Whole Gratitude

This morning I woke up thinking about gratitude. Like a gazillion other people, I watched The Secret, and interesting bits of the video bubble up at different times. Today the thought was about what one of the men said about gratitude--he wakes up every morning, and as he brushes his teeth, he goes through all the things he's grateful for. He made sure to say that it's not just some mental list; he really feels the feeling of gratitude.

This morning as I got out of bed, I went through the things I'm grateful for--a peaceful beautiful morning, new thick carpet (nice!), a good night's sleep, a loving family, work I enjoy, a beautiful home, health...

And then it occurred to me that I was making a mental list. I was trying to bring to mind everything I could that I was grateful for. I probably could have come up with a thousand different things. But I wasn't feeling it, I was thinking it. A mental list. An intellectual exercise. Suddenly I had an image of my prayers getting no higher than the ceiling.

Okay, I thought. The list is fine. But how about feeling gratitude for those things too? I imagined the first few things on the list, and asked for a little help in feeling a whole sense of gratitude. Instantly, I felt a wonderful sense of warmth and openness spreading through me--especially my chest and stomach. A kind of deep relaxing. I think I was experiencing something close to real, whole gratitude--not just a mental image of things I am grateful for.

It's a profound difference. Maybe you already know about it. But I'm so glad to have a way to say thank you with my whole self!

So, thank you for reading this. And when I say "Thank you," I mean "T-h-a-n-k y-o-u" in the wholest possible way. :)