We Need Appreciation and Gratitude More Than Ever Before!
A Creativity and Personal Mastery (CPM) alum asked me to elaborate on Appreciation and Gratitude for current times.
Many alums are feeling quite far from grateful, and some are even scared.
This is unfortunate. It is also contrary to the spirit of CPM.
We see a small sliver of a complex ‘reality’, foist our story on it and then proceed to feel the emotions we have embedded in that story.
This is a sorry way to live. Why on earth would you let anyone, much less the cartoon politicians we have spawned, hijack your wellbeing? Don’t hand over the keys to your happiness to total jerks. Never, ever, do this.
Of course, there will be consequences. Some of them will affect us. We will use these to grow on our individual journey. But we can always do so with good cheer.
Listen to the voice-over in this clip from the movie Gandhi:
When I despair I remember that
all through history the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time,
they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall.
Think of it. Always.
So, remember to look at the world around you and savor the fact that it is perfect. It always has been. That is appreciation.
And then give thanks that you can indeed work on this plane to go beyond it and all other planes. That is gratitude.
Appreciation and Gratitude go hand in hand and are inextricably intertwined. That there is so much sorrow around you need not, should not, bring down your spirit.
Rather, your growth comes through your earnest effort to alleviate the suffering that so distresses you.
You cannot shut your eyes and pretend that it does not exist.
Nor can you allow it to overwhelm you as it will readily do if you allow it to.
Now, more than ever, is the time to focus relentlessly on what you can do and on the role you can play. Then be at peace with wherever the chips fall.
And, to conclude on a lighter note, here is a limerick I LOVE that encapsulates the dilemma that we are all stuck in:
There was a faith healer in Deal
Who said, “Though I know pain isn’t real,
When I sit on a pin
And it punctures my skin
I dislike what I fancy I feel.”
Peace!
