Gratitude

A Rewarding Practice

If there was one simple spiritual practice that didn't take much time or effort, that needed no training nor special skills but would bring great results, would you want to do it? Now you might think that I am going to talk you into signing up for an expensive course, but nothing could be further from the truth. As the saying goes, the good things in life are free and gratitude is certainly one of these wonderful free things. But let me tell you how I came to write this article:

Revelations

_During a recent ceremony with one of the sacred plants I prayed for healing, not just for myself but for our planet and for all of humanity. I went unusually deep in my meditation, so deep that I actually couldn't move for several hours. My consciousness was approaching the Oneness, but not quite crossing over, which was good in a way, because I needed to be slightly lower to function and be able to receive the messages I did get.

It surprised me that the whole journey had a distinct Native American theme even though I had not worked with Native American guides recently. At the onset of the vision several Native American guides appeared and began to tell me many things and teach me. The input was so vast and the images so overwhelming and fast paced that my mind could hardly follow. I kept on thinking "I got to remember this," and, "I got to write this down," but before I had time to reflect on one revelation I was already given the next. I asked many questions and received many answers both on personal issues and world affairs, most of which I will not speak of here, but my guides insisted that I convey one message to all people. And that message was about gratitude.

First, I was told that one of the primary ills in our society and our way of life was lack of gratitude. This lack of gratitude to the Creator of all Life and to Mother Earth who nourishes and sustains us has got us where we are today: we are living in a world of chaos, war, self-service, greed, exploitation of all life and disconnection from Spirit. I was shown all the troubles we have created and felt the negative jarring energies we are releasing into the universal field with our warped way of life that harms so many other beings, of the three kingdoms, the human, animal and plant kingdom. (There is also a mineral kingdom though it is more removed from our consciousness. When you look at how crystals are harvested nowadays by blasting them out from the rock they grow on, then you see clearly that the mineral kingdom is also being abused.)

Collective Amnesia

_The Native Americans showed me that most people have forgotten the natural way, which is being aligned with the Great Spirit and in harmony with Nature. People have forgotten how it is to live aligned with divine will, and in harmony with the rhythms of nature and all the other beings who share this planet with us, including the plant kingdom. Cutting down a forest for instance is a terrible crime against nature and ultimately we are harming ourselves with it. Mankind can live comfortably and in harmony with nature, without scarcity yet without exploitation. We must get back into balance with the world around us, and this we can only do when we understand the Oneness of all life. At the root of our problems is a form of collective amnesia. We have forgotten who we are. We have forgotten our place in the universe and our connection to all life. Many have forgotten their connection to the divine, to Spirit as well. We have forgotten important life skills, such as sewing, weaving, baking, planting foods. And we have forgotten how to be grateful. 

Healing Our Connection

_Gratitude was to be the first step to heal our connection with All-that-is and also to create a better world, one of peace and joy and abundance for all. I was shown simple ceremonies of thanksgiving, such as morning prayers, solar rituals etc. which we can do to align ourselves with the natural world. It is important in this context also to celebrate the solar festivals, also known as the sabbats of Pagan tradition. During those times powerful astrological forces are at work and affect us and our planet. When we release positive energy through ritual, song and dance on earth power points or leylines during those festivals, we heal the Earth and ourselves.

Unfortunately most of us have forgotten about these ancient traditions and also we are so caught up in survival and making money that we seldom even take the time to experience a beautiful sunrise. My guides suggested that people do a short ritual of gratitude every morning soon after getting up, ideally when the sun is rising and give thanks to the Creator of all Life for all the wonderful blessings we have received, for all that has been given to us, for the beauty of the Earth, and for simply being alive.

A New Dawn

_Much of the message shown to me was in pictures. And sun worship or sun rituals seemed to take a major place in it. Don't forget the sun is the giver of all life on this planet and our solar system. It affects not just our health and our mood but also our DNA and our spiritual development as latest scientific findings confirm. As every thing is conscious and living, every planet, such as the Earth, Mars, Venus or the Sun has a consciousness as well, every planet is in fact a living conscious being. All is One and all is consciousness. As above, so below, as within so without.

I believe the solar symbolism is very dominant at the moment because the universe is sending out a call to us, that something is happening in our solar system, something big. Did you know that all the planets in our solar system are heating up and changing? Mars has global warming as well, certainly not caused by our SUVs or our activities here on Earth. We are standing at the threshold of a great awakening and metamorphosis of humanity. Many people thought 2012 would be "the end". Now that it passed I am sure soon a new date for the end of the world will be set. But I believed from the very beginning that we were given a chance, a time window of entering into a new Golden Age, if only we managed to consciously work with the cosmic energies being released and put ourselves in a state of universal love. Being in a state of love of course also means acting with love and for the good of all. It is not about passivity and closing the eyes to evil and its ill deeds, quite the contrary, it means doing what is right, for all life, not just for ourselves. It also means our actions must be motivated by love not fear nor selfishness!

Remembering

Another problem, according to my guides, is that most people do not understand what gratitude really means. And if they do feel any gratitude at all it is often for the purely material things, such as having a well-paid job or a fancy car, etc. But what is really needed is spiritual gratitude, not gratitude to your boss for giving you a pay rise, but gratitude to the Creator of all life, the Great Spirit if you want to call it that, or the Goddess energy, the Cosmic Mind or whatever you wish to call the Creator, and if you are not religiously inclined or spiritually inclined, make it gratitude to the universe at least. We are truly all connected, in the great web of life, and the matrix of consciousness that connects all living beings. All we have to do is remember: remember who we are, remember what it means to be human, and last not least, remember how to be grateful.

What is Gratitude?

_Because my guides said many times that people have forgotten how to be grateful and what gratitude really is, so I decided to write about gratitude. Personally, I have known for quite some time that gratitude is a powerful spiritual force. It attracts positivity and blessings to your life. Once when I was reflecting on this I spontaneously came up with the phrase:

_Gratitude is an Attitude that Leads to Greatest Beatitude

_Because it rhymes it is a good way to remember what gratitude brings you: happiness and bliss. And it gives you the important clue on what gratitude really is: it is an inner attitude, a feeling, not -- as many people seem to think – an action. More about this below.

How Does it Work?

_The way it works is really quite simple. Gratitude acts like a magnet for the blessings of the universe to be showered on you! When you are grateful your heart expands and you feel love, which is the most powerful force in the universe. This blissful happy feeling is transmitted to the field and comes back to you. We are powerful beings and are creating our reality with our emotions. Unfortunately few people know this, and fewer still are harnessing the power of their emotions. You get what you send out. Positive emotions will create positive incidents in our lives. And then there is the echo effect… Have you ever played with an echo? You shout just once and the echo answers multiple times. It is the same with gratitude. Your positive emotion of gratitude brings you multiple returns.

Negative Conditioning

_Now that you know that gratitude is a great positive force and brings great rewards, you may wonder: why aren’t more people doing it then? The problem is in our society gratitude has got a bad name because the word itself has been twisted and misused to mean many things that have absolutely nothing to do with gratitude. As a result many people, especially in the West have completely forgotten what gratitude actually is. The idea that man could forget how to be grateful is about as incredible as a bird forgetting how to fly, yet that seems to have happened to us. The loss of gratitude is largely due to incorrect programming of our minds and partly this may be intentional to cut us off from our spiritual connection and power – through the medium of language and through manipulation. To come back to a positive attitude towards gratitude we need to undo the programming, and we can only deprogram ourselves once we have become aware of the program. I hope you can follow me so far. So let’s have a look at the misconceptions around gratitude.

Gratitude is not Obligation

_Maybe at some tine in your life, most probably in your childhood years, you have experienced receiving an unwanted present, something you really didn’t like, maybe a scratchy wool sweater from your least favourite aunt. And then you were told to be grateful and show your gratitude. Naturally you resented it. Well, that wasn't gratitude. Saying "thank you" is just a social custom, and showing your gratitude in such a context really only means showing your indebtedness, a form of obligation. What your parents called gratitude had nothing to do with gratitude at all. It was just a social custom and an obligation. On top of that when social custom requires you “appreciate” that which you don’t like, you are not being in your truth. Having been forced to speak untruth or even to write a tedious thank you letter, the unpleasant emotions made a deep impression. At best you were left with unpleasant associations around gratitude. At worst you might have made a choice, whether on a conscious or subconscious level that you weren't going to be grateful ever again -- and with this choice you gave up one of your most wonderful spiritual tools.

Deprogramming

_The remedy is to consciously understand the misconception that you have about gratitude and develop a positive attitude to it by reminding yourself of its benefits. If you have made a choice not to be grateful, you will have to consciously undo this choice and this has to be done with an emotion of at least equal intensity than the original choice. Remember always, real gratitude should come from the heart, it is a joyous emotion, not a tedious action! Also, gratitude is spontaneous and totally free will, not something that is forced on you.

Gratitude is Being not Doing

_Maybe somebody helped you out once when you needed help and then later you had to do something you didn't want to do for them to "show your gratitude". Again, this isn't gratitude, this is indebtedness and obligation and it has nothing to do with true gratitude. Sure, you should help your friends if they need help, whether they have helped you before or not, but you should never do something that your inner self tells you not to do, only because you owe something to somebody. Gratitude is not so much an action or something that you do, it is an inner state. You may of course wish to express your heartfelt gratitude through a service of love, but that is up to you. In this case the inner feeling comes first, then the action. Gratitude is something that you are, a state of being not something that you do, it needs no action at all, just deep emotion.

Emotions Fuel Creation

_It is through our emotions that we create reality, and when we feel an intense positive emotion, such as love or gratitude we can create beauty all around us. Because we have been manipulated so much to "show gratitude" by those who wish to control us, many people have now developed an aversion to what is good and wholesome for them, even to their own power. It is a bit like having your favourite food forced down your throat -- you will probably never want it again after this. What you need to realise is that a lack of gratitude is going to bring other forms of scarcity in its wake, such as lack of money, abundance, love, happiness, health, etc. Try to think deeply about what gratitude is, and what it means to you. You will realise gratitude is not slavery, nor obligation, nor drudgery. Gratitude is always voluntary, spontaneous and joyful. Once you felt it, you will love it!

Gratitude is not Complacency

Maybe some time you wanted more from life, you wanted change, a different job, or a nicer house, or simply felt something was missing. Then somebody told you, "be grateful with what you have!" Quite often the people who are saying this are people who try to control you and manipulate you. They are people who themselves are afraid of change, and they don't want you to change either because that would make things difficult for them. They try to keep you in your little box by playing the gratitude card. This is nothing but manipulation. But often it sets up a belief system in you that asking the universe for something better is "ungrateful" and therefore bad. Congratulations, you have just been programmed with a poverty / scarcity program and swallowed it hook, line and sinker because somebody twisted the positive word "gratitude" and gave it a negative and restrictive meaning, such as complacency, stagnation and / or putting up with crap. 

Of course when you do get something good from the universe, from God/Goddess All-That-Is, you should feel grateful -- simply because it is the natural reaction to the blessing received, a reaction that we have unlearned. But being grateful doesn't mean you cannot ask for more! You can be grateful and then ask for more good things. The universe has an abundance of all things, it is certainly not going to go bankrupt because you dare to ask for more love, more peace, more happiness or more prosperity! To be grateful does not mean to put up with unpleasant things, either. That is a false belief and one that will not serve you well, so do your best to weed it out! Gratitude is not complacency, nor is it apathy or stagnation, nor settling for less nor unwillingness to change.

Lip Gratitude

_When I was very young a friend of mine took me to a prayer circle of one of the Christian sects. Everybody there was thanking the Lord for all kind of things. I sat there quietly and observed but had great problems not to laugh out loud because some of these thanksgivings were very trivial and materialistic and devoid of any deep feeling. The problem was that in the circle one after the other had to enumerate everything they were grateful for and they were running out of ideas so they were making it up. As a result the prayers were progressively getting more ridiculous. In the end one of the participants said something along the lines "I had terrible flatulence, oh Lord but now it is better! Praise the Lord!" to which the whole group replied "Amen". I almost burst with the effort of suppressing a loud laugh -- call me irreligious if you will, but I couldn't help it.

Suffice to say I never went there again, as there was no true spirituality, it was all very materialistic and fake, for lack of a better word. If "gratitude" is restricted to the lips without connection to the heart, it becomes empty and shallow. You may say "thank you" a thousand times, but if you aren't actually feeling gratitude, then it isn't much use. How many times do people say "I love you" but they don't really mean it or feel it? It is just an empty phrase then, as empty as pure lip gratitude.

Heart Gratitude

_The Wise Ones also made it very clear that true gratitude is of a spiritual nature and non materialistic. We need to have more appreciation for those things that we normally take for granted, such as having good health, and that the sun has risen once more in the morning -- just think how disastrous it would be if it failed to rise -- anything could happen in a vast universe, nothing is certain. But we take the continuity of good things for granted and seldom give them much thought. 

We need to go back to feeling gratitude for the simple things in life, even the bare necessities, things such as a good harvest, healthy children, food on the table, good friends by our side, and for being alive at such an incredible time, when mankind is given the chance to see the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new, greater cycle in a new world (we are in the transition between the 4th and the 5th world at the moment and standing on the threshold of great evolutionary change).  We are virtually standing at the threshold to the dawn of a New Age, a Golden Age, if we can change our inner attitude and act with love for the good of all. Changing our vibration by being in a state of love and gratitude is all that is needed.

How to Be Grateful

_As my Native American guides showed me, the gratitude that is most needed is gratitude to the Creator of all life, the Great Spirit if you want to call it that, or the Goddess energy, the Cosmic Mind or whatever you wish to call the Creator. Gratitude to the source of all is more powerful than gratitude to an individual. Of course, when you are grateful to another human being it is still going to be a positive force -- as long as it doesn't lead to manipulation and obligation or indebtedness. In the end everything comes to you from the source, from God/Goddess/All-That-Is, even if it comes through another person as the vehicle. 

Secondly, the gratitude that we should show is gratitude for the simple things, for the fundamentals in life, such as the sun rising every morning, a good harvest, being in good health, having food to eat, the birth of a healthy child, of having friends and loving relatives, for being alive, for being allowed to be here on this planet at this time when great evolutionary changes are about to happen. 

There is nothing wrong with being grateful for material things as well, after all we are living in a material world and while we have a physical body we need food, water and shelter and various other things. But the focus should not be so much on material objects, such as having a shiny new car, or some other status object, but on what is real.

And what is real? Spirit is real. And our connection to Spirit is real. And as we are all spirit beings, having a human experience or an animal experience etc, our connection to each other is real. And that connection naturally is one of pure love. Love is real. When you feel the Oneness with all that is, you cannot help but feel universal love, that is love for every single being in creation. Love for all human beings, and animals, for the trees and plants, for the planet, for the whole universe and all the beings therein. 

It is through this divine love that we transcend and go beyond the fetters of being human. By loving you become greater and receive more love yourself. It doesn't matter so much whom or what you love, because we are all one, all beings in the creation are one. Whenever you send love out into the field it comes back to you. Whether you love a man or a woman or a child, an animal, or nature herself, or Mother Earth, everything is alive and has spirit, all of it is part of the universal consciousness of which you are part as well. 

If every human being had the experience of Oneness right now, even for just five minutes, we would never have war again. When it happened to me, when I had self-realisation, I felt connected to every being on the planet. I could feel an ant in the rainforest, and I loved it! And I felt such deep gratitude that this experience was given to me. And I wanted to share this blessing with everybody, I wanted everybody else to experience this incredible beauty too. And this is also why I am writing and have started this website, to share it and make some of the knowledge accessible to others. Always remember, when we share love, we get more love. It may not always come back to you from the individual you love, but it surely will come back to you from the universe in some form!

First Steps to a Better World

As my Native American mentors showed me during several hours of deep meditation and journeying, we can turn this whole reality, which is now one of scarcity, fear, survival, competition, chaos and war, into a completely new and wonderful way of life, just by changing a few simple things. And gratitude is the first step. 

Remember your spiritual connection, and make the material less real. Get up in the morning and devise a short ritual of your own, a ritual of thanksgiving and gratitude. Whether that be lighting a candle in your room and saying a prayer, or going out and watching the sunrise in nature. And then reflect on everything that is good in your life. 

My Native American mentors said we could easily transform the planet into a paradise if we all got up every morning and spent only a few minutes praying from our hearts to the highest divinity -- not for things that we wanted to have, but as a thanksgiving for all the beauty and abundance that has been given to us. And according to them, the most important thing was that we do this with deep gratitude in our hearts. This change in attitude, emotion and vibration would be enough to completely change this reality. There is indeed great power in prayer, but many people forget the most important factor in prayer: deep emotion. Without the emotion a prayer is like a candle without the flame.

Revolution of Consciousness

_Gratitude and love are two emotions we need more of. And one follows the other. Whenever you are grateful your heart opens and you align yourself with the universe and the divine. Then, when you share that gratitude and love with others, it creates even more gratitude and love. Love and gratitude are contagious! Imagine just for a moment, what if each of us "infected" another ten people with love and gratitude. It wouldn't take long to spread it to everyone on the planet! That is a pyramid system I can believe in. It would certainly trigger a revolution -- a revolution in consciousness and a revolution of love!

_Copyright © Avalon Sakti Tiamat, 05.01.2010
revised 20.03.2013

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