Gratitude

The Wise Ones say,  "After enlightenment, carry water, chop wood."

Such wise advice. What they mean by that is that no matter how enlightened we become, we are in this dimension to learn through the experiences of the body; so that we can continue to explore who we are as souls . These every daily tasks  like carrying water and chopping wood show us how much it takes to maintain life, making us aware of the great gift that life is.

Today we are so inundated with conveniences, that few of us ever get to chop wood or carry water. Everything we need is made easy to get.  
We turn on the faucet and water comes out.
We go to the market, and there is food on the shelves.
We turn up the thermostat and we get heat.
But it has not always been this way. In fact our life of conveniences is relatively new.

Our ancestors understood what it meant to find water every day, to gather enough food to live another day, to heal the body and mind with herbs, to create community, to survive the unexpected.

Life took a lot of work and it gave our ancestors a deep appreciation of who we are, how the forces in the universe work, and why we are here. With the loss of these essential life lessons, we struggle to make sense of it all. Especially in this electronic age where we get lost in the ethers of virtual reality. Who are we, when nothing is real?

Yet there is a very simple way to bring us back into our reality. It is to express gratitude for every thing that exists in our lives. 

Thank the water when you turn on the tap and take a drink or take a shower. It will go a long way. The water hears you and responds with gratitude. It sets up a cycle of love and caring that grows in all directions, creating well being for all. 

Thank the wood that keeps you warm.

 Thank the plants and animals for sustaining your body.

Thank the ancestors who have made it possible for you to be here now. Their lives have made it possible for you to be in this time and place

Thank your body for carrying you on this great adventure of life. 

Thank the Earth for giving you a home. 

Gratitude is a powerful elixir ; it will give you peace, a sense of having enough, of being enough, of being loved and cared for.

A sense of Being Joyful. 

Of just Being.

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