Returning the thank you

September 9 Affirmation - My heart is filled with gratitude, knowing there is always more coming my way.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more." ~Melody Beattie

"Life has enough of everything to spare." ~Ernest Holmes

Rev. Norm wrote "The fact is, it doesn't make any difference to God whether you give thanks or not, but it makes a lot of difference to you...gratitude is not for God. Giving thanks is an important state of your consciousness that keeps you in an awareness of oneness with the divine flow. The grateful heart actually opens the way to the flow and becomes an attractive force to draw even greater things to itself."

This morning I sat for 10 minutes in the quiet, and simply started scrolling through my mind of all the things I am grateful for. I found myself land on the "easy" gratitudes, my parents, my fiancée, the food in my fridge, my job, my co-workers, those I manage and support with my work, friends, teachers, leaders et cetera...and then I found myself turning to the areas, people and organizations that I find personally challenging...I didn't necessarily know why or what I was grateful for initially, but I just kept going. "I am grateful for XXX, I am grateful for YYY" and things softened inside me. I didn't hold them so tightly, I didn't hold myself so tightly. I actually in that loosening and space received some guidance from within on some words I could share to foster connection again with a colleague where there has been some challenge. Gratitude as Melody Beattie wrote, unlocks the fullness of life. Even in the midst of an area of challenge for me, in the process of saying thank you and I am grateful, something opened up.

Let us follow the words of Meister Eckhart (a medieval monk) today. "If the only prayer you say in your entire life (today) is thank you, it will be enough."

Let us thank ALL of life today and open ourselves to a life that thrives!