Spiritual Living

Took the weekend off, enjoyed friends, family and fun for Thanksgiving and not much else until today. Felt guilty and grateful, an odd combination to be sure. Work has been dead, getting the last client’s to pay has been difficult, rent and bills due and wondering where the money is going to come from. Sound familiar, I understand I am not alone in this, watching the news freaks me out because the doom-sayers are having a great time. The recession is not any more or less than it has been every other election year, always about 6 months prior financial experts begin preaching recession and people begin listening. It starts with the housing situation and moves into consumable goods, yet every time we panic as a populace, hoarding and storing happens. The small business person such as myself gets put on the back burner, we are not a priority, it is not that important to pay us, what ever the rationale we get hit the hardest. Next corporations, etc. begin to fall into the hole, stores close, etc. Panic, stress, fear, creating chaos and like all good addicts the populace chases it, all the while speaking wishes that it were different. I am not much different, got caught up in the moment and stressed so much so that I could not sleep, when I did could not wake up. Allowed others to dictate my moods, thoughts and actions, fed into the energy of it all, the whole time knowing better. It was like watching someone else carry on, jabbering and making no sense, allowing work to pile up and spinning wheels fast going no where.

Then as if someone was standing over my shoulder I heard the solution, whispered quietly in my inner ear, gratitude. Share gratitude, put a half smile on your face, silently whisper “I am grateful!” The first morning it was with tension in my body, so I sat down with my journal and began writing all the things that upset me, created fear, closing with a prayer of appreciation, grateful for everything that happens each day in my life. For those who are less tolerant, tied up in doing it their way, refusing to take direction and sticking to their path at all expenses. Grateful for the chaos that dominated my life for three weeks all because I chose to ride and run away rather than face it and take responsibility for the state of my life. 

Through gratitude I was able to begin seeing a pattern that has lived strongly in my life, gratitude showed me where I needed to make changes, those areas in life one does not always heed. The subtle way we speak about our circumstances or our actions, simple, seemingly harmless comments made by others and by ourselves in regards to what we do and say. Comments that can sound sweet, yet if you listen to the words the meaning is clear, veiled and subtle. If left unchecked eventually create resentments and barriers. 

Living a spiritual life means to find that inner peace, gratitude for every aspect of life and making a conscious choice to be. One of the greatest gifts we can give besides love is gratitude. Take a moment, notice your breathing, inhale through your nose, slow and steady, feel the way the air enters your nostrils, the way it fills your lungs, hold for a second and notice the feeling that is there present in your body. Then slowly release your breath through your mouth and notice the way it feels as it leaves your body, notice how your entire body feels. Do this three times, then take a moment to feel gratitude for the moment of breath, notice the stillness of your body and the gentleness of air as it moves around you, caressing your skin. This is what gratitude feels like, let it rest with you through your day and the next time you start to react to an event find a way to remind yourself of this sense of gratitude. 

Remember this if nothing else: Gratitude is a choice, it is the one thing we can gift ourselves that affects no one but self! I am always quoting Kahlil Gibran, “I learned tolerance from the intolerant!” Every person has something to gift us, every person reflects something about us that is either wonderful or inhibiting. It is Divine freedom to choose which state of mind and spirit to live in. Even though my first reaction is irritation or anger, this I feel fervently as my right, at the end I assess, examining my part and what stands in the way, then consciously choosing to make those changes that will serve the higher good. 

Gratitude when practiced each day with three breaths will become a habit, eventually anger becomes the new choice, learning to discern what it is that feeds that anger and placing a half smile on your face because you learned the secret. Give thanks for the peace that being grateful brings because this is the skill required to Live One Day at a Time!

Bright Blessings abound this day for you and yours.