Living it.
When we live our gratitude, we feel joy…. It washes over us and through us in waves. We feel that joy on a smaller level when we feel gratitude, you know, at the beginning.
We know about thinking in terms of gratitude and then feeling gratitude and even expressing gratitude. But what in the world do we mean by living gratitude? How do we do that?
Perhaps the simplest way to explain it is to give an example. Recently I took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico to help a friend who fell and fractured her hip. She just couldn’t be left alone because there were too many things she just couldn’t do on her own. I was very thankful, as was she, that the hip was only fractured and not broken.
Every day she got stronger and able to do more so I returned home after spending 10 days there and making sure she could make her meals, had food and anything else she might need or would be able to get it on her own. She is doing very well.
The first leg of my trip was getting the car back to the rental place. I left in plenty of time to get there, but I depended on the wonderful voice of google maps for directions. First, she wouldn’t speak the directions, so I reset my phone and yay, she talked. That particular morning she must have been having a nervous breakdown and kept sending me in circles telling me to turn left, over and over again and if not left to do a u-turn. I was on the verge of panic because now I was going to be late. I gave up on my map lady and called the car rental place who got me back to the lot very easily; then provided a ride to my shuttle to the airport in Albuquerque. The shuttle waited for me and we made it to the airport in plenty of time for everyone to get to their planes. Many things to appreciate at the beginning of my day.
Fire Trucks! Really!
The flight to Orange County Airport in California seemed very short, but when we started our descent, the pilot announced we would have to divert to LAX because there was trouble with the landing controls, not the gear, but the controls and the OC airport wasn’t long enough for us to safely land. I wasn’t at all concerned, I had no fear of the future and had confidence we would be fine and kept reading my book.
Then I became aware of all the grumbling going on around me. Some didn’t seem to believe there was a problem and the airline was just doing this to stress them out and others were, joking, but still saying that we would most likely have to pay for the bus ride to OC. Grumbles and frowns oh my! These were the norm and rampant on the plane.
We stayed on the plane while they worked the problem and figured out what to do. Of course, we did not have to pay our own way to OC. I thanked the stewardess for getting us safely on the ground and meant it. I was grateful, not grumbling. She thanked me for my smile, but I could see there was a bit of fear on her face.
We were asked to go to the next gate, walk maybe 20 feet to get there and as soon as another plane came in, we were put on and taken safely to OC airport. That was when we were told fire trucks and ambulances followed us all the way down the runway to our gate….just in case! That just made me more appreciative to be where I was supposed to be safe and sound and I expressed my gratitude with a smile and thanks when I exited the plane. Not many people did that. Shame.
Now, yes, I felt gratitude, but in my small way, I was living it as well. I never felt fear. It never occurred to me to be upset with the pilot, attendants, or airline because we were safe. The worked the problem and not one person was injured. I will fly with that airline again!
I do have a role model for living my gratitude!
I am just learning to live my gratitude. Actually, I am just learning about living gratitude period and I am extremely blessed to have a role model!
I watch and learn from Guruji Mahendra Trivedi. There isn’t a moment he isn’t living his gratitude. They are inseparable! There is no Guruji without gratitude. He lives it, he breathes it, and he speaks it. Because of his level of caring and his connectedness to the Divine, it is just a marvelous part of who he is and how he expresses himself. I am striving for that level of gratitude.
The expression of gratitude where I feel like I do right now. You may have heard the phrase the incredible lightness of being. Feeling euphoric but not giddy or manic, grounded but very light at the same time. At least that is what it feels like to me. I am pretty sure I am feeling like this because I lived my gratitude on my way home from Santa Fe. Never going into fear or negative thoughts, but remaining in gratitude the no matter what came.
I know what you are thinking. I wouldn’t think or feel this way if we crashed, right? Well, we will not know because that didn’t happen. I feel like I am just getting started though. Learning about gratitude, love, life force, grace and all the spaces in between. Because of this, I am calm and peaceful and feeling that incredible lightness of being and very grateful.
Giving back what I can and grateful I am still here to do just that!
