Message from Spirit ~
~Why Gratitude Works~
Beloveds, you have been advised to adopt and maintain an attitude of gratitude in order to be happy, and create more of what you want in your life. You may have wondered - why is the practice of gratitude so important?
The key is the acceptance and embracing of what you see. Your gratitude for your present circumstances, relationships and situations ensures that you have identified the key vibration that signals your particular form of joy. Each of you has a particular form of joy, a particular tone or note or feeling than means ‘happy’ to you. This can be recognized as the feeling of carefree relaxation of tension, the inner peace that lets you know all is well no matter the outward circumstances.
Whatever your signal for joy may be – and it is well if you practice creating this signal, recognizing it and giving thanks for it – you can experience it any time. Yes, any time at all – your outward circumstances cannot prevent your joy signal from touching your awareness.
Gratitude can be your shortcut to joy. Giving thanks for your life, your consciousness, your experiences, your relationships – whatever holds that signal of your joy for you – can flip negativity over and expose the positivity that surrounds you. This positivity is the love of God that has seeped into your Earth mind at least for the moment. Seize it – hold it, feel it and give thanks for it. This is how the cycle continues – continually give thanks and find more and more to be thankful for, until at every moment, your joy signal continues unabated, and more importantly – you are aware of it.
Gratitude serves as the chemical/emotional/spiritual catalyst to your joy. The feeling nature is the same, and since like attracts like, the feelings increase in accordance with your intentions and practice. So, practice the mechanics of gratitude – “In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God for you,” as the scripture says. This means that, no matter what is happening in your life, the correct attitude – the attitude that leads to happiness – is to give thanks, to be grateful. You may view your circumstances as negative, but if you are grateful for the experience, its true meaning is given space to reveal itself to you. You may receive insight and perspective above and beyond your normal way of viewing your life. Simply by giving thanks for everything, without exception, you connect with your inner Godly mind and your personal signal for joy. That feeling, that signal, is your passport to the joy you were created to feel, always.
It may sound insane to say, for instance, “Thank you for this job layoff; thank you for the ending of this relationship; thank you for the loss of this beloved person/place/thing,” but in doing so you release judgment, and let the lesson of the circumstance begin to come into your awareness. As you express gratitude, you acknowledge that you do not know the meaning of these events, that you are open to know their meaning, and that you accept the events in your life. What a difference from your normal way of viewing seemingly negative events! You tend to dismiss them, rationalize them, make excuses for them, curse God or your fellow man for them.
Giving thanks for everything changes your whole attitude and perspective, thereby opening the way for your Godly mind to become more and more your usual way of thinking in the world, and leading inevitably to your total joy and fulfillment.
~ ~ ~
©Barbara Dutcher, MA, is a teacher, channel and certified spiritual counselor. * For information on her Spiritual Counseling services, please go to: www.theguidewithin.org/counseling.html * For Articles, and Messages from Spirit, you may visit www.theguidewithin.org/guidance.html *
