When we live with the Spirit of Gratitude we will not hold on to things, we will not be greedy for material possessions. We will realize that we are getting everything we need and that attaching to people, things, and ideas just clogs up the works. There is a great sense of freedom in this recognition. This is how we become “more radiant than the sun” – by letting things flow through us – for we are aware of the great abundance we have in the Universe.
We can look at the symbolism found in how we celebrate Thanksgiving. We come together to give thanks to one another. We experience a feeling of abundance, a continuous flow of energy that we are all a part of. Gratitude is a state we experience when we realize this abundance – even in our darkest hours.
Life is our teacher and it is constantly giving us opportunities to recognize our immortality, our part in an infinite life force. We fall out of a state of gratitude when we do not take advantage of the opportunities that are given to progress and transform our nature. Sometimes we do not see the opportunities because we want someone else to “save” us. Eventually we realize that it is only by our own efforts to be in harmony with the distribution process that we are “saved.”
Living in the Spirit of Gratitude we recognize the Beauty in our lives: in the environment, friends, enemies and even in hardships. There is beauty all around us – beauty in everything. We have beauty within us. When we see the beauty within we are recognizing the Divinity in our nature. Often we are identified with things we are not. This identification leads us into ingratitude. But, when we become aware of the Oneness of all life, we see that we are looking for beauty because in our essence, we are beauty. It is this striving toward the beauty of our Divinity that we place ourselves in the flow of the creative energy in the Universe.
When we isolate our self from this creative flow—this receiving and giving—we will see that communication breaks down, relationships deteriorate and we fall into inertia. When we isolate we create fear because we have separated ourselves from the flow. We begin to build “protective” barriers around our little self and move into a “take mode.” Instead of radiating our Divinity, we begin to think separately and selfishly – we feel we don’t have enough. We become like a huge container—taking in all that is coming to us but unable to let go one iota of what we see as “mine.”
This state leads to ingratitude and congestion. We cannot live in this state forever. The karma we create by being out of the flow will eventually crush us and we will be brought to our knees through our own actions. It is only by getting back in sync and harmony with the life giving process that we are able to move forward.
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It is gratitude that opens the doors for a free flow of energy from one form to another. When we are ungrateful we disconnect ourselves from the entire process and become destructive to our own well being and to the well being of others. The Buddhist say to “open another window” when we are in this state of inertia. It is by seeing from many points of view that we realize that we are part of something greater. We are not alone – our success depends upon others. We are all connected—all one—all in the same boat of life. We never know what events are going to transpire to get us Home.
With love and gratitude for each of you.
Joleen
As I head into the celebration of Thanks, I will read and re-read this beautiful Teaching. I hope to be inspired with a new level of gratitude for all the Universe gives to us daily, hourly, and at every moment.
Thank you!
Val
Dear Val and everyone,
I too am so grateful for the Teaching. Someday it might be wise to explain what the Teaching encompasses. But not now.
Meanwhile, as I was driving home today, waiting in the long lines of traffic and watching the multitude of frustrated people, it gave me time to really think about my life and the events that inspired gratitude in my heart, but also the times I was not grateful. I must confess those times that I was not grateful were times I was younger and pitifully self-centered.
For example, I think about a time that my parents sacrificed so much to send me off to college with a very expensive violin. At that time my life’s path was to play the violin professionally. They had sent my high school teacher off to Chicago, Illinois to pick out the best violin that Charles Becker had crafted. He was one of the best violin makers in the United States at that time. So, they not only paid my violin teacher to fly to Chicago, put him up in a hotel for a few days while he painstakingly picked out what he thought to be the best of the best, they also had to then pay for this special violin. They gave me this violin for Christmas.
When I opened up the package and saw this extra-ordinary gift…all I could comment on was “Wow…it is so orange.” If you could have seen the look on my parents crestfallen faces you would have ordered bread and water for me, for a year and sent the violin make to the violin maker.
As the years went by, and I learned more and more about what a special violin it truly was, and all my parents had sacrificed to make sure I got the best that their money could buy, even today, their example of “giving” humbles me. A time came when I had to sell my violin – but that was after I had become a professional violinist and had fulfilled my dreams of playing with some top notch conductors.
I needed to sell the violin to be able to afford to make a move from where I was living to where I am living today – a move which took place as a result of inspired guidance; Divine Guidance. That value of that violin was worth many times over what mom and dad paid for it. The funds made from the sale of my special “orange violin” supported me for three years.
Not a week has gone by where I remember to thank them for what they so selflessly sacrificed. Not only for the gift of that special violin, which is now being played by a violinist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but for all the years they paid for violin/piano lessons and sending me to the music conservatory of the University of Iowa. My gratitude to them will be eternal.
And now, even though they are both gone, I continue to try to exemplify their examples of giving and generosity, passing their examples on to my own children, friends and co-workers. I am not sure who reaps the most, the giver or the one given to. But I know that gratitude is one the greatest gift God has given to us as we go through the years of our life.
Love and joy,
Joleen
Joleen & all~
Your lecture today shed light on a view I had not even considered, “that this time of the year can be thought of the day of launching into the holy days.” This brought a shift in my thinking that had not been there previously, a door opened. This coincides with an inner-wanting to create a different celebration and mindset with my family members and coworkers. Thank you for new shining jewel. Much happiness and gratitude to you, the Group and future visions.
While doing this meditation I came face to face with hidden resistances at first. After a few days the energy and my thoughts started to shift and I experienced a deeper feeling of gratitude. This allowed me to see more of when I am not grateful and then how self centeredness invites itself in. Tricky, this can lead me to believe I am justified but then the words of the Teacher says, “humility is standing in the light of the Self.” (not l’self). Inspiration from the Teaching comes and lends us a helping hand, a nudge or a kick!!
Thank you!