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When people in great numbers choose to practice, integrate, and embody gratitude, the cumulative force that is generated can help create the kind of world we all hope for and desire, for ourselves and for future generations. ~ Angeles Arrien

Sometimes it is difficult to hold on to the notion that there is goodness in the world when torrents of fear, hatred and catastrophe are all around us. All the darkness can pull you away from your true nature and can turn your expectations away from hope and toward defeat. There is a way to stay linked to that sun that is always there within you and that way is ‘gratitude’.

Gratitude is a complex emotion that begins long before you say, ‘thank you.’

It arises when you connect to the essence of divinity that bubbles up from within you and floods your consciousness with appreciation. It is triggered by something that occurs outside of you that interrupts your ordinary thought patterns. Maybe it is a piece of music that touches your soul with an immense awareness of the beauty and harmony in the progression of the notes. Maybe it is a gesture of kindness you experience from someone that opens your heart and fills you with love. It could be a sudden sense of being part of the vastness of existence that floods in as you stand on a beach and look out at the ocean that touches your feet with every wave.

In this time of strife and hardship, it is good to realise we always have the capacity to discover the moments that move us toward gratitude and that help resotre our faith in goodness, order, nature and the beauty and love that exist all around us. We just need to take the time to look and really see.

Benedictine monk, Br. David Steindl-Rast explains gratitude as, “the inner gesture of giving meaning to our life by receiving life as gift.”  Here is a beautifully simple video that gives you three steps to develop the practice of gratitude in your life.  Br. Steindl-Rast suggests that your life can become a testament to gratitude every day if you

Stop…Look…Go:

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more. ~ Br. David Steindl-

For more information about Breathwork – contact John Stamoulos at  john@johnstamoulos.com