Gazing in the Mirror

March 8 - Appreciation . . . appreciates

As we are broken open by
our experience, we begin to be
grateful for what is, and if
we live long enough . . .
gratitude becomes a way of life.
~ Mark Nepo

An attitude of gratitude is most
salutary, and bespeaks the
realization that we are now
in heaven.
~ Ernest Holmes

My consistent gratitude practice is carried out through a multitude of mundane moments. I take a payment to a vendor out to the mailbox and I pause there taking in the quiet, peaceful wild beauty around me. "Thanking all that is good for providing me with the ability to pay this bill easily". I walk down to the little stream that runs perennially past my house and sit on the sitting rock, again taking in the peaceful natural beauty all around me, watching the water continuously flowing past, I hear a bird singing, see a butterfly or dragonfly alighting somewhere nearby and the kitties join me there . . . I am just sitting quietly in appreciation with no direct thought about it. The Rev Michael Beckwith points out that if there is nothing else to be grateful for we can at the least say things like – "I'm glad I have a chair" (or a table) or "I'm glad I have a rug". There is always something for which we can be grateful.

Rev Jane Beach was the author of the Daily Guides in the Science of Mind magazine for March 2013 when I first wrote this essay, she reflected upon Appreciation and her quotes and her words are so perfect to my own heart that I wish to echo these a bit here – "Appreciation not only feels good, it's also a powerful tool for creating the life we choose. It calls us to live fully in the present moment. Instead of judging the situation, we say, 'This is the perfect time. I am in the perfect circumstance.' Finding appreciation in the moment, we ask, 'How can I learn and grow from this?' "

I've been known to say that it is important to be thankful for the difficult times, the times we'd rather not be experiencing, because when we have enough experience to realize it we find that we are actually able to see that it was perfectly what it took to shift us into the place we needed to be moving from/to whatever comes next. I was in a difficult romantic relationship with a dangerous man. He lived in dangerous ways and he was dangerous for my own self to be with. More than once he physically hit me. I'm not denying that my own behavior may have pushed him over the edge those times but I also know that whatever holds a man back from harming a woman, if he is able to break through that barrier even once, the risk then exists that it will be easier for him to go through that same barrier the next time. So eventually I left his physical presence. I planned my leaving carefully to be able to safely go. I saved money from what was allotted to me for groceries by buying wisely over a long period of time and I left without saying goodbye. After I was safely at a distance, I notified him that I wasn't coming back.

It took that courage of leaving to put me into alignment with meeting my husband, so I could live in this deeply nourishing place where I feel very safe and am contented. And it took other actions too, like being brave enough to place a personal ad in a weekly entertainment newspaper in St Louis, without which I would have never come in contact with the man I married a little over a year later. Traveling through life is a lot like being in a car where I always know that I can never actually get truly "lost". All roads eventually go somewhere and one can always backtrack and find a "somewhere" that we recognize. Leaving can be like backtracking to where you were comfortably confident in your own self, after the damage an abusive relationship can inflict upon a person. I know that all experiences – the good and the bad – end up somewhere else eventually. In that there is a great deal of comfort and a real confidence for living through it all.

Back to Rev Jane's words – "Appreciation lifts us out of despair because it is impossible to be truly grateful and to be unhappy at the same time. It turns us away from what's wrong and toward what is right. We ask ourselves, 'What aspect of my divine nature can I bring to this situation — peace, acceptance, love, wisdom ?' The more we stay centered on the spiritual gift that is emerging within us, the more quickly the problem dissolves !"

"Here's a suggestion:" (again from Rev Jane) "Every day, think of two or three random things and spend five minutes listing what you appreciate about each of them. For instance, What do I appreciate about the color blue ? What do I appreciate about my feet ? What do I appreciate about sidewalks ? What do I appreciate about music ? Give it a try ! It will brighten your day and strengthen your powers of appreciation. Then, the next time a challenging situation occurs, it will be much easier to find something to be grateful for, right smack in the middle of it, turning you toward your own inner wisdom where solutions wait." We are grateful not because we are enjoying something unpleasant that is happening but because if we can be grateful for what is, it will become something else, it will align with the energetic vibration that will allow it to become something we are easily grateful for. This is what the Law of Attraction does for us.

~ perspective

I am thankful for what I have
knowing that this aligns me
energetically to have more to
be thankful for.
I love the wild – the trees
and fields – even the snow that
lets these rest.
I love to step outside at night
and see the stars brightly shining.
I love the energy of music and
dancing and so I even dance
while I hike through the woods
and provide myself the music to
do so on a portable listening device.
Sometimes the contrasts of life
make appreciating their opposites
in duality even sweeter and far
easier, more evident, than if
they were not existing.

#abuse #alignment #change #confidence #courage #despair #gratitude #relationships #safety #violence