By Lisa Wolfe
Consider waking up in the morning and the only thing in your awareness is what you’re grateful for. A smile comes to your lips as you look out the window and see the colors in the light of the new day. You’re grateful for each little thing often unnoticed by others. You are in the stillness where gratitude can move through your life. You have a glimpse that you are the stillness of gratitude.
Similarly, consider a time when you go to sleep at night, bathed in thoughts of gratitude as you are immersed in the smell of the freshly cut grass wafting through your window. You feel the breeze over your body. You know the moonlight is creating shadows over the landscape outside. You hear the far-off call of the owl in a slow and steady rhythm. Feel your mind become still and quiet as you drift off.
Such are the ordinary mercies of each day and the gratitude that connects us to them. How does the world express gratitude to you? How does your mind move into awareness when you are alone?
Gratitude is an ever-present gift that brings us into our own presence in the stillness of the moment. Consider these things: the first morning bird song which is calling the day to begin, the light in your loved one’s eyes, the sound of your child’s sleeping breath, or the softness of your dog resting on your foot. It might be as simple as your slippers waiting by your bed or a blanket that keeps you warm. There are ten thousand such gifts a minute if we let ourselves see them.
Thomas Merton said, “One of the most important—and most neglected—elements in the beginnings of an interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us.”
These days, research shows there are many positive effects of gratitude. A short list includes improving emotional and physical health, sleep, decreasing aggression, increasing empathy, communication, self- esteem, and mental strength.
It’s really very simple. Gratitude is a gift that gives of itself, if we only recognize it. It’s always there waiting, bringing more peace and happiness, helping us care for our essential selves. It is always available, no matter the situation or how impossible our outer circumstances might seem. Gratitude can be found in the worst of all challenges, where still we have our bodies working, our internal system calling us to enter the lessons of love, bringing us to the interconnectedness with life. Gratitude helps us find the present moment which is already ours, and we see we are fully alive. The power of gratitude is readily available when we find ourselves on the mountain top or in the deep valley of life, revealing its beauty. It helps develop confidence and a quiet dignity within ordinary life, transforming us into who we are in our true essence.
Happiness and complaint can’t live at the same time. Gratitude means nothing to a lot of people within our often busy, self-focused world. It’s easy to identify with unhappiness right up until it becomes a habit. However, there’s another way of seeing things. The practice of gratitudes is a simple way of discovering the life-affirming world around and within you. This gratitude in-action can help us find new habits and patterns. It can help us shape our lives in new ways. Gratitudes can bring us to the bright star of peace within, as life is busy growing us up into who we are meant to be. It helps us know who we are by putting us in touch with the rhythm of the natural world. It helps softens our suffering. It’s an inside thing—Personal and profound.
Gratitude brings wisdom in the good times and bad. This simple perspective can become a natural part of who we are and a reliable friend in the quiet of night. Developing this simple perspective brings us to our natural state. It empowers and strengthens us letting our natural wonder take hold. Gratitude puts us in touch with the source of life, reflecting life’s purity through our internal thankfulness.
Much of the world focuses on what’s wrong, painful, where a downward trajectory of thoughts perpetuates more of the same, leading to the land of the dead end of living. The power of gratitudes can change our lives. It makes us kinder, gentler It enriches our relationship with ourselves. It helps us become more aware of all that we have, no matter how little it may seem in comparison to others. Challenges are a necessary part of our awakening heart. The world is creative and ready to help us as we provide a place for it —a personal space. The practice of gratitudes makes us more able to break the cycle of negativity and establish the good that is available within as we navigate our lives through our troubled and beautiful world.
Lisa Wolfe, RN, MSN, CNM, DipPSH, DipIC is trained internationally in healing arts of Pure Spiritual Healing, Animal Healing, and Intuitive Counseling. She is a member of the American Holistic Nursing Association, a Board-Certified Member of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, and is a Sevalight Associate. She has a private holistic care practice and is a writer and photographer. She lives in northern Michigan. She provides appointments via Zoom and travels for in-person seminars by request. Learn more about Wolfe's practice at LisaWolfeHolisticCare.com.
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Upon stepping into the Living Grateful Behavioral Health Services’ soothingly sun-drenched office, you find yourself met with an array of beautifully assorted plants as if they have been waiting for you. Owner Bill Mure explains, “They create a sense of the peace and calm I feel.” He goes on to say, “I also use them as a metaphor for your healing. I tell my clients ‘In session is where we plant the seed of growth. Out in the world is where the seeds go to be nurtured. When you grow a garden, you have to water it, tend to it, and nurture it. Sometimes we must trim off the pieces that no longer serve us, so we can facilitate more growth.”