Day Fifteen: Enhance Your Life with Gratitude

The simple practice of cultivating gratitude, an appreciative awareness and thankfulness, can powerfully transform our everyday experience of life. For some people, this is a natural and easy thing to do. For others, keeping gratitude in the forefront of awareness requires intention and discipline. Or, it may be that feelings of gratitude seem easier to connect to when conditions are to our liking and more difficult when times of challenge arise. It is useful to reflect on gratitude and consider how to consistently open ourselves to it.

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to visit a cloistered monastery, where the monks spend their days in prayer, contemplation, work and simple living. When I asked the abbot to tell me about his spiritual practice he said simply, “it is gratitude.” He explained that lay people often approached him with interest in special mystical practices but that he found the practice of cultivating gratitude to be profound. Everyday, several times a day, he would ask himself: Am I thankful? His inner response to the question would tell him a lot about his quality of heart and mind, and give an indication of his spiritual health. When we are anchored in the awareness of our essential spiritual nature, recognizing God as the Source of our life, gratitude flows naturally. If we become too involved in the ruses of ego—attachment to particular outcomes, identifying with roles that we play or becoming too involved with mundane matters— then gratitude is more difficult to experience.

Paramahansa Yogananda advised, “Avoid a negative approach to life. Why gaze down the sewers when there is loveliness all around us? One may find some fault in even the greatest masterpieces of art, music, and literature. But isn’t it better to enjoy their charm and glory?” His words remind us that how we approach life and what we focus on is a matter of choice. In the same way that finding fault can become habitual, so can approaching life with appreciation and a sense of gratitude. We need only intend to be grateful and then train ourselves to look for the good, look for what is positive and uplifting and inwardly express our appreciation for it. The monk’s simple practice, to inwardly inquire, “Am I thankful?” can help us bring this attitude to the forefront of our awareness. When we do, we discover that thoughts and feelings of gratitude relieve stress, help us be more open and receptive to the supportive influences of nature and divine grace. Soon, we notice more to be thankful for.

Think About It: In many places today innovative models for business and community are including spiritual principles in their “bottom lines.” They are looking for greater satisfaction in work, relationships and service—beyond what financial profit alone brings. One such interesting experiment in California is Café Gratitude, which has blossomed into a number of restaurants serving vegan cuisine, using local produce, and a healthy dose of well, gratitude. Here is a description of their project from their website:  Café Gratitude is an experimental business model called, Sacred Commerce, whereupon an atmosphere of transformational growth is created in the work environment. At Café Gratitude, all employees are signing themselves up for a curriculum of practicing “Being”- that their life is great now. It is a practice in how one's life transforms when community focuses on the qualities of Love, Spirit, and the Divine. Each day, we practice shifting our attention to love, acceptance, gratitude, generosity, abundance, and the privilege of serving others. This is the context of our work.

Be inspired: Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

– John Milton