Gratitude, by Pierre Zimmerman

Gratitude comes from the Latin word "gratis," which means "pleasing and thankful."

Every year we celebrate Thanksgiving for one day along with the things, events and people we cherish. I want to challenge all of us to practice gratitude year round with relatives, friends and strangers, minus the turkey and stuffing. Why would we embark on such a journey?

Because practicing gratitude on a daily basis or consistently leads to an experience of being directly connected to life, preventing us from exhaustion and killing the mind of compassion. It enables us to realize that there is a larger context in which our personal storylines are unfolding. It softens our heart, this intimate place of arrival and departure that builds capacity for forgiveness and appreciation for the interdependent nature of life.

Often we tend to focus on the negative aspects of our experiences, which can lead to a distorted view of life and undermine our sense of empowerment, limiting our experience of being fully alive and effectively deadening the realm of unlimited possibilities.

Gratitude is a powerful antidote for our emotional chaos, for depressive and self-defeating feelings and behaviors, as well as the people in our lives who habitually tend to only notice everything that is wrong or deficient in any given situation. Meditating on gratitude helps us drop the feelings of scarcity and loss and release us from fear and always wanting more.

This practice is far from denying life's daily difficulties, troubled times, the many challenges we are facing on our planet, uncertainties about our future and so many disappointments and betrayals. Yet it is a practice and like any other practice we need to work on it to become proficient at it.

I would like to invite you to mentally note, if not everyday, at least occasionally, the many benefactors who visibly or invisibly served you with material, intellectual, attentional, energetic, emotional or wisdom gifts. Remember all those who have come before us and have made it possible for our existence to be comfortable, informed, meaningful, empowered and rewarding. Maybe we can even be grateful for those who have created less than ideal circumstances for us, because in a state of gratitude we realize that pain, suffering, joy and contentment are all part of a mysterious whole. 

Remember, when we practice gratitude and receive graciously, we are giving someone else the opportunity to be generous.