Wake Up to Gratitude

Transcript

Welcome to A Beautiful Thought.

I want to talk a little bit about gratitude.

So it’s often said that a lot of people say they’re grateful but not a lot of people take the time, effort, energy to actually feel gratitude.

That uplifting light feeling in the belly rising into the chest, making you wonder a little bit about the world and feel like it’s just wonderful that things have happened to you. That people have been there for you in tough times, there ready to give you advice.

I remember I was locked up. I got denied entry to the United States and I was being detained in Chicago O’Hare Airport. And I sat there and they brought me into el cuartito, the little room.

Just this little 10 square meter room or maybe a little smaller there with a guy from Zambia and a guy maybe from Russia or Estonia. Wasn’t really clear. A Chinese/Thai guy, a few Mexicans.

And I would just sit there meditating like “Alright, this is not the situation that I anticipated. It’s not really my favorite situation but there are things to be grateful for here.”

So I was grateful for the fact that I can breathe. That’s number one and it’s the most important thing someone can be grateful for.

It’s true for most of us. I can breathe unimpeded, taking a deep breath and feeling that divine life, that prana, the chi. Fill our lungs and extend into our limbs touching our fingertips…..

WE CAN BREATHE….and we do breathe. And we’re conscious of our breathing.

I was also grateful for the fact that I had food although I’m not going to give them a 5 star rating on Yelp.

It was these packs of self heating oatmeal coming in packs of cinnamon and apple flavor. Probably not a lot of natural flavor in there but it was food and I was grateful for it.

I even had the option to choose between apples with cinnamon or blueberry crunch or whatever it was.

I was grateful. After awhile of thinking of things I was grateful for I started to realize I didn’t even need an object for the gratitude. I could just be grateful, just on it’s own.

Now I’m a free man again after being detained for 48 hours. Sit down in a restaurant with friends in a friend’s house to eat.

For a long time in our culture, various cultures, we had the tradition of saying grace. We don’t do that anymore which is kind of funny.

I guess it went out with religion when people started questioning religion they thought these rituals were not important. But they are.

They’re actually really lovely, sitting down to eat with friends sometimes I say this little grace that my friend taught me in Spanish which is “Gracias Dios por esta rica comida; que todos pueden comer. Amen.”

“Thank you lord for this delicious food, hope everyone can eat, amen.”

I also like to get a little deeper into it and actually make sure I feel those emotions of gratitude.

And think “It’s not every day of my life that I’m going to eat. It’s not every day I can choose what I eat and choose the company and have a home cooked meal.”

It’s not going to happen every day, so when it does happen remember how special it is because when it goes away you’re really gonna wish for it.

So many wonderful things happen to us every day.

Sunshine is free and the air is free and we can enjoy them and take the time to say thank you.