Gratitude

Today I found myself getting frustrated and upset at a person, and a set of circumstances. It is amazing how frustration can tighten us up inside, and make us feel so poorly. I recognized what I was doing, and prayed for help. I felt prompted to pick up a book on my shelf while I rocked the baby for her nap. What I read changed my outlook and cleared my heart, as I started to ponder not on frustrations, but on what I was grateful for in this situation.

Gratitude calms you down. Gratitude quiets the incessant whining critic who hates everything about us, our lives and our homes, and doesn’t even let us have a moment to focus on what’s good about them. Gratitude creates a space where we can pause and just be. Be quiet. Be in the room. Be receptive. Be creative. Be whimsical. Be able to look with one eye seeing and the other feeling. Like a gentle giant…making space for us as we pass through a crowd, Gratitude clears the way for us to say, “see, it’s not that bad,” so whatever it is we’re looking at becomes exactly that: Not so bad. And there we’re inspired in unexpected ways to make the “not so bad” even better…

Gratitude doesn’t ask us to stay stuck in lack or live in denial but to acknowledge and accept the reality of our situation so we can get our bearings before moving on to our highest good.

-Sarah Ban Breathnach