The Grace of Gratitude

I remember my thirtieth birthday; I was a wreck. I could barely hold back the tears as I was getting ready to attend a small gathering of friends being held in my honor. I didn’t know how I could show up at the party like this, so sad and depressed while everyone was “happily” wishing me a happy birthday. All I kept thinking was this was not how I wanted my life to be at thirty! It was not the picture I had imagined. I felt disappointed, angry, and certainly not in the mood to celebrate.

It was a good twenty-minute drive to where the party was being held, and I needed a miracle to arrive there in a better place than I currently was in. I decided to spend the entire twenty-minute journey saying out loud all the things I was grateful for. It started out quite basic, like, I am grateful for the car I am driving that gets me from point A to point B. I am grateful for the air I am breathing. Gradually, it became more about my great health, my creativity, my ability to learn and grow. Ten minutes in, I was feeling like a completely different person. By the time I arrived, I felt completely blessed that I had the good fortune to live the life I was living. And I walked into the party ready to celebrate, but not before I thanked God for gratitude.

Gratitude is a natural state when we are being spirit led. The mind, however, will tell us otherwise. This is why when we embark on the path of spirit; practicing gratitude is central to getting our minds on board. With gratitude, there is an understanding that challenges are blessings, that failures are gifts, and that our teachers come in many forms. In the grace of gratitude, we become who we were always meant to be.

We have a choice in every moment to see the glass half full or half empty; it is always our choice. When we exercise our right to be grateful, all that we cherish emerges true and unblemished, and all that does not serve us fades away. Gratitude gives us a way of being in the world that is fundamentally positive, and this is the momentum that leads us to actualizing our vision in the world. Did you ever meet a visionary who was not grateful? Visionaries are inherently grateful, as they know their vision is part of  a co-creation with spirit and without this connection spirit-led vision is not possible.

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