Several months ago a friend shared with me the gift that had been an active practice of gratitude for her. Until that point, she had paid lip service to gratitude, and I certainly felt gratitude myself, but like many people, I didn’t see gratitude as a primary spiritual teaching tool.

My friend’s experience intrigued me, so I decided to continue the topic. I read, meditated, corresponded with colleagues, and worked to grow my own gratitude. And ultimately, I was amazed at the result! Practicing gratitude significantly broadened and deepened my spiritual experience. After all these years of study, prayer, and meditation, engaging in an active Gratitude practice took my spiritual work to places I had only expected! In short, I understand today that the two most powerful words in the English language are: Practice gratitude. Let me explain:

If I were to ask you what is the single most important thing you could do to improve your emotional well-being, improve your health, and actually add nine years to your life, what would you choose? Meditation? Yoga? Diet? Psychotherapy? Meditation is great, and yoga improves your emotional state, but oddly enough, the only thing you could do to improve everything in your life—your emotional health, your physical well-being, and your life expectancy—would be to move into a daily gratitude practice. .

An active daily gratitude practice can literally change your life. It is the most powerful spiritual resource we have. It is unlike anything else we experience. Feeling grateful creates a ripple effect in all aspects of life, potentially satisfying some of our deepest longings: happiness, healthier relationships, and inner peace. People are moved, opened up, and humbled through experiences and expressions of gratitude. Active participation in the practice of gratitude maximizes the enjoyment of life and significantly reduces the impact of our difficulties. Without gratitude, life can seem lonely, depressing, and impoverished.

Do you want to be more compassionate? Work on gratitude. Do you want more inner peace? Work on gratitude. Do you want more patience? Work on gratitude. Do you want to reduce your stress? Do you want to live longer? Do you want to heal faster? You understand. Gratitude does this by creating new contexts through which we process the events of our lives. And it is our outlook on life that determines our ability to experience gratitude.

Dr. Robert Emmons has extensively studied and researched the subject of gratitude and says in his new book Thank You:

. . . Grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism, and practicing gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed and bitterness. We have found that a person who feels gratitude is able to cope more effectively with everyday stress, may show greater resilience in the face of trauma-induced stress, may recover more quickly from illness, and benefit from better physical health.[1]

Although the feeling of gratitude exists, gratitude is much more than that. It is a state of being. At its core, gratitude is a deep feeling of appreciation for everything: for the gifts we have been given, for nature and the Earth, for this day, for others, for life, for humanity, and also for those who are closer to us. – our parents, partners, children and animal friends. Expressing gratitude creates a feeling of expansion. We reach out and touch other people, nature, God, the Universe. . . Receiving gratitude is also unlike anything else we experience. It melts away the doubt and uncertainty that otherwise plague us. Calm our bread.

Gratitude is personal. It is focused on us, but not in an egocentric way. It is an expansive feeling of gratitude for all that has been given to us and for all the things we hold dear. Words simply cannot express the greatness of gratitude. It is an essential aspect of God Space. It has been said that “gratitude is the memory of the heart.”

Gratitude helps us heal as we journey towards enlightenment. Because The Universe, in its endless search to help us, pushes us to change, we all feel a little battered by the process. It’s impossible to go through life without feeling beaten up, and that leads us to question our worth. Feeling gratitude gives us a vote of confidence that we really are okay. It connects us both with God’s love for us and with other people’s appreciation for our presence here. It takes us out of our myopic view of our struggles and reminds us that we are not alone. It reminds us that we are loved. We’re left with the feeling that “I guess I’m not such a loser after all.”

Some people have a hard time receiving and expressing gratitude. Their life experiences have left them feeling bruised and beaten, so they must defend themselves from further harm. It can be very difficult to maintain gratitude when you feel vulnerable to the world or to people who raise painful emotional issues that you would rather avoid.

For these people, life has not been a learning path, but a hurtful process full of difficult and painful experiences. It is understandable that they approach life as victims rather than students, and it is difficult to be grateful or even to acknowledge the learning potential contained in their life experiences.

One of the deepest aspects of gratitude is the feeling of appreciation we have for the many gifts the Creator has given us, but it is difficult to recognize those gifts if we feel battered by His neglect. We fear that the terrible pain of our past may return. After all, we came into the world wide-eyed, vulnerable, and emotionally open, and we got hit by a cement truck!

In one of Dr. Emmons’s talks on gratitude, a man stood up and said, “It’s a good thing humans don’t get what we feel we deserve. Otherwise it would be hard to explain why so many lucky things happen.” . our lives.”

I want to ask you to try something. As you read these words, get in touch with who or what you are not loving right now. Maybe list them. Then take a moment and allow yourself to feel compassion for the other, especially if it’s you. And as you do this, notice the changes that occur in yourself. This is not about them, and this is not about the relationship. It’s about making you feel better about yourself. Those places where you can’t open your heart are vital to your healing.

If you want to experience the power of gratitude, Dr. Emmons and his colleagues have researched the topic in detail and tell us that the best way to develop gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal. In the Journal, record at least five blessings each day and what you are thankful for each one. It’s better if done by hand, by the way. And as you do this, make a conscious association with your blessings as gifts. Become aware of the depth of your gratitude. Journaling every day is essential. Some of the items on your list may come and go, and others may never change.

I cannot urge you enough to make your Journal. It will change the lens through which you view your life. You will feel better, you will be happier, you will be more connected with others, your relationships will improve, you will be less depressed and you will live longer!

There are a plethora of websites and books urging people to keep gratitude journals, but sadly I haven’t found any that tap into what I believe to be gratitude’s greatest asset (and I wouldn’t expect this; I certainly didn’t). : A gentle, yet powerful gratitude practice, offers us an awareness of the wounds we carry.

The Gratitude Journal presents an extraordinary opportunity to look at the parts of yourself that, frankly, you’d rather ignore. It brings up your frustrations with life and shows you the beliefs you hold on to that limit your happiness and success. It will also show you where you keep your feelings. You probably won’t bring up the problems themselves, but your reactions will provide important cues that point you toward them.

This will happen through what I will call “The Flip”. As you journal, pay special attention to each thought that arises. Don’t edit anything. The way it works is that you’ll be writing, maybe about gratitude for your work, and suddenly your mind “flips” and BAM! A voice will appear saying something to the effect of, “Well yeah, but you could do better!” or “Who could succeed working with those idiots!” Whatever these thoughts are, write them all down and don’t worry if they don’t make sense.

Sometimes these thoughts will be dark. Even the purest of hearts seem not to be above “cursing” when it comes to this part of the process. The conflict over feeling our gratitude, it seems, leads us to where our vile feelings reside. In one of my classes, a woman wrote about her sincere gratitude for her children, and the thought immediately occurred to her: “The noisy little bastards!” That’s what I mean by these thoughts are sometimes vile. Beneath that reaction was this woman’s wounded inner child who became insecure whenever her real children misbehaved. Put all your thoughts on the page so you can work with them. While journaling, I simply put my “reversed” thoughts in parentheses.

If you have trouble journaling or if you start a journal and stop after a few days, investigate your stamina. Know that your unresolved issues are getting in the way (and winning)! When we try to feel gratitude and experience interference, our “failure” is a warning that something needs attention. This is how The Universal Mirror works.

(In my new book, Journey to the God Space, (on sale soon!) I will demonstrate how to use the shamanic journeying process to work through and resolve the “change” issues that the Gratitude Journal process identifies.

As you begin the Journaling process, pay attention to the changes that are taking place, especially within yourself. Watch how your feelings change. Although the process is often bumpy, it has also been deeply empowering for those who have done it.

How different our world would be if we had the courage and took the time to express our gratitude! How joyful life would be if we could tell people how much we love them and how thankful we are that they are in our lives! As I walk the city streets or shop, I watch people to see how many of them seem happy. Unfortunately, there aren’t many.

Saying gratitude is polite and nice,

enacting gratitude is generous and noble,

but living gratitude is touching Heaven.

Johannes A. Gaertner

“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.” Jalal ad-Din Rumi

[1] Thank You: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Dr. Robert Emmons, (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) p. eleven