Attitude of Gratitude
In the summer of 2015, I found a quote on my box of Celestial Seasonings Chamomile Tea: “There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.” I usually savor the wise words offered by such a random source as I sip my tea, but on this particular day, gratitude was the furthest thing from my mind. I had just discovered I had to move out of my rented studio apartment of 14 years, and the thought terrified me. I hated change. Hate is a strong word, but it applied. Change, for me, was worse than a root canal—ten root canals. A root canal is over in a few hours; upheaval like this can last for months, even longer.
In the days that followed, my refrain to anyone who would listen was, “Los Angeles is so expensive, I will never find a place.” And “I have a garden! Where am I going to find another place with a garden?” To make matters worse, I had just started my own business and wasn’t making the same six-figure salary I had in my previous corporate job. My head spun with all the things that were wrong and unacceptable about the situation. “I will have to leave LA,” I concluded in despair. Realizing I cared for my aging mother, who had lived in Southern California her whole life, took that option off the table. All I could visualize was me standing on the street corner with my bags at my side, a cat under each arm, with nowhere to go.
How could I ease my catastrophic thinking? Celia was right: gratitude.
Gratitude is more than just being thankful; it is an action and a state of mind. It has the power to elevate you from the depths of despair by changing your point of focus. Gratitude resonates with the same vibration as the Universe, a flow that is endlessly creative. It is one of the few things that is more powerful than our negative thinking. When we intentionally think about, even visualize, things we are grateful for, something extraordinary happens. We feel a sense of calm and hopefulness, knowing that so many things are going right in our lives. It’s like letting fresh air into a stuffy room. We begin to breathe easier. We see a spark of light in the darkness.
Gratitude lists are a great way to practice cultivating this skill. But the Tool that Phil and Barry teach in their book called The Grateful Flow is even better. It asks us to slowly and methodically list things we are grateful for. Big things, little things—it doesn’t matter. Try it now. Close your eyes and acknowledge the things you are grateful for. Try not to censor anything. You can come back to the practice at any time and try new things. The key is to tap into this powerful current of Source energy by honoring our gifts. It’s okay if at first it’s difficult to think of new things, or anything. Being grateful for just breathing is enough for the Tool to work. Once you stop listing things, just stay with the feeling. Let the force of gratitude elevate you into spaciousness. Let gratitude be your touchstone for accepting change.
Oh, and I did find a new place. It didn’t have an outside garden, but it had stained glass windows that let the light stream in to grow the seedlings in the potted plants inside.
