From Conscious and Creative Living:
Spiritual Gratitude
by Robert and Christine Gerzon
As we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday it's a wonderful time to practice one of the most ancient spiritual traditions. Every religion has at its core the practice of spiritual gratitude.
Spiritual gratitude is not the same as ordinary gratitude.
Ordinary gratitude is being appreciative of the "good things" in our life: having enough money, having things turn out the way we hoped, being treated the way we like by other people, etc. Even when we experience the good things in life, we all too often take them for granted and forget to express our gratitude.
If it's hard to remember to practice ordinary gratitude, imagine how much more challenging it is to practice spiritual gratitude.
Spiritual gratitude means being grateful for Everything in life. Spiritual gratitude is unconditional gratitude.
It is thanking the Creator of the Universe for Universe She Created. Appreciating Creation. Just as the Creator made it. No ifs, ands or buts. No picking and choosing.
If something exists, the Creator created it, either directly or indirectly. Many spiritual traditions teach that Creation is the Creator's Spirit embodied in material form. The Universe is the Creator's Body.
If there's something you don't like or don't think is right in this Universe, you have two choices:
(1) You can argue with the Creator about it.
(2) You can say, a little more humbly, "Thank you very much. I don't really understand the value of this part of Your Creation yet, but I want to learn to appreciate it because I know You created it for a reason."
Practicing spiritual gratitude is guaranteed to put you on the fast track to spiritual growth. It will confuse and discombobulate you. It will change the way you see the world. It will challenge many of your beliefs (especially those core beliefs having to do with "good and bad" and "right and wrong").
And your gratitude practice will have a most interesting "side effect." It will quickly and dramatically increase your enjoyment of life.
I'm still at the confused and discombobulated stage at lot of the time in my gratitude practice. But I'm finding I prefer being confused and in love with Life to being right and unhappy with Life.
There's nothing that makes the Creator happier than seeing Human Beings playing happily together and enjoying Her Creation.
So if you're up for it, do an experiment: Pick a practice to practice between now and Thanksgiving Day.
Practice ordinary gratitude. Or practice spiritual gratitude. Or if you want to experience whopping, over-the-top, side- splitting happiness, practice both.
Here's the basic practice:
Whatever happens in your life, let your automatic reaction be a heartfelt "Thank you very much!" Enjoy the feeling of "loving what is." If the situation requires an action step from you then you can respond authentically to that situation from a center of love and gratitude.
If that automatic "Thank you!" provokes a resistant inner voice that says, "But I don't like this. I don't approve of it and I think it's just plain wrong," then feel free to have a good conversation with the Creator about it. She loves to hear from Her fans.
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