Aloha,
I'm Reverend Cindy Paulus and I wanted to talk about connecting the dots of life and how that brings gratitude.
Gratitude we all know is such an amazing gift.
It's like turning on a light bulb in a dark room.
Literally sparks of energy come when you feel gratitude.
And there's ways to feel gratitude mentally,
You know,
Just recognizing in your mind,
Well,
I'm glad that happened.
That was nice.
To really getting it,
To really feeling,
Oh my gosh,
I'm so grateful.
That can happen when a miracle happens.
It's that deep,
Deep,
Deep gratitude.
It also can happen when we connect the dots of our life.
Now we've often heard that at the end of our physical life,
Before we leave our body,
Or maybe directly after in that in-between stage,
We have a life review.
And I do believe that happens.
And I think at that point,
You're given the gift of being able to connect the dots.
Now in each moment is a dot,
Right?
Let's for example,
Think of a beautiful picture made up of pixels or dots,
So many dots.
And you've seen these pieces of art that are made up of one dot,
And then you see back further more dots and more dots till you finally realize all these dots make a wonderful picture.
And I think it's like that with our lives.
When we're in the one dot of this moment,
We may not see all the dots and how they all connect.
And it goes deeper than just our life.
It's how the dots in our life connect with all the other dots of people we've known and circumstances and circumstances.
Then to go even further,
How those dots are connected to before our birth,
To the time of our birth,
To our passing from this earth,
To other lifetimes,
To our source of creation.
And in the cosmic sense,
These are all dots connecting in the universe to what is the creator's source of the dots.
Now how does this tie in with gratitude?
Getting back to gratitude here.
You know,
There are many things in our life that may hurt us.
We've all experienced pain,
Hurt,
Probably some betrayal.
We've all experienced being disappointed in ourselves or maybe someone else.
And we can't take this lightly.
I mean,
I'm going to take the example of unfortunate abuse that happens because that's been one of my things I've focused on in life because I was abused.
Now when we have suffered from abuse and they say that one in four women have experienced abuse in their marriage,
Maybe by things said,
Maybe by actual physical abuse.
And when that happens,
You go through a lot of trauma.
And what does it take?
It takes a lot to get out of a situation where you're trapped in a domestic violence abusive relationship.
And unfortunately,
It can create a victim consciousness as well.
And we could all go into also what it takes to forgive that situation.
It goes so deep.
So much has been written about how important forgiveness is not to hold on to anger and hatred because it poisons your life.
So many people will say,
Okay,
I forgive you.
I forgive it.
But to really experience that reason for forgiveness and to not just do it on a superficial level,
It's part of connecting the dots,
Connecting the dots with what we experience in our life from a cosmic point of view.
And I think at that moment when we're close to leaving this earthly body,
This physical plane,
We start to really be able to see how each event in our life created the next step of our evolution.
Now,
I'm not saying anyone should anticipate or want or say they could enjoy suffering.
However,
Through suffering and through experiencing painful situations and overcoming them,
Some of the most valuable and important lessons are learned that have shaped some of our greatest beings on this planet,
Many of them who have suffered terribly and have overcome the suffering by understanding forgiveness.
And then that moment of seeing and being grateful for that situation because they realize that it created an opportunity,
A door that opened to see things in a different way.
Seeing things in a different way and seeing it from the higher point of view of your soul,
Your purpose for life and why you're here and what was learned is really truly a gift that we can be grateful for.
And when you're grateful for all of your life without regrets and realizing that each single dot in your life,
Each dot is connected,
Each dot that we may think of and separate and define is really just one,
One cosmic moment of your entire life.
And your entire life when seen from that perspective of getting ready to leave your life as known in this particular earthly existence can be such a miracle,
Such a gift,
Such a blessing,
Such an amazing experience that we truly have to be grateful for because life is a miracle.
Life is a gift.
Life is precious and all of these shadows and the darkness and the pain and the suffering only bring us to the gratefulness for the time when we see,
Ah,
Ah-ha,
Ah-ha,
I see what I got out of that.
I understand why that happened,
Maybe karmically,
Maybe because a life lesson that was learned that had to be learned.
Maybe you even decided before you were born that you came here to resolve that situation in your life.
Think of that,
Ponder that for a second,
That you're not a victim,
That you actually might have chosen before you were born,
That you're able to see what you could accomplish in this life and how you best could do that for your growth.
And though you may not see it right when you're in the moment of experiencing it,
At some point when you step outside that egoic mind experience,
That you can see it from a higher level and realize that,
Wow,
This was a blessing in disguise.
This was a miracle.
This was a gift so that I could get to another point.
What's another point?
It's another dot.
A thousand points of light,
A million points of light,
A billion points of light,
All dots connecting to the whole,
To the bigger picture of life.
Now let's just take a moment to be grateful by connecting the dots.
Let's breathe deeply in and hold your breath,
Connecting to your higher self and breathing out and allowing that higher self to come into all of your awareness of your body,
Mind and your emotions and everything you've been through as you breathe out,
Release.
Just breathing,
Breathing in,
Getting comfortable and being grateful and breathe out gratitude throughout your entire being.
Breathe in and feel how good it feels to be grateful for your life as you breathe out.
Be grateful for every breath in and every breath out.
Let's just do breaths of gratitude,
Breathing gratitude in and feeling that gratitude in your feeling center,
Breathing out,
Feel gratitude,
Feel good.
Breathing gratitude in and breathing that gratitude out into your love center,
Your heart,
Being grateful for all the love in your life,
Just ever so grateful.
Breathing gratitude in and allowing yourself to be aware of the light of gratitude as you breathe out,
Allow that light of gratitude to surround you,
To fill you,
To go above you 12 feet,
Through you,
Below you 12 feet,
Out on either side of you,
In front of you and behind you and now you're in a field of wonderful gratitude,
In a womb of gratitude.
Allow the healing energy of that gratitude to surround you,
To enfold you,
To embrace you.
Feel the healing energy of gratitude right now,
Right here.
Just be grateful.
Feeling the expansion of that light,
Allowing yourself to see where that gratitude is from.
See the light of gratitude within you and without you.
Feeling the light of gratitude and as you breathe the light of gratitude,
See and feel that gratitude growing and allow it to connect all the dots of your life,
Every single experience in your life filled with gratitude.
Releasing any energy that might have been regrets or anger or sorrow and turn on that light of gratitude to all that parts of you that at some point may have shut down because of anger or resentment or darkness or pain and now replace it with the light of gratitude.
Be grateful for every moment,
Every dot of your life and allow the dots to connect in a beautiful connection of energy that brings it to points of light,
Radiant,
Radiant light all joined in the picture of you and your life.
Breathe this in,
Breathe it out.
Breathe it in and breathe it out.
Be still in gratitude.
Just be gratitude.
And say thank you God for this moment where I can be grateful for the miracle of life and all of the experiences given to me,
For learning every lesson and fulfilling what I have come here for with gratitude always.
And now slowly come back into all of your mind,
Your body,
Your feelings,
Your energy field and be centered in gratitude.
Now and always remember the feeling of being grateful for your life.
Thank you so much my love,
My blessings and my gratitude for you being here with me right now.
