Monday, June 25, 2012

Gratitude Opens Your Heart.



"For each new morning with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything Thy goodness sends."     Ralph Waldo Emerson
Experiencing and expressing gratitude is an important part of any spiritual practice.  It opens your heart and activates positive emotions.
Gratitude is an emotion of connectedness, and also serves to remind you that you are part of a much larger universe with all living things.
Here are some things for you to explore to open your heart and unleash gratitude in your world:
1. Contemplate a higher power. Prayer is an act of not only faith, but power. Through prayer you access the weave of life and affirm your place in creation, as well as acknowledge your interconnection to ALL of life.
2. Acknowledge the gift of gratitude. It is often much easier to be the giver than the receiver. Gratitude can help you realize that you matter more to someone than you thought you did.  Though initially you might err on the side of dismissing gratitude, you’ll come to realize that you’re actually depriving the gift giver. Gratitude helps you to experience the completeness of giving AND receiving.
3. Go for deep gratitude. Go beyond the surface ‘thank you’  and count your blessings. Take the time to feel deep gratitude for the many gifts you may take for granted: the freedom you enjoy, the material advantages of heating and air conditioning, the convenience of accessible food, the abundance of creature comforts. Your world, and the many gifts you enjoy, are the result of many who have come before you, their sacrifices and triumphs.
Gratitude is the language of infinite grace. Get into the habit of blessing everything. Express your appreciation to everything and everyone you encounter. By blessing, you are blessed, and affirm your link to the divine and to every other part of creation. There’s no easier way to access your heart and open to the power of gratitude.

Adela Rubio 
http://adelarubio.com