Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude

Pause for a moment from reading and whatever else you might be doing at the same time. Look up. Take a deep breath, blink and exhale. Take a good look around. A really close look.

You may be intimately familiar with your surroundings, but have you really carefully assessed what is in your possession or surroundings?

The chair you are sitting on, the clothes on your back, your shoes, the windows, the trees, whatever you may be eating or drinking.  Have you ever taken a moment to acknowledge and express gratitude for all that presents itself in your life?

You know; the stuff you take so much for granted that you don’t even realize that you have taken it for granted.

The air you breathe, the sun that glistens, the rain that gently sprinkles blessings, the clouds that create panoramic landscapes which are ever-changing, the birds that greet the sunrise.

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It’s funny how we don’t miss a lot of things until they are gone. When it’s winter, we say how much we miss the long days, warm weather, the birds, the children playing outside, going to the beach, etc.  When we come back from a vacation, we say how we can’t wait to go back.  We complain about our jobs. Then we get a new one and then we realize how good we had it before in some ways.

We seem to have lost the ability to be in the present moment and really take in everything that exists in our environment and see what it is offering us and attempting to teach us.  You undoubtedly have heard the saying, “Today is tomorrow that you worried about yesterday.”We are so worried about trying to make right what we did yesterday and make tomorrow better than today that we fail to be fully present in what our current experience is.

This is conditioning that can be changed with our intention and attention. We can set an intention for our day before we even get out of bed. We can intend to live it fully, to be aware, to pay attention to our breath, to act compassionately, to uplift those with whom we interact, to ingest only that which will promote our well-being, etc.  We can set an intention for our activities – whether they be small or grand in scale.  If we act with the highest intention in a situation, then we cannot always be attached to the outcome or continually blame ourselves if it goes “wrong” or turns out other than how we had envisioned.  We can do a visualization of a situation of how our day will go or how a situation will turn out.  We can ask for the highest outcome if are unsure of an outcome.

We can be fully present with whatever we are doing – whether it is the dishes, or responding to an email, eating our meal, or having a conversation.  And we can be grateful for all that we do have, all the possibilities that exist, and the ability to be present and breathe through whatever presents itself in our lives.

Recent Comments

  • http://Mahesh

    October 7, 2007 at 2:12 am

    Bahut Achha aapne likha hai. When you become an instrument in the hand of God you don’t worry about the future after all future is is the seed of today which will fructify tomorrow. You will dream the same thing at night whatever you have contemplated during the day time. Whatever you have done or heard at bed time that same thing you are going to remember early in the morning

  • http://suddhaanand

    September 6, 2007 at 11:45 am

    HUMANS IDENTIFIY THEMSELVES WITH THE MATERIAL POSSESSIONS THEY HAVE. THE MATERIAL WEALTH CAN OFFCOURSE BE EARNED AND ACCUMULATED BY OUTSMARTING OTHERS . ALL MEANS OF GETTING THE OBJECTIVE ARE JUSTIFIED TILL THE TIME ONE IS WINNING AND OTHERS ARE LOSING. WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYBODY WANT TO AMASS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT REFLECTING ON HIS NEEDS. LIFE HAS BECOME A RAT RACE WHERE EVEN AFTER WINNING ONE REMAINS A RAT.
    WE MUST LEARN THAT ALL EFFORTS MADE IN THE DIRECTION OF GARNERING MATERIAL WEALTH CAN GET US NOWHERE. IT’S A NEVER ENDING JOURNEY. NO AMOUNT OF WEALTH CAN QUENCH THE THIRST OF GREED.WHEN THE TIME TAKES AWAY THE ENERGIES IN THE OLD AGE OR OTHERWISE ONE REPENT BUT CAN NOT GET THE TIME BACK.NO MATERIAL WELATH CAN GIVE PEACE OF MIND.
    ON THE OTHER HAND TO REFLECT,REJUVINATE AND REJOICE THERE IS NO NEED TO MAKE ANY EFFORTS.ONE HAS TO BECOME EFFORTLESS. ONE HAS TO DISSOLVE FALSE IDENTITIES.PAST ACHEIVEMENT AND FUTURE PROMISES CAN ONLY KILL PRESENT.
    TO LIVE IN THE PRESENT ONE NEED A SPARK. THAT SPARK IS IN THE GRACE OF AN ENLIGHTENED GURU. ONCE THAT GRACE IS ACHIEVED ONE START ENJOYING THE JOURNEY MINDLESS OF UNCERTAIN FUTURE AND DEAD PAST.

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