Gratitude, we hear a lot about it. Sometimes when I hear a term often enough, the word becomes familiar and maybe I don’t think a lot about its meaning. “Yeah, thx man,” might not be plunging the depths of the beauty of gratitude but might be where many of us spend our gratitude “quotas.” Yes, I should be grateful, and I am… but pondering gratitude might give me a bit of freshness in regards to what is gratitude and what am I grateful for?
Gratitude according to friend, Thesaurus, can mean: acknowledgment, recognition, thanks, appreciativeness, grace, gratefulness, honor, indebtedness, praise, requital, response, responsiveness, thankfulness, thanksgiving, and last but not least, sense of obligation.
Some of those terms reach deeper within me. Obligation, grace, honor. Indebtedness are all words that cause my heart to begin to stir. I am grateful in a way that calls me to respond in like kind, with equal action. I had to look “requital” up- something given in return or as compensation. So it’s good to review your day in the quiet of the evening but is it equally good or even way important to act in gratitude, to respond to gratitude.
So rather than sitting in meditation and mentally listing the things I’m grateful for, perhaps it’s much more helpful to live in gratitude. May I respond with gratitude or kindness or compassion wherever I can. Perhaps I can set the intention to see others as more like me than different and allow my heart to fill with a loving pool of gratitude AND be willing to share it with those who cross my path.
Gratitude might be a lot more effective when it’s an act and not just an emotion.
I’m grateful you read this far. ?
Wishing you light, love and joy on your journey.
suni