We are living in unprecedented times of stress, distress, and worry yet what is called for is a profound sense of gratitude! I don’t mean being grateful for suffering, or loss of loved ones, or for a crashing economy. I mean finding your gratitude for being alive this day, for having the opportunity to breathe one more day on this earth, for having loved ones in your life, and for all the abundance from the universe that daily fills your mind and heart. Now that is worth being grateful.
I keep a gratitude journal and write in it every evening just before I go to bed. It’s a perfect time to reflect on the gifts of that day. I don’t always have an inspiring day, but I do find many things for which I am very grateful.
Look around you or look out the window. Be grateful for the returning warmth, sunshine and the greening of the earth. Be grateful for the loving attention your pets give you. Be grateful for the food that you have. Be grateful for the roof over your head, and the neighbors beside you. Be grateful for your loved ones whether they share your household or not. Be grateful for the rain that nourishes the flowers and the crops, for the fish in the sea, and the animals that sacrifice their lives so that you may eat. Be grateful that you have eyes to see and ears to hear, olfactory systems to enable you to smell and taste, sensory cells that give you the ability to feel. And be grateful for the opportunity to be alive today, to participate in a world that is learning to deal with a pandemic virus.
One last thought. Our response to Covid-19 worldwide is a sympathetic response engendering a fight or flight response. To change to a place of grateful calm and peacefulness, we need to move from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic response. One way to do that is with the breath. Breathing in through the nose, and slowly breathing out through the mouth as if you were blowing through a straw while using your mind to focus on gratefulness. The breath will shift your energy.
Linda Smith
720-201-9377