If I could give you one gift to start this year off, I
would give you the gift of Gratitude. Perhaps
Rumi, the 13th Century poet/mystic, said it best:
“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will
feed every corner of your life.”
Gratitude starts small but grows and expands and
definitely feeds every corner of our life.
If you’re not sure where to begin, start with something small: I’m grateful for my eyelashes – or something
big: I’m grateful for my heart. Have you ever told your heart how grateful
you are that it’s kept its beat throughout all the days of your life? Rumi also said:
“If you only say one prayer in a day, make
it ‘Thank you.’”
Gratitude warms your heart and your heart appreciates your
Gratitude. If you say a prayer of thank
you to every cell in your being, you will heal each one of those cells; watch
how much better you feel.
Gratitude brings the answer to many questions and has many
by-products. When you feel Gratitude for
something, it makes that something even better and worth even more to your
life. Gratitude completes and rounds out
and puts the frosting on the cake – and it just keeps multiplying.
It seems like we would have to be in a really good place
in order to feel Gratitude; however, when you don’t know where to turn, express
Gratitude first – even if for just being grateful that you are in the situation
you are in. It will provide the door
that opens to help you see a new avenue; a light will shine. It is transformative.
I love this quote from Brother David Steindl-Rast, a
Benedictine Monk:
“In daily life we must see that it is not
happiness that makes us grateful
but gratitude that makes us happy.”
Lastly, I will share a few words from Robert Schwartz,
author of Courageous Souls (2007):
“The importance of
gratitude cannot be overstated. Two
tuning forks of similar frequency will strike a sympathetic resonance; that is,
they will vibrate in unison. Gratitude
is an elevated, even sacred vibration, on a par with love, forgiveness, joy and
compassion.”
May this New Year be filled with Gratitude!
