Day 5 -Grateful for Difficult Times

So I was man-down this past week, feeling really ill and sore, with a few upsets mostly caused by other people, but life in general seemed to be thumbing its nose at me, and things really weren’t going the way I had hoped or planned. But despite that, at my centre, I felt quite happy. “Huh, what!?”, you might be thinking.

What did it for me was Gratitude. Grateful that I was able to lie down and take time out. I am usually very healthy, and I am grateful for that, and knowing that I had nourishing food and I would be healthy again soon. I was grateful that my plans didn't all fall into place the way they should have because it caused me to look for more creative solutions to some, and one or two ended up bringing in something better.

Well, you get the picture. We all know life can thrown us a curve ball. And usually gratitude, isn’t our first response. But the practice of gratitude has some serious potential to transform our days. And the practice can help us stay happy, balanced and calm, regardless of what’s happening around us. And who wouldn't rather be happy?

What is gratitude exactly? Gratitude is not about feeling grateful when things are peachy. And I’m also not talking about the stick-your-head-in-the-sand kind of eternal optimist. Gratitude practice is an attitude that is not dependent upon conditions. Gratitude is not a reaction. It's a practice, a habit, a state of mind to be generated and cultivated. Our mindfulness practice reminds us to appreciate difficult times especially when life throws us that curve ball, because that's a great time and opportunity to learn about ourselves.

In fact, in some temples in the Far East there's actually a prayer that you make asking for difficulties. Imagine!. :) The prayer reads: "May I be given the appropriate difficulties so that my heart can truly open with compassion."

Gratitude is a powerful practice for a few reasons.

For one thing, gratitude opens the heart:

Our practice encourages us to be grateful all the time because it helps us to be more positive, patient and emotionally resilient. It also opens our heart to compassion.

Gratitude helps create a stronger mindfulness:

When we practice gratitude, you will recognise that the practice helps us to be fully in the present moment, aware of our surroundings or situation. This might not make sense to you immediately when you read this, but when we sit to practice gratitude, you will notice a very strong sense and direct experience of who and what surrounds you.

Gratitude means not taking things for granted:

To be mindful is to see the world as it is without judgment. In other words: responding to the world rather than reacting to it. So if gratitude is linked to mindfulness, inversely a lack of gratitude means we are not paying proper attention.

We see ourselves as individuals with needs to be filled, and we can easily become overwhelmed by all the unfilled needs. A mind of gratitude will help with this."

Gratitude Develops Patience:

In this crazy-weird time, many people are feeling anxious, bored, restless or frustrated; mentally shaking their fist at people, ideas or situations. Gratitude helps develop patience during difficult times. People with a strong sense of gratitude are more likely to be patient. This is not to say we should just lie down and give up on things. Rather it means we can approach our experiences with a more positive mindset.

Gratitude is also an antidote to greed or grasping:

Grasping or greed often comes from feeling we don’t have enough. Gratitude reminds us that what we have is enough. In our body or mind we can't experience gratitude and grasping together at any one time. The same goes for jealousy or resentment, and many other negative emotions. They can't exist together with gratitude either.

To cultivate gratitude:

To cultivate a mind of gratitude separate from our conditions is not difficult. It's just a matter of practice. Some people keep a gratitude diary. Whatever you use, just remember to be grateful for the practice. :)

Gratitude practice can be at any time, wherever we are. It's not necessary to sit formally. Any time we realise we're feeling a bit crappy or the world gets us down, we can remind ourselves of what's going right and what we have to be grateful for. What we have is already enough.

The Zen way of mindfulness and gratitude is to go through life and go through each days step by step, appreciating all the small and ordinary things as much as the larger things. When we practice mindfulness in this way, we can easily see what we are doing where we are. And we can feel grateful for what we have.

Thanks for reading this

Metta to you all

_/\_