Gratitude

Happy Friday! It's time for my Pagan Blog Project post for the week. This is the first G week. So I have decided to write about Gratitude. Gratitude is a very important part of my spiritual practice and daily life.

There are times when I look at my children and think they feel entitled and spoiled. Of course this is more a reflection of changes I need to make in parenting than in their personality. But it serves as a good reminder that if my children are not expressing gratitude, then am *I* expressing it enough openly in front of them.

Every morning I say my devotionals. This includes my morning prayer to the Divine, my affirmation of spirituality, my consecration affirmation, a prayer to Goddess, my daily positive affirmations that target my biggest fears, and my gratitude prayer. My gratitude prayer is simple:

"I am grateful this day for all that I have
I am blessed with what is mine
I am thankful for my health
my family
my home
I am grateful for all of this abundance in my life.
Blessed Be."

While this prayer is short and general, I also make an attempt to find specific things to be grateful for throughout the day. It's funny before I really dedicated myself to my path, I would think I should only be grateful for big meaningful things. That if I were grateful for something like my sense of taste so that I can enjoy chocolate that was "silly" or "trivial". Or if I were grateful for the nice things I had that I was selfish and materialistic. If I was ever trying to make a list of what I was grateful for it was like pulling teeth. I was somehow searching for the "right" answers. That if I put certain things on my list it wasn't good enough, so my list was always very short. And it looked like something a Pageant contestant would write: "I am grateful for the sun because it is something that everyone can enjoy".   I felt that I needed to be grateful for important things and only things that had positive connotations.

However, since really living my path I realized I had been so totally missing the point of gratitude. The point I had been trying to teach my children, and I had not grasped fully yet. The most important part of gratitude *is* to be grateful for the "silly, trivial" things. I also realized that being grateful for materialistic things did not make me selfish, but made me less so. Learning to be grateful for what you have and seeing gratitude in the littlest things is what it is all about. That is where the happiness lies. So now, my list is too long, but I will list some here:

I am grateful for:
the air for the life it gives, for breeze that cools me on a hot day
my lungs to breathe the air
The rain for the flowers it waters, the smell it gives the world, and the ability to dance it it
the earth for sustaining life, for its beauty and peace
fire for making room for new life, for cooking my food, and warming me when I am cold
for my sight so that I may see all of the colors and beauty of the world
for my hearing so that I may hear laughter and singing
for my taste so I may taste all of the amazing flavors
for my touch so that I may give and receive hugs from my children
for my sense of smell so that I may stop and smell the flowers, and candles and rain
for my speech for giving me a voice and the ability to express myself
for my heart for being able to give and receive love so openly, and for sustaining my life by keeping the blood flowing
for my tears for giving me a way to express emotions
for high heels
for my pain for teaching me how to be stronger
for my disappointments for teaching me how to let go
for my sadness for giving me the ability to empathize with others, and to understand human emotions.
for living in a time and place where I am able to write this blog
for toilet paper
that I found love
that my disease is in remission
for birds singing out my window
for my ancestors
for Goddess and God.... their love for me and mine for them
for ..... everything

You see I am grateful for everything now. I have no regrets in my life. Don't get me wrong, I have made some epically bad decisions in my life and would not encourage others to make the same ones. However, those choices made me who I am. They guided me on my journey to get here. And I love who I am and where I am at. I am grateful for all of those poor decisions. I am grateful that I have learned how to truly be grateful.

What are you grateful for?

I welcome all comments!