If you google the word gratitude you’ll find that it is a hot topic. Deborah Norville, Rhonda Byrne, Robert Emmons, are just a few authors with recently published books about the importance of gratitude.
All the attention about gratitude raises it to a higher state of awareness. If people are writing about it, then people are reading about it and probably people are talking about it.
But are we grateful for the right reasons? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first to recognize that practicing gratitude on a regular basis changes us mentally, physically, spiritually. It helps us get in touch with the good things in life rather than the things we don’t want. It helps lower blood pressure, improves the immune system, reduce headaches, why, even your cat will pay more attention to you.
But here is what I think is the most important reason for practicing gratitude. It connects us spiritually. When we are grateful, we connect with the heart which opens us to love. It is difficult and nearly impossible to feel resentment and gratitude at the same time. Feeling grateful puts us into an awakened state of love. Charles Fillmore defines love as “the power that joins and binds in divine harmony the universe and everything in it; it is the great harmonizing principle known to man.”
When we connect with Divine Love we live a kinder, gentler life. We recognize Peace in the midst of turmoil and Goodness in the midst of strife. We have more compassion and less judgment for ourselves and others. We live in a state of Grace.
Practicing gratitude magnifies the good in life. Whatever book you read or gratitude technique you practice, you are opening your heart to love. And isn’t that something to be grateful for?