.
Wow- I didn’t expect what just happened. Just writing these things down allowed me to have a body/emotional experience of love, or perhaps I can call it a feeling of gratitude. And it feels good. Maybe there is something to these practices after all!
This week – (Thursday 25 November) it is Thanksgiving in America, my home. I miss it. I miss my family and I miss having a family around. And I am grateful for the multiple connections, friends, family I have here in The Netherlands. Both exist next to each other. Here is my prayer for you today: May you find a way back to finding gratitude for the small and large things you love in your life.