Today's
Quotation:
Whatever our individual troubles and challenges
may be,
it’s important to pause every now and then to
appreciate all
that we have, on every level.
We need to literally “count
our blessings,” give
thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy
them, and relish
the experience of prosperity we already have.
Shakti Gawain
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Today's
Meditation:
The
end of November always brings Thanksgiving in the United
States, possibly the most incredible secular holiday of all. It's simply amazing that an entire nation of
people will stop almost everything for an entire day simply
to give thanks for all that they have. Gratitude is
one of the most important keys to a happy life for all of
us, and if we can learn to be truly thankful for our
situations in life, we can learn to be happy, fulfilled, and
content. There really is no way to appreciate and enjoy what we've
been given without a sense of gratitude to make every aspect
of our lives brighter.
It's
certainly not something that just "happens."
Gratitude is an active concept, and it's important that we
focus on it if it's to be a major part of our lives.
We can easily go through every day of our lives without
focusing on all that we're thankful for if we don't make the
effort to see, to realize, to appreciate.
Gratitude
also builds upon itself. The more we practice it, the
more we see to be thankful for, and the more thankful we
are. Likewise, though, the less we practice being
grateful, the less we will see to be thankful for, and the
less fulfilling our lives will be.
We
all have many blessings, and if we choose to see them as
such and be thankful for them, then our gratitude will go a
long way towards making our lives richer and more
fulfilling, with a richness that doesn't depend on material
goods or financial wealth, but on all that we already have
in our lives, all that we can be truly thankful for.
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