.....a plate of gratitude stuffing

Yogis,

Oh no, she isn’t going to talk about gratitude, is she???

The week of Thanksgiving we are bombarded with gratitude. Every commercial, store, movie and even the card you get from your insurance agent tell you how thankful they are to have you and remind you to think of all that you are grateful for. Like Thanksgiving dinner, it can make me to want to slip away and take a nap on the couch.   

And not unlike turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, come Monday you aren’t sure you want any more for quite some time……

Gratitude, however, isn’t intended to be crammed into a one-week period. Each year we are pushed to ‘think’ of all the things we are grateful for when gratitude is an energy found in the body, not the mind. An electrical current sparked by things and people around us. The real joy is in learning to feel gratitude. Every day.

I notice how when we are asked what we are grateful for, the standard answers rush out. Family, health, financial security, spouse, etc. While those are all of course things we appreciate, gratitude goes so many levels deeper. Like a yoga practice which releases holding and tension in the body a gratitude practice is needed to keep the gratitude light in the center of the chest continually clear and bright.

One way to dip below the surface and begin to rev up the gratitude engine is with these prompts. I will start with my answers for today and then you fill in yours.

The three things I am grateful for which I can hear are……..  the rush of the river, the new song I downloaded, my grandson yelling ‘Nana!’ when I walk in the door
The three things I am grateful for which I can taste are…….  my 85% dark chocolate, honey, the fresh horseradish spread I made from my garden
The three things I am grateful for which I can see are….  the Japanese maple in peak color at the end of my street, the buck in my backyard, the moon
The three things I am grateful for which I can feel are…… Phoebe’s silky ears, sun on my face, my heavy blanket
The three things I am grateful for which I can smell are…..  lavender, my granddaughter’s new baby smell, coffee being brewed
The three colors I am grateful for are….. sage green, sky blue, red, yellow, violet, gold…….

Now imagine you are like a lighthouse with a light in the center of your chest and turn it on. Visualize all of the things in your lists out in front of you and shine the light on all of them. Send gratitude.

Then let those images fade but continue to shine your light on all that is around you. No longer grateful for something, but simply being gratitude. Beaming gratitude. And once we learn to turn on that light at will, it prefers to stay lit. We radiate gratitude. We become gratitude.

And with that shift comes much joy……..

'For one minute, walk outside. Stand there is silence. Look up at the sky and contemplate how amazing life is.'   ~Rhonda Byrne

A warm scarf around my neck,
SARAH