Love asks for no return, no gratitude. Everyone is God in
the process of evolution. Identify yourself with everything that lives. In love
lies the salvation of all beings and the world. – Swami Sivananda
Everyone has a complaint sometimes. The ideal of gratitude can be misused
sometimes as well. Have you ever been
told “You should be grateful?” Some
people have very hard lives, feel powerless and victimized. In some ways they may be right. We need to complain sometimes and make sure
that our complaints are heard and attended to.
Then again, there are those of us who complain all the
time. It seems that nothing is ever
right and we can never be satisfied. The
mindful approach is to accept everything, everyone including yourself exactly
as it is at this moment. Even if you are
experiencing some feelings of dissatisfaction.
Let everything be just as it is. This
open awareness and acceptance actually transforms everything.
Gratitude is powerful.
It can help relieve depression, heal our bodies and open our
hearts. Realize that everything in your
life right now is precisely what you need for your spiritual evolution. It doesn’t necessarily make sense on a
rational level but it does on a deeper soul level. It’s not so much about “learning to love
yourself” as realizing that “yourself” is a fictional character. All that really exists is love.
Allow each moment to be as it is and let your actions arise
from the state of Loving Awareness.
Or not. It’s up to
you and me.
