Everyone talks about being grateful and feeling gratitude. But how and where are those ideas actualized? It is indeed simple to say, ‘I am grateful for health, family, and financial security’.
It’s easy to state gratitude for being born in a country of opportunity (unfortunately, not EQUAL opportunity for all). However, the question remains: How do these feelings of gratitude manifest in our lives? Furthermore, where do these feelings reside and how can they grow?
There’s a difference between simply uttering words of gratitude and harnessing the energy derived from experiencing true gratitude. I know someone who writes in a journal about their feelings—they call it their gratitude practice. I believe this is a wonderful approach, as long as the emotions imbued into their body and spirit extend beyond the pages and into the world.
The notion of the “location” of gratitude holds significance because there is a distinction between merely thinking about gratitude and truly feeling it within your body. For me, when I sit with the idea of gratitude, I feel a swelling in my heart center that radiates throughout my torso.
It’s an opening, a warmth, an overwhelming sense of both my smallness in the world and my desire to give to others.
Do you have a gratitude practice? If so, how do you incorporate it into your life and how does it impact your actions?
