Years ago while taking a shower I was speaking my gratitude prayers. I remember going through them pone by one, say I was grateful for my children, their kindness and their health. I was grateful for my friends, and the way they show up for me in ways that at one point in my life I couldn’t even imagine . I was grateful for my body and the way holds me and is the home that I get to travel this life in. I went on to name other things but at some part it started to change.
At some point I started to hear, what about me? I responded, oh yes, I’m grateful for you. And again another thing, what about me? Oh yes, and I’m grateful for you. This continued until I was standing sobbing in the shower overwhelmed by how much I had to be grateful for, things that so often I take for granted.
Then I started to wonder, what does it look like to not only say we are grateful but to live in gratitude? I remember my mother saying to me when I was young, if you were really grateful for those clothes they wouldn’t be on the floor? I guess when we are grateful for something we not only hold the responsibility but we don’t complain about having to hold it.
I then began to think about when I am really living in gratitude I live in a place of abundance because I know that I have always been taken care of so why would the next moment be any different? From this place of abundance I am generous knowing that I can release whatever I’m not using because even though I may be able to use it someday someone else can use it now. And I can trust that if I need it again I can get it.
I have so often said I was grateful but that day I learned what it looks and feels like when we are walking in gratitude.
Quanita