Tag Archives: gratitude

I Am So Grateful ….

1 Nov

Here is my latest piece on Gratitude,  written for THE EDGE magazine  ….

There are many things I am grateful for but what I want to focus on here is the gratitude that I have for my oldest daughter Elizabeth.  Our relationship has weathered so many emotional experiences for both of us – from total elation on the day of her birth, complete awe and exhilaration during her growing up years, to anxiousness and outright fear and complete despair during her teenage years, to absolute shock and total sadness at her sudden departure, and finally the learning and growth we have both experienced as we sought to establish and maintain our present relationship on both sides of the veil.  I often wonder which one of us has learned the most through our experiences of the last 29 years.

 

I have come to believe that Elizabeth and I made a soul contract before we both came into this lifetime.  We each agreed upon the scenario that was put before us, always with the understanding that we were each free to exercise our own free will to change the agreed upon learning scenarios that we had set up in Spirit.

 

What also brings me to my knees many times over is my deep gratitude and appreciation for the role that The Divine has played in our lives.  Spirit truly has been the third person behind the scenes in so many ways.  God opened the doors for both of us and presented us with many opportunities to learn, grow and love.  What more can one ask for on a return visit to this earth plane? It has always been our own choice as to whether we would accept the challenge put before us, or to decide that no, this is something I’m not willing to do.  And saying no is never right nor is it wrong– it is merely a different choice.

 

The times when I doubted myself, doubted Liz and even doubted the Divine were all learning experiences.  When I said, “Yes, I’m in” and I prepared in earnest and was able to complete the divine task given me, I was rewarded by a complete sense of love, validation and confirmation that what I see and feel is real.  The feeling that you have pleased The Divine is a feeling of exhilaration like no other; it is as close to pure joy as one can achieve on this earth …. I can scarcely comprehend how wonderful this feeling must be in Spirit.

 

Gratitude appears in many forms.  Once a task has been completed, I anxiously await my next assignment.  However, my next assignment may not present itself for some time.  Continuous communication through prayer and meditation with The Divine is reward in itself when it becomes a daily practice.  You no longer feel alone – but you are guided every minute of every day by a force more powerful than any other – Love.  When you learn to live in love, view the world and everyone in it in love, life becomes a joyous adventure.

 

To check out more from THE EDGE – click this link:  http://edgemagazine.net/2012/11/i-am-so-grateful-2/

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Gratitude

25 May

The Universe has been nudging me to write a post about gratitude.  Last week I watched Laura Ling tell of her time spent in a North Korean prison when she and fellow reporter Euna Lee accidently crossed into North Korea while working on a story.  They were thrown into prison, put on trial, and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

To make matters even worse, the  United States has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, and at the time of their arrest, North Korea was shooting off rockets and the underlying threat of a nuclear war was lurking.

Laura was in a precarious predicament, with not much hope for the future or release and a return to her family and the life she knew.

She was asked how she got through it.  What she said amazed me and has really resonated with my soul.

She said she was able to endure because she focused on gratitude.  Many of us go through our lives unhappy and complaining about what are really inconsequential and trivial parts of our lives.  The question is — when the chips are really down, can you still find your gratitude?

Gratitude is easy when we are happy, our family is doing well,  jobs are secure and meaningful, health is abundant, finances are stable — then it is very easy to be  grateful … most of the time we take it all for granted and assume that this is how life is suppose to be.

For many people in this world they do not have even a fraction of what we take for granted … and they are  grateful … gratitude can be found in the midst of deplorable, desperate conditions, death and destruction, famine and disease.  Just as God is always present no matter what – we can always find gratitude no matter what – we just have to be intentional and seek.  Once we seek, we will find. 

Once we start, it will become contagious and we will be able to find more and more in our lives to be grateful for

Laura Ling said it was easy to find the gratitude as she sat in her solitary, cold, damp, dark cell.  That in itself is a blessing to be grateful for.

She was grateful for the three meals she was given each day.  The meals were small, but they sustained her and she knew that there were many  in North Korea who were starving.

She was grateful to see a butterfly occasionally flit by her window.  It gave her hope, even though she could not smell the fresh air or feel the sunshine, she saw a butterfly go by and she was grateful.

This morning I received an email containing a you tube video of Nick Vujicic.  Nick is 26 and was born without arms or legs.  Nick is filled with gratitude.  Here is a link to the you tube video and to Nick’s website, Life Without Limbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE&feature=youtu.be

http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

Thank you Laura and Nick for reminding me that there is so much for me to be grateful for.

Wishing you gratitude!

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