The Spiritual Time Machine

GRATITUDE - THE SPIRITUAL TIME MACHINE “For every circumstance, in every move of your life, lift your heart in thanksgiving.”Quiet Talks with the Master by Eva Bell Werbe nGratitude Shifts our Concept of Linear Time. We all know on the spiritual level that there is no time…there is simply the infinite, ete al, present moment. Yet often as human beings we find ourselves trapped in a time capsule of our past or future, thus robbing us of the gifts of God that only come when we live in the reality of now. “GRATITUDE is the grace that re-visions our linear lives, working magic with every strand of the past, present and future,” I wrote in 5 GIFTS for an Abundant Life.nnBeing grateful for what was is the key to releasing the grip of the past so that we can live as whole beings, here and now. Only when we are unencumbered by negative attachments to our past can we make sense out of it, see its patterns, feel its rhythms, and extract the pearls of wisdom and grace from those experiences. Attaining a level of gratitude for all the difficult people and experiences from our past requires that we forgive them and ourselves. This process of forgiveness, which may take one session or many years, is complete when we can be grateful for whom and what we are forgiving, for the contribution that that made in our lives. The payoff of this process is the power of Gratitude to transport us from our history into our present, where all aspects of ourselves are unified. We are thus indeed free to be all that we are created to be. A client shared a story to illustrate the power of Gratitude to shift time in this direction. For years, he had been carrying resentment about his first wife’s infidelity during their marriage. It seemed that every subsequent relationship he had resulted in a breakup over broken promises, and he felt of victimized once again. After a few spiritual counseling sessions, the blame and anger he felt for his ex-wife surfaced. With prayer and guidance, he began investigating the layers of emotions beneath his anger, grieving his loss, coming to terms with his role in the marriage, and moving into forgiveness of her and himself. He was able to feel gratitude from his heart for his ex-wife and for the gifts she and the marriage had given him. Shortly afterwards, he met a woman whose emotional and spiritual development was compatible with his. Gratitude shifted him from past pain continually revisited to present time opportunities.nnBeing thankful for what will be prepares our consciousness to be receptive to our future goals. When we give thanks for a desire before it has come to fruition, we move into a spiritual understanding that our intention is already demonstrated, even before it is manifested in our experience. “…for true thanksgiving may be likened to rain falling upon ready soil, refreshing it and increasing its productiveness” writes Unity co-founder, Charles Fillmore in his book Prosperity. This attitude of gratitude frees us from the conce s about how or when we may achieve a goal or desire. Feeling thankful that it is gestating in the womb of creation, we can focus our attention on the Now, and allow the Divine creative process to deliver our desired outcome to us in perfect time for the highest good of all. How many of us, though, have been tempted to check up on the progress of our desires? We plant the seed of intention in the fertile soil of our consciousness, water it with gratitude, surrender it to the Divine creative process, and then because it’s taking too long we go in and pull up the roots, just to see how things are going! Next time you have this urge, try watering the field of your awareness with still more gratitude that what you intend is on its way. Then gently bring your awareness back to the only real time…the present. n n