#spirituality
“Death is no enemy, but the foundation of gratitude, sympathy, and art. Of all life’s pleasures, only love owes no debt to death.” Anita Diamant, The Red Tent
Having a partner that travels the same path as you is a blessing, and something I am eternally grateful for. In fact when I was thinking about my next post, it was clear it had to be gratitude. And as if by magic the above quote popped into my inbox almost simultaneously a gift from my lover.
My introduction to gratitude was like most peoples, a parent figure reminding you to say thank you when someone gave me a gift.
From that introduction, most people just remember gratitude as politeness which is not a bad thing because even on the spiritual level it is politeness. And that is how I left it, thank you to those who gave me gifts or helped me. It has only been recently that I have really thought about gratitude and its’ wider meaning and its’ links to intention setting.
What makes you grateful?
Grateful to start another day and to be more than you were yesterday, it is difficult and there are days when even waking up is hard. From experience if you find one thing to be grateful for and hold onto it you will be amazed how it can change your attitude to life. Like a snowball it builds slowly and from my experience, it sneaks up on you and here is a tip, do not start big like saying I am grateful for the Sun as you just feel silly or at least i did. Just start by being grateful for your coffee as trust me there are mornings when it will save your life.
My point is that gratitude only has power when you truly feel it. Sometimes people struggle with the concept of who are you grateful to, and this took me a while to discover. I started by being grateful to those who made the coffee, which is not wrong. However the true power of gratitude comes when you remove the target and just are grateful, at that point something magical happens.
Gratitude is an energy and it flows through the world embracing all of creation, and you discover the world can be grateful back.
I have experience this on many occasions, most recently on my way home from work I was cold and standing at the bus stop and my phone said I would have to wait 10 to 15 minutes, I remember taking a deep breath and thinking how grateful I would be if my bus would turn up now, and a couple of minutes later it came around the corner, saying thank you I stepped onto the warm bus.
Never underestimate the power of gratitude.
Rhys Markham.
LongWalkCreations 
Gratitude is awareness of life and all its mundane magic, and all its bigger than life magic too! When I used to think my life was a little dull and uneventful, I would lay down at night and go through my day from start to finish, and look at it from a witness perspective, and then I would realize that my life wasn’t dull at all. Each day was a beautiful journey of one gift after another. Yes those gifts can be a great cup of coffee, to a bus arriving sooner than planned. As I’ve gotten older I realize that life isn’t a daily display of fireworks, and all these little things really do add up to a mountain of incomparable gifts. I’ll inject here that a few years ago I was feeling especially lonely so I decided to go the movies. I was waiting outside in a crowd of strangers and feeling ever more alone, until one face started to come into focus, stood out like a beacon of light, and it was someone I knew pretty well. We exchanged a hug and I knew then, that this was the Universe saying to me, “I can do anything.” I was humbled and recited quietly a little prayer of thanks.
Susan Grace
Beautiful words, beautiful photos!
Susan Grace
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You have a very healthy way of looking at life, It has taken me a life time of short term thinking to get to the point i am now where I have to stop and just think of a the little things i have to be grateful for. I have only just began this journey even though the Universe has been trying to show me the signs for years.
Thank you.
Rhys.
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