Gratitude is showing honour, respect and acknowledgement of the value that lies in the process of giving and receiving. Often times, we fall out of the frequency of gratitude. Why does this happen? People are too busy to pause, to reflect and to notice.
Gratitude is a state of ‘be-ing’, and once this state is cultivated, the root of which is from the heart, one acknowledges the effort of others. People don’t feel grateful because things are readily available. The gifts of nature, for example. How many pause to think about wild flowers, admire the beauty and see their value in the cycle of man’s own existence?
Many a time, hearts are closed. One needs to take the journey back — in the reverse form — from the quagmire of the present to understand how and why individuals receive what they receive.
This journey backward is the journey of gratefulness.
When food reaches your table, do you pause to reflect how it got there and the role of food in your present existence? Pause, reflect and understand your food’s journey; the hands that tended the grains and vegetables, nature that helped with rain, sunshine, soil and the enormous system of transportation that carried your food present on your table, without which, this portion of food won’t be yours. To include, the shops that bought and kept and from where you purchased, to the hands that cooked the food. There is someone’s energy involved in every movement of every grain that you eat. Have you ever paused to show gratitude to the soil, the farmer, the rain, the sun, the transporters, the shops, without taking things for granted?
If any of these systems failed, everything in this chain gets disturbed. There is an enormous background energy of work carried out before things reach you in final form. Thank the system, thank the people behind the system, who often are faceless, but nevertheless exist and do their work.
What you reap is the fruits of labour of other people too. When you respect, value and acknowledge the energy force behind what you receive is when you feel gratitude. Practice this reverse- energy-thanking process.
No one can exist in isolation, for, give and take constantly happens. There is continuous supply of help that is streaming to you. Take note. Appreciate.
The third reason why people are not grateful is because of their own tendencies of negativity which they choose to harbour. These tendencies are not true to own character such as that of ignorance, denial, arrogance etc. These are energy blockages of the heart.
When people face hard times, these walls, blockages get dismantled and humility appears. That’s an acknowledgement, also a learning.
To cultivate and experience and be in the state of gratitude, give thought to your daily experiences, how your energy and energy of others function. When they function in harmony, things happen smoothly. Take the case of your dealings with banks, markets, hospital systems, family units etc.
Thank those people who you see or don’t see, who work behind the scenes to make your work happen. Just as you do for others. You are as much important to them and they are to you. Acknowledge this fact.
In showing thankfulness and appreciation, go beyond lip service. Use your heart. Open it to bless people and things instead of criticising. Criticising blocks the heart centre energy.
Show your gratitude in any manner or form, through prayers, blessings, actions, speech. There is no limit to the route of gratitude. It all lies in the intention.
