Today is a good day to cultivate the practice of being grateful, noticing what is good in our lives rather than noticing what is wrong. This practice helps us to wake up to all the gifts around us each day, as well as connecting us to a stream of basic goodness inside ourselves and in others. What little things could we be grateful for today?"We often ask, "What's wrong?" Doing so we invite painful seeds of sorrow to come up and manifest. We feel suffering, anger and depression and produce more such seeds.
We would be much happier if we tried to stay in touch with the healthy, joyful seeds inside of us and around us.
We should learn to ask "What is not wrong?" and be in touch with that".
Thich Nhat Hahn, Peace is Every Step
"Practicing gratitude consistently leads to a direct experience of being connected to life and the realization that there is a larger context in which your personal story is unfolding. Being relieved of the endless wants and worries of your life's drama, even temporarily, is liberating. Cultivating thankfulness for being part of life blossoms into a feeling of being blessed, not in the sense of winning the lottery, but in a more refined appreciation for the interdependent nature of life. It also elicits feelings of generosity, which create further joy. Gratitude can soften a heart that has become too guarded, and it builds the capacity for forgiveness, which creates the clarity of mind that is ideal for spiritual development. The understanding you gain from practicing gratitude frees you from being lost or identified with either the negative or the positive aspects of life, letting you simply meet life in each moment as it rises."
Philipp Moffitt
