Dear friends,
People who follow me here on Insight Timer will be aware that many of my meditations refer to the virtue of gratitude.
An attitude of thankfulness is its own gift and such an important characteristic of a happy and contented life.
Meister Eckhart reminded us long ago that if the only prayer we ever say in our entire lives is thank you,
It is enough.
We must do all we can to encourage in ourselves a habit of gratitude.
Just imagine for a moment the opposite,
The emptiness of a life spent unaware of the benefits that surround each of us day by day.
In looking for reasons for gratitude,
It is important that we do not go off in search of the obscure and the sensational.
We'll have a long wait if we are in search of these once-in-a-lifetime events.
We are surrounded every day by the ordinary and the everyday,
And these unfailing benefits,
They can be taken for granted because they are so unfailing.
I'm sure you will have heard of the practice of taking time at the end of each day to record some reasons for gratitude.
Sometimes when people find it difficult to get to sleep,
They are encouraged to count sheep.
Think of how beneficial it would be in that situation to count the many good things in our lives and all our reasons for thankfulness.
Minot J.
Savage,
Who lived between 1841 and 1918,
Has left us a poem that encourages us to seek the beauty in the everyday.
This is how it goes.
Seek not afar for beauty,
Lo,
It glows in dew-wet grasses all about your feet,
In boards,
In sunshine,
Childish face is sweet,
In stars and mountain summits topped with snows.
Go not abroad for happiness,
Behold,
It is a flower blooming at your door.
Bring love and justice home,
And evermore joy shall be yours as changing years unfold.
In wonder-workings or some bush aflame,
We look for truth and fancy it concealed,
But in earth's common things it stands revealed,
While grass and flowers and stars spell out the name.
Words of advice there from Minot J.
Savage.
Our lives,
All of our lives,
Will be enriched by the practice of finding beauty in everyday events.
Joy can be found every time we stop for a moment of awareness.
The bright curious eyes of a baby,
The laughter of a friend,
The sight of a dew-drop on a leaf,
Or the intricacy of a spider's web caught in sunlight.
Awareness of these things and so many others can bring us to a place of happiness and contentment.
There is only one condition,
That we take the time to pause and to notice.
We can take time to notice the turning of day into night,
The changing colours of the sky,
The beauty of a sunset.
Each moment of awareness has the potential to inspire us to live a life transformed by gratitude.
May we each find many moments to bring us joy every single day.
Namaste
