40 Days of Peace Day Seven
Grief into Gratitude
Gratitude changes EVERYTHING
If I was only allowed to give you one word of encouragement … I would give you the gift of gratitude… because gratitude is everything. Gratitude allows us to turn our grief, our suffering, our darkness… into light, into our teacher, into JOY.
If we adopt ONE PRACTICE over these 40 days together… let it be this..
BEGIN EVERY DAY IN GRATITUDE
When you lift your head off the pillow every morning you have everything you need! Every sunrise is an OPPORTUNITY for miracles. When we start each day in silence and in the quiet of the morning we offer our thanks for as many things as we can give thanks for, our day is already a good one. We fill our bank with the greatest tool we have… gratitude!
Can we be grateful for suffering? Absolutely.
My path to healing asked me to learn absolute forgiveness and to be grateful for my abuse, for bankruptcy, for break ups, for loss, for sickness… When I could look at these experience and find something to be grateful for, it shifted everything.
Gratitude turns a peanut butter sandwich into a gourmet meal.
Gratitude turns the negative into positive.
Gratitude turns a tent into a palace.
Gratitude turns failure into a new vision.
Gratitude turns what we have in this moment, into ENOUGH.
Gratitude turns suffering into our teacher.
Gratitude turns pain into purpose.
We are Spirits living a human life to learn and grow and gratitude takes us out of the “matrix” and allows us to see the big picture.
We are divine beings and we always have everything we need in this moment. There is enough. We are enough.
Old you… to the NEW ME!
Being grateful for who we are changes everything
Shedding our old habits and patterns is part of the work but we still need to be grateful for the Old YOU to make room for the NEW YOU! Being grateful for ALL of the part of ourselves is part of integrating and healing the whole.
I look at pictures of the “the old Sarah” and I see her suffering and pain, and a lot of is ugly. I also see her fighting so bad to heal and change. I used to feel so much grief when I would look at old pictures of those years. It brought up the pain and fear of my trauma. But now I look at those pictures and say “Thank you”. I’ve shifted my grief into something I’m grateful for. I wouldn’t be who I am without ALL of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. And trust me, there was some real ugly days… lets be honest… years, lots of ugly years.
And I’m thankful for all of it.
I even think that the greater the suffering, the greater the opportunity for joy and freedom.
Its not Happiness that brings us Gratitude…
Its Gratitude that brings us Happiness
The happiest people aren’t the ones who have the best of everything, they MAKE the best of everything. Some of the happiest people on the planet have been through the most suffering.
What happens when we experience a natural disaster or someone we love gets really sick? Most of the time, it brings out the best in us. We face our worst fears and we see what really matters. We rely on each other, like the roots of the trees. We become more generous, more compassionate, more grateful.
In Charleston, we know how it feels in hurricane season to “prepare for the storm”. And the love that exudes during those times fills me with joy. I always think, why can’t we keep this feeling of community all the time? If Jenny’s house gets flooded, we come together to make sure she gets a new bed, new clothes.. Its the same when someone we love gets a diagnosis that is scary. All of a sudden, every moment becomes a precious gift.
Hard times bring us together, especially when we can turn our grief into gratitude.
Can you look in the mirror today and say “Thank YOU”?
Give yourself the love of gratitude. Tell that beautiful being staring back at you how proud you are, how grateful you are…
JOURNAL TIME
Fill those pages with gratitude..
for yourself
for all the blessings in your life
for all the struggles and pain and loss that made you YOU.
“Say “Thank you” until you truly feel it in your being.”
Shams of Tabriz’s 40 Rules of Love
