The Spiritual Spacecraft

GRATITUDE - THE SPIRITUAL SPACE CRAFT “Let your heart awaken to the transforming power of gratefulness.” Sarah Ban Breathnach in Simple AbundancennGratitude shifts our internal space. Gratitude has the power to take us from our minds to the God center of our hearts. A simple “thank you” can trigger a shift within our very being from the lower vibratory emotions that may be present to the higher frequency of love. Giving thanks purifies our emotional response to life by focusing on love and leaving fear, doubt, worry, shame and blame behind. We cannot experience appreciation and any negative emotion in the same moment. Gratitude drives out our base, unworthy, but ever-so-human reactions. They weaken and lose their momentum, leaving us free to be light and loving, to be aware of the abundance of life. The next time you feel overwhelmed by fear or sadness, shift yourself out of that space into a God space by finding just a few things for which you are grateful. Not only does thanksgiving have the power to shift us emotionally, but a grateful heart can elevate our awareness. I call that a “shift in altitude”. For example, when I became thankful for a new relationship in my life, not only was I moved to link hearts with this person and rise to a love state, leaving fear and worry behind, but I was elevated in my understanding of the Truth about us. From that higher purview, personalities dropped away and I felt the Divine connection between us, and glimpsed the soul jou ey we are here to walk. nnGratitude raises our consciousness and puts us in the witness state. “By giving thanks you disengage your panel of internal judges – that committee that is so ready to condemn or label the person or circumstance as anything but ‘good,’” I wrote in 5 GIFTS for an Abundant Life. Through non-judgment we detach from the conditions of our life and appreciate all of them  both the good and the not-so-good. In that purified awareness we become open to the gift of the experience and the greater divine perfection and pattern of our lives. Circumstances that do not meet our expectations (the relationship failed, someone else got the job, the cold wouldn’t go away) lose their labels of “bad,” “ain’t it awful!” or “what did I do wrong?” under the clarifying rays of a grateful heart. I observed the transformational power of Gratitude as I watched my daughter’s life change when she rose above the apparent limitations of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on the wings of thanks for what she was experiencing physically. Her gratefulness led to an acceptance that became the doorway through which the gifts of this condition were revealed. She saw that this dis-ease interrupted a pattern of workaholism, allowed her to meet her husband to be, and taught her the art of self care. Gratitude throws our hearts wide open to the gifts of God to which we would have been blind in our former, limited state of consciousness.nn“Gratitude is an all-out experience. It’s cheating to be grateful only for the good things that happen and to shun the bad.” Attitudes of Gratitude by M .J. Ryann nBeing thankful for what is in this moment is the element that shifts us into acceptance of our current circumstance, without the need to judge or label it. Only then can we actually experience it. In that detached state we truly know that the Spirit is present in all things, now. nn“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.” (Melody Beattie)