Gratitude is one of the most powerful feeling states we have the gift of experiencing.

Why is it so powerful? For many, many reasons. First, it brings us into our hearts. Gratitude is not found in the head. It is solely a feeling of the heart. For those of you who want to get out of your head, move your focus to gratitude and you will stop the incessant chatter of the mind and move towards just being with a moment of acknowledgement of what is good. Most importantly, that acknowledgement is felt, not thought. It is felt with a breath, a sigh, a smile, an opening of the heart. It’s a moment of stopping and smelling the roses, so to speak.

And there is more to the power of gratitude. It brings us into the Now! For those of you who are practicing mindfulness as a way of being more present, gratitude is a wonderful doorway into the Now. I personally love it for that reason alone!

Another powerful aspect of gratitude is that it brings in wisdom. I have experienced that over and over and over again. I am my smartest when I am in my heart, away from the thought patterns of my mind. Gratitude is a doorway to wisdom….to our heart intelligence.

Gratitude for me also connects me to my spirit. For any of you who feel alone or disconnected, gratitude is a powerful way of reconnecting.

There was one woman in my practice who decided to go on a “rampage of appreciation”. She was glowing when I saw her next. Yes, it is possible to glow.

Now there can be a trap with gratitude and that’s the “I’m grateful, but” trap. So many of us dilute what we’re grateful for by using it as an introduction to one of our problem areas. It’s like we want to soften the impact of the problem area. I often hear this in my practice. “I know I have a lot to be grateful for, but I really don’t like my life or an aspect of my life.” I have heard that in many variations over the years.  We all have a right to the truth of our emotions. My recommendation to you is to keep the truth of your emotions separate from the authenticity of gratitude. That way, you can stay with the depth of what is real for you in the moment. That’s how we grow. We can unknowingly diminish either gratitude or our emotions.

Feel each in its totality. If you are grateful, let it wash through you – all the pores and cells of your body. Bathe in it. If you are angry or grieving or disappointed, then feel the totality of that emotion. It may sound gracious to lace our emotions with gratitude, but I really do suggest you feel the purity of what is real for you in the moment. Feeling the purity of what “is” allows us to move on to what is next.

For those of you who attended the talks I gave a few years back, I still do my 5 minutes gratitude meditation at night. This is a very powerful way to keep the momentum moving forward.

Happy Thanksgiving!