GRATITUDE IS OUR SOUL’S SOURCE SPRING OF JOY AND FREEDOM
We all need the uplifting power of maintaining an attitude of gratitude
THE DAWNING LIGHT Volume 7, Number 367 Thursday, July 27, 2023
Spiritual Soup Kitchen Section Number 27
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Life is hard, challenging and uncertain by its very nature—we all need to have the uplifting power of maintaining an attitude of gratitude.
A Perfect Summer Morning…
It is the morning an absolutely perfect summer day here on Still Mountain.
The recent heat wave, which seemed likely to keep us inside an oven of overwhelmingly high temperatures forever has passed.
Last night it was actually cold enough that I had to pile blankets on my bed to stay warm.
This morning I am feeling waves of surging gratitude that are lifting my mind and opening my heart to being more loving and appreciative towards everyone and everything in my life.
I Am Feeling Surging Waves of Gratitude….
Over all these years on the spiritual path, I have come to appreciate the uplifting power of maintaining an attitude of gratitude.
Life is hard, challenging and uncertain by its very nature.
In this battle of daily life, it is easy to slip into negative attitudes which will always make me feel bad and lose connection with the truth that life itself is a beautiful blessing that the wise person will see as an ongoing precious opportunity to be cherished and not wasted.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Gratitude is the soul’s source spring of joy and freedom.
When my heart is flooded by joy, bliss and contentment…
When I look for the source of these uplifting emotional states, I always discover that they are flowing from my own loving and grateful attitude which springs from consciously choosing to look for and see all the good in life.
And believe me, as one who has suffered intensely from years of heartbreak, depression and utter despair that made my life into hell, I am ever grateful for learning how to maintain and expand my attitude of gratitude and installing always looking for the good as a HABIT.
I have to work for it sometimes when something happens suddenly that is so painful or disappointing that I get thrown back into the sea of suffering where I feel like I am drowning and sharks are coming from every direction to make me their next meal.
I know very well how quickly the day can turn to absolute shit and I am suddenly being battered by waves of emotional turmoil.
Even After Freeing Myself From Years Of Suffering…
Even after freeing myself from all those years of suffering, it can be like being a recovering alcoholic…I have to watch my own mind very carefully to not relapse back into the old dark mind set.
I am not kidding here at all.
I am not immune to “the slings and arrows of life”….
But I do know for sure that anytime I fall, anytime that I am overwhelmed by painful or threatening circumstances that I not only can but will work my way up out of that ocean of suffering because I understand that I MUST DO SO.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Our Greatest Gift From The Divine….
One of the greatest gifts that the Divine has endowed every human being with is our ability and privilege of prayer, to contact and connect with the Divine within and invoke the help that we need to have victory over our own pain, fear and suffering.
The greatest gift I received from my teachers is the ability to MEDITATE, for with this ability to still my mind and direct it even in the midst of turbulent turmoil, my prayers are much more powerful.
I know with absolute certainty that as long as I make the sustained effort and do my spiritual practices that I can always tune myself to the Divine’s highest frequencies and attain connection with God so deeply that I can hear the inner guidance and feel the healing pure love of the Divine that I need.
I learned all this from seeing it lived out in my teachers, and being given a spiritual tool kit or
“Medicine Bag” as the native Americans call it, which has everything I need to overcome my own darkness and move along my spiritual path.
None of it would be possible without loving myself and consciously practicing an unstoppable attitude of gratitude.
I am going to close today with one of my favorite affirmations which I want to give you for your own “medicine bag” because it has been a great help to me as I sing, chant or mentally repeat it…
I now lift up my spirit
In praise and thanksgiving
For all the beauty,
All the bounty and
All the goodness
My life contains.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Original Revelations Poem and Calligraphy by Chinmayan
Image Credit: Still Mountain Meditation Center
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