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February 14, 2016

A Letter to the Energy of Gratitude.

thank you gratitude grateful

Dear Gratitude,

I’ve been wanting to write this letter to you for a while now.

I think about you often and you always have a huge place in my heart. Lately I’ve been feeling that I need to strengthen my relationship with you. The long winter nights and the short dreary days at this time of year make me remember how much you help me stay sane.

Since you’ve become such an integral piece of my daily life, my outlook has changed dramatically. I’ve gone from seeing and experiencing magical moments, to seeing the whole of life as one huge magical experience. Whenever I start feeling stuck or unsure about my purpose, I remember that I can quickly call you into my heart, and before long, I’m feeling the flow and remembering that my purpose is to simply be.

To be grateful once again for this opportunity at life.

Sometimes still though, there are days that I wake up and I don’t want to get out of bed. I’d rather stay safely tucked under my covers and just keep listening to the rain fall on my tin roof. I don’t always feel the desire to jump up and face the day with a courageous heart but I know that if I want to make the most of my life, I need to do just so. And that’s where I’ve come to appreciate you so much for being in my life.

Gratitude, you’re always here for me. I know this. You’re always coursing through my veins and pumping through my heart. All I need to do is remember this and it makes life richer instantly.
I want to shout your praise from the tops of the cedar trees that surround my home. I want the whole world to hear how wonderful you are…and how easily accessible you are…and how you’ve so easily enhanced my well being and general life experience. I want everyone to know that if they’re feeling blue, or challenged in any way whatsoever, that all they have to do is generate a stronger relationship with you and their life will shift instantly.

You are an amazingly powerful source that needs to be shared with the world!

Oh Gratitude! Where would I be without you? Probably still in bed, hoping that someone would bring my some food and water and a good book to read. Or maybe I’d be trudging through all the big puddles on the street, stomping around angrily and wishing for sunshine. But instead, I’m up and about, riding my bike through the stormy day, loving the rain washing down my face, and feeling grateful for it all.

If you, Gratitude weren’t so near and dear to me, I might have gotten upset today when I went to refill my propane tank at the gas station down the street only to find out that their propane pump is broken and they aren’t sure when it’s getting fixed…well, no hot showers or hot cooked food for me tonight, but that’s okay.

I’m feeling really grateful that I have dry wood to burn in my fireplace. So, while I might not have warm water or a cookstove, I still have warmth in my home. And for this is I am grateful. I know not everyone has this basic need tonight. Many are going without a hot shower, without a hot meal and without a warm home. I am grateful to have what I have in this moment. It’s more than many.

Whenever I’m feeling a little more on the down side, a little less jubilant about life, I remember you Gratitude and everything changes instantly.

I remember when my brother died six years ago, at the airport on my way to be with my family and hold his celebration of life, I picked up a book about how to stay positive in the hardest of times. It was just what I needed in that moment, a minor piece of condolence to an otherwise horrific situation. And there you were Gratitude, awaiting me with an exercise on how to make our painful experiences more meaningful by offering our words of Gratitude for everything we could think of that we were grateful for in that moment. I remember it being a strange exercise to be doing just days after such a tragic loss, but it was what I needed to bring some focus and remembrance to what I still did have to be grateful for, otherwise I might have completely fallen to pieces that were impossible to put back together again.

I’m sure some of my family members thought we were crazy to be sitting with pen and paper listing everything we were grateful for in that moment, but we did it anyway. My sister and I sat by the fire in the living room we all grew up in and we used all the energy we had to bring you closer into our hearts. We welcomed you, Gratitude, to be with us then during the hardest time of our lives.

And I’m so grateful that you heard us, and that you came, and that you stayed.

You’ve been an integral part of my everyday life for quite some time now. At the business I run, we have a book dedicated to you. We offer our customers the opportunity to express whatever they are grateful for in that moment, in writing, by leaving their mark in our Gratitude book. This book has been with us for many years, and as one fills up, another one starts.

I think we’re on book three now.

I thought it would be nice to share with you what some other people are grateful for…how other people express themselves through you, Gratitude.

“I am grateful for community”

“I am grateful for healthy food and good vibes”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to visit beautiful places”

“I am grateful to be alive”

“I am grateful for good music”

“I am grateful for my girlfriend and the baby in her belly”

“I am grateful for YOU!”

As you can see, there is so much that we are all grateful for.

You have brought so much peace into my life. Whenever I feel myself getting a little bent out of shape over anything, I think of you, and a wash of calm instantly comes over me. I’ve come to realize that in every moment, there is an abundance to be grateful for, and if I can get this realization to stick in my mind, become part of the very cells of my physical making, and settle into my heart, I can handle anything that comes my way. I can take the hardest situations and find you, Gratitude, standing strong in the centre of it all. This brings me great peace.

When I have to let go of something I love, I can be grateful for everything I learned and for everything I gained, and for everything I became while that particular thing, whether it was a person, a place, or merely an object, was a part of my life.

When I find myself face to face with a “difficult” person, I can stop, step back, and remember that you are here for me in this moment. What could have been perceived as a negative experience, becomes instead, a moment that I am grateful to have gotten to a part of. I can be grateful for the challenge to open my heart in ways that I have yet to do. I can be grateful for the opportunity to see myself in a new light, asking myself, what part of myself wants to grow from this experience, what part of myself wants to evolve?

Oh Gratitude, I could go on forever, but there is only so much that words can say. It’s my heart that I wish for you to feel. And I know you do. Because you are my heart, and I am yours. Gratitude, you and I are not separate. We are one. Thank you. Thank me. Thank the heavens for this opportunity.

I hold the faith in my heart that your energy will touch the very core of so many beings on this planet.

With love and respect, forever and always,

~ Morgan Leigh.

P.S. If you get a chance, can you take a quick look around, and if anyone looks like they might need a little extra support right now in their life, can you tap them on the shoulder and say “hey, I’m Gratitude and I’m here to help you see the beauty of this life!”…sometimes people just need a little extra nudge! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 

 

 

Author: Morgan Leigh Callison

Editor: Renée Picard

Image: aphotoshooter at Flickr 

 

 

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