By Rev. LeRoy E. Zemke
Pastor, Temple of the Living God
“A grateful Mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things.”
Plato (over 2500 years ago)
”...giving thanks, always for all things ...”
Paul, Ephesians 5:20
Across the centuries countless spiritual/sacred writings, including saints, authors, poets, song writers and a host of inspired people around the world extol in language the power of gratefulness.
Qualities that appear to flow out of gratefulness are joy, abiding happiness, a deep sense of well being, a positive view of life ... and a richer life experience in relationships to and with others. Contentment, peacefulness, playfulness, a sense of awe and wonder emerge out of gratefulness. Current social psychological research espouses that gratitude can improve and make a major difference in one’s romantic (and sexual life).
Grateful from Random House Dictionary of the English Language (2nd edition) states: “warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received thankful. The inner feeling of being thankful, as for favors rendered or in an extended sense to Providence for an act of kindness one receives.”
Of all spiritual qualities that flow out of a sense of connection to the sacred or to the Divine Source of All, we cannot literally interpret the effect of gratitude by any reasonable, rational measurement. How does one even begin to measure a thankful heart? By the milligram or by the cupful? By a metric ton? Or by the magnitude of a mountain, the expanse of an ocean or the unimaginable scope of a star studded night sky? Metaphors pale in an attempt to create a meaningful comparison.
How does one measure a feeling that emerges from within ourselves when we express our deep appreciation for some act of personal care filled kindness, a deep gift or grace that makes a difference to us in receiving such gifts.
Physicists, Scientists, Endocrinologists and others can now definitely measure increased hormone levels in brain chemistry and also instantaneously in the human heart, when we are filled with thoughts of gratitude. Just being touched by another human being, when such touch is welcomed, valued or desired, leads to an increase of blood flow to and from the heart that makes us feel good! These substances are called endomorphins.
Cultures often define certain rituals as appropriate to increase our sense of well being, such as dancing, singing, the offering of foods, or shelter, even clothing as ways to express kindness to each other, respect for one another, perhaps even love for one another. Rituals are patterns of repetitive behavior such as singing, clapping one’s hands, repeating words, phrases, or expressing deep feelings in a consistent and conscious way to effectively create an internal state where we can be open to gratitude, healing, or some desired change in the way we view our lives!
Charles Fillmore once wrote, “God is the Source of a mighty stream of substance, and you are a tributary of that stream, a channel of expression.”
Living from gratitude is offered in almost unlimited examples: Daily bless your life, the breath, the body, the form and function thereof. Bless your food with the thought of that which one partakes is real spiritual substance. Always, always bless your circumstances, not from the psychological place of ...“Oh; ok. I’ll bless this situation and hope for the best.” Rather, affirm from an internal respectful and appreciative place, “I bless this man, woman, person, and see the spirit of life shining through them. I am grateful for what they reveal, and I see God’s Goodness flowing through all aspects of this experience. So be it.”
Whenever we hear stories or even anecdotes of specific circumstances involving an act of kindness, thoughtfulness, caring, possibly even one to which we feel a connection, we experience a sense of being acknowledged also. This is an important aspect of gratitude. Note this experience the very next time you witness another person in the act of receiving a gift, a blessing that also affirms you! When we consciously recognize our humanity, we feel good about ourselves and about others. Our whole view of life at that moment opens up to allow fresh air, a deep breath, perhaps even sunshine (metaphysically speaking), or the actual rays of the sun when we permit gratitude to flow through us.
In my life experience, I have observed that deeply felt gratitude brings healing, a release of hurt and pain. An accident leaving one with broken limbs, a crushed vehicle, and no way to return to a daily regimen as before, is softened and healing occurs faster when one even begins to see the larger view, what could have been instead of what is.
The powerful emotional intensity of death’s darkness and loss, lifts ever so delicately, ever so very tenderly when we can, in the most minute manner, see the one who has moved on in a view of gratitude for their gifts, their unique place in our lives beyond the moment. We can become receptive to gratitude for the life they lived and for the exquisite privilege we have had to share it, with them. This is truly one of the most profound gifts of gratitude.
Our calendar year which is ending with its traditional focus upon the celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas, can get blurred by the many facets of the seasonal festivities. We find many saying over and over, “I wish we could pass this season quickly.” Instead of valuing the ritual purpose for which the celebrations exist (to cause us to pause), we are rushed, pushed, poked and prodded to participate in an endless morass of events. As the festivities and the parties fade, we are grateful for their ending. We have lost the spirit of gratitude for the life we’ve been given to own the days, the nights, the treasures of each moment of each week.
English author Charles Dickens beloved “A Christmas Carol”, with its characters of Scrooge and Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and its emphasis upon forgiveness and sharing, tells us that if we are not able to participate in the life we have now, to value and appreciate what we are given, there will be no future ... tomorrow will be empty, barren and bereft of beauty, blessing or beneficence.
As Dickens’ Ebeneezer Scrooge reveals to us that he’s changed, his actions speak volumes. His wealth is now something to be shared, to bless and honor his community, and his family. It might be assumed or interpreted that as he opened his heart, love was reawakened and gratitude flowed out into every direction of his life and touched everyone and everything in his wake.
The heart of gratitude is within each of us. Current research now tells us what the ancient sages knew ... our heart (physical) and the heart center from our subtle energy system is perhaps even more important than what we know and believe to be true about the actual physical functioning of the human brain.
We can learn the social graces, manners and the folkways of our culture. We can learn to say “thank you” at the dinner table, or for a gift or favor rendered by an acquaintance, a friend or family member. Often however, this is perfunctory, it lacks sincerity and often comes across to the receiver as contrived, artificial, or perhaps even false.
Genuine gratitude, however, flows out of an internal sense of connectedness to life for the gift that life itself offers to us, for the awareness that we can and do feel what it may mean to us to be alive.
Gratefulness tends to be expressed as spontaneous joy or a deep realization for what life brings our way. We \certainly can value the food we buy at a market or at a restaurant and enjoy its nutritional and flavor filled uniqueness. A larger sense of gratitude comes when we begin to realize how that food came to our market, who planted, fertilized it, took care of raising it so that it could and did reach maturity. We discover layers and layers of hundreds of men/women representing families and cultures that have participated to bring us a dish of fresh strawberries, a bunch of bananas, and an amazing array of foods we had nothing to do with except to purchase, cleanse, prepare for a meal/snack and enjoy.
In the final consideration of gratitude in this very abbreviated discussion, I wish to offer 3 short suggestions:
1. Daily express thanks for the Life Force as it flows through the conduit of your body. From it, all that we have is given. It is ours to enjoy and to embrace.
2. Find a simple or complex circumstance in your life to be acknowledged from a grateful place. Do not judge it first. Just give thanks for what is given.
3. Bless everyone and everything in your life so that you can begin to recognize that God is undergirding you and supporting you and let gratitude be seen and felt in the very heart of what appears!
Knowing that there is one eternal source of all love and divine supply, I know that my life is that one life, and that all supply and abundance are now mine. As I fully open to receive them, I am open to the creative energies of love flowing as fulfillment, and to creativity manifesting as successful projects and grand prosperity. No longer do I allow doubt and unworthiness to be a part of me, for I now know the truth, that I am Spirit manifest, and that I am capable of co-creating and directing a life full of love, flowing with joyfulness and surplus. I am abundantly self-sufficient in all my needs, and I live from the higher truth of being in the work and service that are mine to do, and in loving interactions with all whose lives I touch.
Giving thanks - for it is gratitude that connects us to and reminds us of our God nature - and knowing that my works have power and are already working in my life. I release this into the universal presence.
And so it is.
- Taken from Soul Currency by Ernest D. Chu
|
