"Be grateful for what you have", we hear this piece of advice since the beginning of time, in every faith, religion, motivational quotes, spiritual teachings and daily life. It is so simple, even so cliché yet still so powerful in creating a magnificent life.
When we observe the act and feeling of gratitude within the framework of the universal laws, it is simply a very dominant feeling of being happy and contentment and as we all know, our entire life and well being are created by our dominant thoughts and feelings. If a person's dominant feelings are happiness and contentment, then what he will create as his reality will be events, experiences and people that will bring him more happiness and contentment.
It is not rocket science, it is as simple as that, then, howcome, only a minority of people live a magnificent life?
Because saying "thank you" is not enough if not accompanied by your feelings and actions.
Words, actions and feelings create equal forces of energy, none is stronger than the other, thus if there is a conflict among the trio, then your life will surely be not magnificent,also not horrible, but will be mediocre as a reflection of this conflict.
That is the exact reason why we cannot experience the great power of gratitude in our lives and underestimate its magic.
The following is usually what happens:
1. We are continously adviced on being grateful
2. We are continously adviced on living and staying in the moment
3. We are continously adviced on leaving the past behind and focusing on our future goals
None of the above is wrong, on the contrary, they are the fundamental teachings of spiritual development yet they are usually misunderstood, thus give no results or make or lives more miserable than ever eventually. There is a very fragile balance which should be maintained during the practice of these teachings.
1. Living in the "now" or living in the moment and being only grateful for what you have are two practices which if implemented on their own can create lethargy over time, as, if there is only now, why bother even dreaming about a future which is no concern to me at the moment? If there is only "now", what is the point of being ambitious about anything? If there is only "now", how will I determine my development, improvement, success, transformation curve which actually happened over a period of time which I now call "the past"? If there is only "now", why should I even bother to check where I have started, where I am, and decide where I will be?
If there is only now, there is no observable evolution. No evolution can occur, if all of the people suddenly decide to live in the "now" always and all the time and settle for what they already have without having a future goal in their mind. This is not a functional way of creating and attracting a magnificent life.
2. Leaving the past behind, forgetting or covering up the traces of the past and keeping our focus only on the future sounds like a clean idea, but how do you plan to observe your development, transformation and success if you plan to forget about where and when you have started? How do you plan to observe how far you have achieved in life if you do not for a moment stop and look back where you began? If there is no past, how will you truly understand that you are actually living the life you have dreamed about a couple of years back? How will you know that you have actually already succeeded?
Well, you will not!
That contentment will always be a tale of the future, as you will never realize that you actually have what you did not years ago. You will not be able to feel a sincere gratitude towards life, regardless of how much you say "thank you", for you refuse to observe and embrace your past mistakes and experiences and all those paths and decisions you have made in the past which have actually made you the person you are today. A gratitude cannot be truly felt, if one only keeps his eyes ahead for an ever unattainable promise of a future goal. That goal will never manifest, for there will always be new promises which you will run for, that is the exactly opposite way of showing your gratitude towards life. You tell the entire universe that "it is not enough!" with your actions and feelings and how do you expect your words of "thank you" compensate these actions and feelings?
True and sincere gratitude can be felt if only one integrates the three principles in a perfectly harmonious way. Otherwise, your actions will tell something, your feelings will tell another thing, and your words will say something else.
1. You cannot fear over something each and every day until the thing which you have feared actually happens. For example, you may have a credit card debt due in 3 weeks, but until the due date comes, there is no point in dying every single day over a scenerio that has not actualized yet. Do the best you can in the "now" and relax, thinking further is a waste of your time and energy. You have to stay in the moment, you have to be here in the now. You cannot fast-forward to a future which has not happened yet. Enjoy the day, do not live in future scenerios and say thank you and be grateful that, just for today you have nothing to worry about.
2. You must have grand dreams, you must have future goals, you must set your eyes on the prize; every success was once a mere thought, you will think about it until it happens! The things you currently have, your life, all are a result of your previous dreams, realize that you are actually living the life you have once dreamed about, so you will continue to dream even bigger. To realize your achievements, you will observe and embrace your past and be grateful that those past mistakes have brought you your dreams, you will feel the gratitude because the things you have once dreamed about is now your current reality, and you will feel gratitude knowing that you will even achieve more because you are perfectly aware that this is how the universe works.
3. A person can live in the "now", set their eyes on a future goal through embracing his past, and be truly grateful and content in full awareness of what he currently has was once a mere thought, a dream, a promise which too many still do not have. A person can LOVE what he already has, but still can seek for the better, yet if one is truly grateful for what he has, he will naturally be patient and relaxed about the timing of a future goal, he will not even care whether that goal happens or does not happen for he is already happy with his current life. This is the ultimate, the most important accelerator of the manifestation process : Detachment.
1. Detachment happens in existence of true gratitude.
2. True gratitude can be felt only in embrace of the linear time (past, now and the future)
(Although in a grander scheme there is no linearity of time, we cannot disrespect nor reject the infancy of human perception, we have to accept that linearity is currently the only way for our mind to perceive "life", which is like the snapshots of a camera. You cannot expect to feel, act and speak in true gratitude if you force yourself to act against your mind's nature.)
3. Great manifestations can only happen if you dare to visualize your desired future in a perfectly detached and grateful manner. If you remove one single item from this formula, you will not get a sense of what the Law of Attraction is truly capable of.
As you see, the teachings which hear from the teachers, read from the books, learn from many other sources can easily be misunderstood, not correctly practiced, be underestimated or labeled with many tags such as "useless" just because we do not truly know how to blend them together and utilize them in our daily life.
The gratitude is one of the most powerful tools of creation if practiced in true sincerety along with other tools of manifestation which are explained above.
Try now!
With love