Gratitude in the Midst

I recently listened to Mary Morrissey give a talk on Gratitude. Her invitation was to practice gratitude in the midst of all circumstances and experiences in our lives. This invitation includes a subtle shift from practicing gratitude for things or conditions in our lives to practicing gratitude in all experiences of our lives. This is what I call the "gratitude stretch."

This morning I received a test message from my dear friend Thunder in Ashland...it said one word "awake?" Yes, I am awake. I am awake this morning to the full spectrum of experiences and emotions in my life and I am practicing gratitude in the midst. In the conversation that followed he asked me, "sad, mad, happy, glad, afraid?" Yes, to all of those. I find as I become more and more present in my body that I experience a range of all those emotions. This morning during my yoga practice, I accessed anger in my buttocks, fear in my thighs, sadness in my heart and happiness in my eyes. All of them participating in this beautiful movement into union, all of them having a place in my experience and in my body temple. I am grateful for this deeply, deeply awake experience of emotion embodied, of life embodied. I breath, I feel, I deepen, I expand and I soften this heart that is opening to love, rising in love, extending and expanding in love.

Today, on the 2nd anniversary of my father's death I am opening to the great expanse of my heart and practicing gratitude in the midst. I am grateful for his life and his living, his smile and his sparkle. I am grateful for his charisma and his laughter, his courage and his stamina, his sense of adventure and his love for life. I am grateful for his loving and his tenderness, for his fear and for his constriction, for his heartbreak and for his liberation. I am grateful for this man, Edward "Ted" Ellis Coman who's life force I carry with me now, who guides me to overcome my fear of flying and allow myself to soar. I love you Dad and I am so grateful for my life and your presence in it. Happy Anniversary on this 2nd year of your liberation and your ascent into the arms of the Beloved. Have a blessed day! Amen.

Beloveds, in the midst of the circumstances of your life, I invite you to open to the full range of emotion and experience and practice gratitude.

Love,
Anakha