A Thankful Heart

 I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. G.K. Chesterton

Feeling gratitude is easy when all is well. It’s an expansion of the sense of peace and joy finding expression. It’s more of an exercise of hope when nothing good seems to be happening. There is always something for which I can be truly, deeply grateful. When I concentrate on those things, I feel physically calmer and more at peace emotionally. I have a name for it: Cellular Gratitude. Maybe there’s a link in the body’s production of oxytocin. I don’t know. I just know that I feel deep gratitude physically, and I like it! I am grateful for gratitude.

Finding and expressing my gratitude is an invitation to myself to look deeper, to see the positives, and to be more open and receptive to the beauty as well as the lessons that surround me. It is the building block of serenity. It is the directional arrow to joy in any situation.

Bad things happen. There is injustice. We grieve when a loved one dies or is otherwise lost to us. Sadness IS, but all along the way, there are the tiny wonders which can lift our spirits and keep us moving forward.

My gift to myself is to notice those things and to feel the gratitude, even for just a moment.

Let it flow!

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