Living in Gratitude

In the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November is a time for being grateful for all that we have. It has become traditional to enjoy a feast in celebration of blessings. The act of gratitude carries a powerful energy, not only in making one realize how much there is to appreciate around us, but also in generating more things to be grateful for. Yes, gratitude generates more blessings, if approached in the proper way.

Many of us have been taught to be grateful, but it is often with the overshadowing idea that we should be grateful because we dont' deserve the things we have. How many times have you heard, "Everything you have is God's...Everything you receive is only by His grace"...This thought process dilutes the power of gratitude. It plants the idea that we do not deserve anything, that we are not worthy of our blessings. While it is great to appreciate God's goodness or the blessings of the Universe, we also need to remember that we are deserving of goodness. It is only when we feel that we are not deserving, that we are bad or unworthy, that we BECOME less.

Guilt makes us feel that we are less than the magnificent beings that we are. It prevents us from feeling God's love. It creates our SEPARATION from God, not our CONNECTION to God. Until we release guilt, love ourselves, and remember our perfection beneath the negativity, we cannot be ONE with God. If Hell is a separation from God, then we create our Hell through guilt, which also tells us that we do not deserve more. Hell is not a place we go to after living a "bad" life, it is what we create in our minds from feeling guilt and unworhtiness.

To return to God/Source and to our own greatness as the Divine beings we were created to be, we must give up guilt and live in true gratitude - a gratitude that includes full acceptance that we deserve our blessings. Once we begin to practice this and believe it, we know that we are here to do more, that we have a greater purpose in this world. We then remember our Oneness with God and return to Heaven, leaving behind the Hell that is simply our own creation.

In this month of giving thanks, make a list of the things you are grateful for, and do so with the thought that each and every good thing you are listing is deserved. Move beyond the things that are easily seen as "good", and become grateful for the "bad" things or the difficulties you have experienced, understanding that they were opportuntities for growth or an avenue to get you where you are now. Forgive others who you may have perceived as doing you wrong and instead be grateful for what they taught you. It will lift burdens and open you up to experience deep joy.

True and complete gratitude will bring you gifts and blessings beyond what you have ever imagined. Make your list...add to it daily....see the good in the hardship...and more importantly, see the good in yourself and know that the best is yet to come and that you deserve it. After you have listed the things you are currently grateful for, make a list of things you will be grateful for in the future...a wish list of sorts. Feel gratitude for them in advance...and watch them begin to unfold.

One of the many things I am grateful for is those of you who read my blogs and have been touched by these thoughts. You are helping me live out my purpose to love, share, and heal. Thanks to each and every one of you.

Heal Yourself...All Else Will Follow

My friend Andrea posted a comment on Facebook that I thought was worth expanding. Her comment was "Don't run around and try to heal all your friends and family, do your own work and heal yourself.This will do more good for those around you than anything else."

She practices Reiki and other methods of healing and spiritual exploration, as I do. I think her comment is a beneficial one in examining where we need to focus most. It is wonderful and rewarding to help others around you, whether it be with healing work, assisting them with their troubles, or offering advice; but it is even more important to heal yourself. Ultimately, all healing comes from within, so until one is ready to get real and honest with their own issues and needs, no true and lasting healing can take place. Recurrent problems, even if momentarily minimized or squelched, will rise again, either in the same form or another.

One thing that I have found with healing work is that when others begin to think you have all the answers, it is easy for them to begin to lean on you for all of their fixes, forgetting that each of us always has the answers within ourselves if we are willing to go to our Higher Selves and Source to connect with those answers. Part of helping others is often giving them the morsels that they need, then sending them on their own way, setting them free to learn on their own, like a mother bird sends her young ones off to fly. It is similar to the adage, "Feed a man a fish and he will be nourished for a day..teach a man to fish and he will be nourished for a lifetime"...Show them a way, then let them nourish themselves.

It is important that each of us who is on a journey of healing or who desires to embark on a spiritual path takes the time to heal and nourish ourselves first and foremost. Even if we desire to help others, we must realize that they have to want help (and it is not our place to push it on them), and that they have to be willing to do much of the work themselves, to accomplish healing deep inside. Once one goes within and heals their own body or soul, their light will inevitably touch, inspire, or heal others around them - whether they are actively seeking this or not. Simply being in the right light and vibration has a positive effect on all those around us.

So..if you desire to help others, to be a light to the world, or to contribute to a positive movement in anything, first, heal yourself, take care of yourself...love, value, and appreciate yourself. Then go out and BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

Preventative Healing

We hear a lot about Preventative Medicine in our culture, be it well care checkups, immunizations, or tests and scans that are recommended to catch the physical problem before it becomes a bigger problem. I believe we need take that a step further, and heal ourselves from within so that medicine is less likely to be needed. This can be in the obvious form of adopting a more healthy lifestyle or in a deeper form of spiritual healing and nurturing that soothes us so profoundly that we don't manifest outer disease.

Spiritual healers such as Louise Hay and Wayne Dyer refer to disease as dis-ease, meaning that disease is the result of our bodies being "ill at ease" with something...with our path, our relationships...our own inner resistance to our outer situation, which then creates tension and stress in our bodies and ultimately manifests itself in disease. Louise Hay has certainly lived that idea in her own healing of cancer in her body, as well as through the many people who have been helped by her books or those of other Hay House authors. There are many examples in which these spiritual leaders have shown through their own experiences that one can heal physical illness through faith and by ridding the body of things that have caused dis-ease.

While preventative medicine is a wonderful avenue for staying healthier, we should not forget other measures that do not have to do with medication or medical practices, delving into ourselves to find our true path and course, which will then put us as ease, rather than dis-ease. Our health issues can be wonderful clues from above as to what we need to work on, or which directions are not working for us. All that it requires is that we pay attention, in earnest, and take steps to correct our missteps or alter areas that are incongruent with our true plan or purpose. When we begin to live our lives more accurately on our path and rid ourselves of the obstacles (self-imposed or otherwise) that steer us away from our Higher Selves, then our bodies will become more at ease with our choices, through better health, fewer physical problems, looking younger, and other noticeable physical responses.

I speak repeatedly on this blogsite about spiritual guidance through connection to Source, to God, to angels and spirit. I do so because I have seen so many wonderful and miraculous things in my own life and many of those that I have worked with, so I KNOW that it can have an immediate and profound impact on one's life. I feel that I must share that with as many as possible, as many as are willing to listen or open enough to consider the possibilities. There is a great energy that is touching many people at this time to examine their lives, to search for a deeper spirituality, to find and live their real purpose...rather than just living out a routine existence. It is a truly exciting time. If you have ailments that are bothering you, understand that they may have a deeper root than just the medical implication, then search beyond the pills and medicine to try to go to a deeper place within yourself and a higher power beyond what you have known so far. (This does not mean to ignore the medical options, but simply not stop at those for all of your solutions!). If you search earnestly and faithfully, I believe you will find your answers, your healing, your peace.