Gratitude

Gratitude

I feel the one of the things we are not taught is the importance of being grateful. The thing is no one can teach someone to be grateful. Someone can talk about gratitude and show other ways they practice being grateful but "being grateful" is an emotional state of being. How to be an emotion, any emotion, is a very individual experience. We all feel our emotions in our own way. Even though we all can Love, we all Love from our past experiences, which is different from how anyone else has experienced life and Love.

Even in death we can be grateful. Anyone at a "Dead" show will see gratitude on levels our society can find appalling. People dancing and celebrating just the fact they are alive. Smiling, beaming, twirling with the good ol' Grateful Dead just giving us the space to be. Most concerts and shows I attend have this same flavor. A space to remember it is cool to be alive.

Life can be heavy. We forgot what we had at the show. We remember bills, dead lines, car repairs. How boring. The thing is just as Jah and Mah are with us at the show they are with us at the auto machinist, paid job, even the laundromat. We can find that space. As humans, we have been given this mind that attaches to things to the exclusion of all else. We define our state of being by what we are attached to in the moment. Car repair -downer-life sucks. Making Love- bonus- life is great. As humans we also have the ability, though rarely used, to see we are attached and make a conscious choice to be in whatever state we want to be in. This is not superhero stuff but it does take practice and self-love. If the car needs repairs so be it, why should it affect my day?  Why give my energy to something that is aggravating? When I realize I am being sucked in I ask myself "Do I want to feel pissed?’ maybe- maybe not but at that moment I can decide. And usually the more I am Loving Myself that day the less likely I am to pick being pissed because why would I want someone I love to be pissed?

I look to the Providers Mah, the feminine creative energy, and Jah the male protective energy of the universe when I want to say "Thank You.” Now everyone has to find their own path to what, who and why to be grateful. My experience is when I get attached to negativity I can rise above it by giving " Thanks and Praises to Jah/ Mah.” And really there is always more to be grateful for than not. Look around- feel around. The sun still rises; the Mother Earth has let mankind have another day upon her (which is an act of mercy if you look at how we treat her). We can laugh, sing and dance when we wish- what a blessing! It does not get better than that.

Jah/Mah be Praised!

A quick Video of our planting day Thank You's-

Copyright © 2014 by Joseph aka "hippyjo"