Gratitude is An Attitude

Today has been a day of many emotions and with the events in the last 24 hours I felt a need to create my response to the status, the nature, the experience of our country in this one day post-election. Many thoughts are being shared, many feelings are being expressed and as I said in a Facebook post a few days before the election, we all need to take responsibility for our own actions, that is all that we can be in charge of.

What does gratitude is an attitude actually mean? Well, when I look at life and consciousness in the ever continuation of the battle of Ego, which Wayne Dyer describes as Edging God Out, and Spirit, I come back to a place where I recognize that when I sit in a state of gratitude I am not capable of being in any other state. This is why we say that love and hate are either sides of the coin because they cannot actually be on the same side, they cannot actually exist in the same breath or the same moment. Yes, gratitude is a practice. It is a practice of prayer, affirmation, mantra, it is a blessing being shared around the dinner table or a thought before going to bed but in its essence it is a way of being. It is a way of recognizing that everything that we have, everything that we are, everything that is, is all found in the consciousness of the expression of the universe. It doesn’t matter whether you call it God, Divine Mystery, Spirit, Energy or anything else, it is a presence that exists in all things. Therefore to be in connection with all, meaning all things and all beings, is to have an awareness also that we are all connected, that we are all one and to have gratitude for my life is to also have gratitude for you and your life.

There are a lot of questions that people have right now about what will happen to our country, what will happen to our rights, what will happen to our planet and the truth is what will happen is meant to happen. Many of you that know me also know my story and know that I have experienced many life challenges. I will always say that no matter what passes through my life and my existence that I am grateful because those experiences have taught me, shown me and provided an opportunity for my growth and expansion. Yes, there have been times of contraction, depression, sadness, fear, anger but what I always come back to is that everything supports me in both its positive and negative, which is really only a perception, so therefore every event creates an opportunity for a response and that’s really what our outcome is. Jack Canfield describes it as an equation where E + R = O.

We are only capable of being here now, being responsible for every step, every thought and every word that is expressed. My goal, my wish, my hope and my prayer is that I can stay in gratitude for all of the experiences that surround me both in my direct life and in my conscious life because we are a collective of individual consciousness tied into the larger experience of all. I choose gratitude and make that an attitude. As a mother of a 5 year old daughter I too feel an awareness of what our new leader could bring into being and this just provides me an opportunity to stay close to my daughter holding these thoughts and being present for her and aware of her journey. I’m not writing this to analyze or project what will come of this turn of events but the only truth I can hold onto is that we are here as human beings to experience this thing called life and to learn. We need gratitude to hold ourselves up and choose a way of being that is inclusive regardless of what we may experience in the world around us. It is in our light that we will shine love and connect to others. Lead from your heart and believe that we are united as one, even with all of our differences.