Republishing text from last Thanksgiving in 2018 - Author: Roser Camats. Photos from: Pixabay.
Recently, I was reading an article that highlights what Science explains what the act of being grateful does: "Expressing true gratitude boosts our health and spreads happiness”. By examining this plain and affirmative statement, in United States of America there is set a day that is dedicated to be thankful for. In this sense, as I participate of this Holiday, I want to use this opportunity to reflect with you about the "power of gratitude".
What are you grateful for? How do you open the door of your heart to express the love and the gratitude for all the gifts that life is giving you every day? How can you express the love that you feel for who you are and for all what you are and what you have achieved in your life? These are great personal inquiries to hold in our minds and hearts to sit and journal, to reflect individually and in community.
In different countries, at different occasions during the year, we dedicate a day called in Spanish: “El día de la acción de gracias.” In English, is simply called: “Thanksgiving,” and we can understand it as a Holiday each year to be celebrated and be thankful for. Collectively, it can represent an archetypal day, a day that is a representation of this ritual or celebration. A day that it is a template or an example for the rest of the days and that invites us to review our life and the blessings we have.
What are you grateful for? How do you open the door of your heart to express the love and the gratitude for all the gifts that life is giving you every day? How can you express the love that you feel for who you are and for all what you are and what you have achieved in your life? These are great personal inquiries to hold in our minds and hearts to sit and journal, to reflect individually and in community.
In different countries, at different occasions during the year, we dedicate a day called in Spanish: “El día de la acción de gracias.” In English, is simply called: “Thanksgiving,” and we can understand it as a Holiday each year to be celebrated and be thankful for. Collectively, it can represent an archetypal day, a day that is a representation of this ritual or celebration. A day that it is a template or an example for the rest of the days and that invites us to review our life and the blessings we have.
As life unfolds, this celebration can be a unique opportunity to count our blessings . And, as we grow young and old, the individual and the collective ones. Whatever you are grateful for becomes a positive affirmation that expresses the appreciation for all that is. This means that when you bring the affirmation into consciousness your heart warms up and your happiness and joy can present itself in your energetic field of the body, mind and soul.
As you might know, we can be grateful everyday of our lives for many different reasons and this helps us to minimize symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. This is how powerful gratitude is. It’s good for you as it increases your mood and it can be like a "booster" of love. It is also good for everyone around you, as everyone can feel your loving vibes when you feel them. For this simple reason, interactions with others can flow more easily and it is then when kindness and generosity can arise more often and spontaneous.
It turns out that there are great benefits ingrained from truly feeling grateful and express it in different forms. Research in positive Psychology has proved for many years that gratitude is linked with a wide range of benefits, including: experiencing more joy and pleasure, strengthening your immune system, improving sleep patterns, being more optimistic, helpful and generous, as well as feeling less lonely and isolated.
Despite many times a day in which we say “thanks” with various degrees of tone, intention and feeling, and yet as easy as it is to engage in the quotidian exchange in our daily routines by saying “thanks – no problem, sounds good.” But in moments of larger generosity, we are often left feeling unworthy or embarrassed by thinking that who we are or what we have is not enough.
As you might know, we can be grateful everyday of our lives for many different reasons and this helps us to minimize symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. This is how powerful gratitude is. It’s good for you as it increases your mood and it can be like a "booster" of love. It is also good for everyone around you, as everyone can feel your loving vibes when you feel them. For this simple reason, interactions with others can flow more easily and it is then when kindness and generosity can arise more often and spontaneous.
It turns out that there are great benefits ingrained from truly feeling grateful and express it in different forms. Research in positive Psychology has proved for many years that gratitude is linked with a wide range of benefits, including: experiencing more joy and pleasure, strengthening your immune system, improving sleep patterns, being more optimistic, helpful and generous, as well as feeling less lonely and isolated.
Despite many times a day in which we say “thanks” with various degrees of tone, intention and feeling, and yet as easy as it is to engage in the quotidian exchange in our daily routines by saying “thanks – no problem, sounds good.” But in moments of larger generosity, we are often left feeling unworthy or embarrassed by thinking that who we are or what we have is not enough.
In those moments, it can become a problem when we don’t find worth or value in ourselves, in those around us and in life itself. I might say that this is a distortion of the truth and a distortion of who we truly are in essence in our most highest nature. In this regard, we could interpret that as a negative pattern that is holding us back and make us unable to recognize this truth.
A veil of self-neglect is blocking our sight inwards and outwards, meaning that we cannot count our blessings because we cannot really see them. Therefore, some inner-work can be done for the veil of negativity be lifted and for us to recognize our truth and our highest nature.
In this sense, the Bach Flower Remedies can really help us to work internally with blocks and patterns that hold us back to really see and embrace our gifts and of life itself. By working internally we will be ready to open the door of our hearts to feel the gratitude. This is really a very powerful experience that connects us with the love and the unconditional acceptance of life itself.
The gratitude you feel does not need to be shared with anyone else, as it is a very personal experience. This can be enjoyed in solitude but it is even more powerful and especial when you can sit in a table and share your gratitude with your equal others. The blessings then multiply when these are shared in a table with food, while eating and spending time with your dear friends and family.
A veil of self-neglect is blocking our sight inwards and outwards, meaning that we cannot count our blessings because we cannot really see them. Therefore, some inner-work can be done for the veil of negativity be lifted and for us to recognize our truth and our highest nature.
In this sense, the Bach Flower Remedies can really help us to work internally with blocks and patterns that hold us back to really see and embrace our gifts and of life itself. By working internally we will be ready to open the door of our hearts to feel the gratitude. This is really a very powerful experience that connects us with the love and the unconditional acceptance of life itself.
The gratitude you feel does not need to be shared with anyone else, as it is a very personal experience. This can be enjoyed in solitude but it is even more powerful and especial when you can sit in a table and share your gratitude with your equal others. The blessings then multiply when these are shared in a table with food, while eating and spending time with your dear friends and family.
Over the years, in my personal growth, I realized that I tend to associate gratitude with a state of loving-kindness –maitri. This is a term that comes from Buddhism. Pema Chödron once wrote an article about “awakening the heart.” This one of my favorite topics that I researched for many years while practicing meditation.
In this article, Pema teaches us that loving-kindness towards ourselves doesn’t mean "getting rid of anything" like most people think - or that meditation doesn't entail to get rid of our Egos and get away from our mind or our thoughts. As you may know, mindfulness is accepting unconditionally what it is and it is basically the contrary of getting rid of anything.
The word Maitri means that we can still be “crazy” after all the years of doing the inner-work and practicing meditation. We still can be full of jealousy or full of feelings of unworthiness and be mindful and grateful. The point is not to try to change ourselves, mostly to accept who we are, with the good and the bad. Then, is at that moment of true recognition when we accept the negative part of us, we can then be also in touch with the positive and the blessings that this part of us carry.
Pema emphasizes that the ground of the Buddhist practice is You, is Us, is who we are in the present moment. It is accepting unconditionally what it is what recognizes the treasure of the present moment and we just can simply recognize it and be grateful and happy about it. That’s the ground. That’s the study. That’s the recognition of all things. And, I believe that gratitude is at basis of the result of the daily practice of the mindful state.
When you find this gratitude in your heart, you find a source of infinite love and abundance that is truly who you are. And, as I am writing this Blog, another question comes up for me to reflect with you today: Can we do a Thanksgiving practice every day by becoming conscious of the gifts that are given to us?
Life keeps giving us many chances every day in every moment! Let’s then celebrate the love and the abundant harvest today and everyday of our lives. We all have so much to offer and be thankful for. With this last statement, I will leave the question for you to pass on and share with others your blessings and your reflections.
With much gratitude for sharing the path with me.
Roser
In this article, Pema teaches us that loving-kindness towards ourselves doesn’t mean "getting rid of anything" like most people think - or that meditation doesn't entail to get rid of our Egos and get away from our mind or our thoughts. As you may know, mindfulness is accepting unconditionally what it is and it is basically the contrary of getting rid of anything.
The word Maitri means that we can still be “crazy” after all the years of doing the inner-work and practicing meditation. We still can be full of jealousy or full of feelings of unworthiness and be mindful and grateful. The point is not to try to change ourselves, mostly to accept who we are, with the good and the bad. Then, is at that moment of true recognition when we accept the negative part of us, we can then be also in touch with the positive and the blessings that this part of us carry.
Pema emphasizes that the ground of the Buddhist practice is You, is Us, is who we are in the present moment. It is accepting unconditionally what it is what recognizes the treasure of the present moment and we just can simply recognize it and be grateful and happy about it. That’s the ground. That’s the study. That’s the recognition of all things. And, I believe that gratitude is at basis of the result of the daily practice of the mindful state.
When you find this gratitude in your heart, you find a source of infinite love and abundance that is truly who you are. And, as I am writing this Blog, another question comes up for me to reflect with you today: Can we do a Thanksgiving practice every day by becoming conscious of the gifts that are given to us?
Life keeps giving us many chances every day in every moment! Let’s then celebrate the love and the abundant harvest today and everyday of our lives. We all have so much to offer and be thankful for. With this last statement, I will leave the question for you to pass on and share with others your blessings and your reflections.
With much gratitude for sharing the path with me.
Roser
Image used from Free Images at https://pixabay.com
