Hi all, this is the forth instalment in a series of posts where we will explore the 5 Reiki Precepts and applying them in the modern world. In the third post we looked anger in the face. In the forth, we look at all of the benefits to creating an “Attitude of Gratitude”
Precept #3. Just for today, I will be grateful.
Gratitude has many similar forms; acknowledgment, appreciation, grace, gracefulness, gratefulness, praise, recognition, requital (a return or reward for service, kindness, etc), responsiveness, thankfulness and more. Socially, if we acquire something through exchange, effort or achievement, or by right, then we don’t typically feel gratitude as we may feel we deserve to receive it. Gratitude is an emotion we feel in response to receiving something good which is undeserved and as a response to a gift, gratitude is also a form of generosity, of graciously crediting the giver for something that was not strictly expected or owed.
Being grateful appears in some lists of the Reiki Principles but not all, but of course in any case having appreciation and cultivating an attitude of feeling blessed for all that you have and experience and also feeling joy for the benefits and blessings of others seems like common sense and a general way of life that’s easy to comprehend as good and nurturing and positive. But in a world where it is also so common to want something else or more, is it hard to cultivate, maintain and practice gratitude?
If we continuously want, then we programme ourselves to want. If want is a predominant energy that we send out to the universe then that is what we will get back…. more experience of wanting, remember we attract to ourselves that which we are, and what you hold in mind tends to manifest. Like attracts like and lack attracts lack, so staying positive and grateful for what you have and what you are is a way of life that will attract more blessings into your life.
Studies in all fields of science including psychiatry, psychology and more show that being thankful has many positive results in many aspects of our lives. Physiologically it improves our physical and emotional health and practicing and cultivating thankfulness boosts our immune system, increases blood supply to our heart, alertness, enthusiasm, energy and improves our sleep. Research has shown that cultivating thankfulness leads to reductions in the stress hormone cortisol, which at higher and more prolonged levels in circulation (as is with chronic stress) has been shown to have negative effects on us. In other words, these findings suggest that people with an “attitude of gratitude” experience lower levels of stress.
There are social implications too, people can use gratitude to form new social relations or to build upon and make current ones better. Acts of gratitude can be used to form and build social relations, apologise, make amends, help solve other problems and also feel gracious because it can be an intrinsically rewarding process. Simply being grateful for being alive is a great way to motivate oneself to seize the day. The idea that tomorrow is not guaranteed can be a strong motivator for some people. So maybe we can be grateful for just being, and being alive right now and for everything that is alive right now and for all of the experiences that we continue to have in this human life, and not just the ones that made us laugh and smile and feel joy, but all of the other experiences that in the past we judged as negative and the other souls involved who are on their journey too.
Every experience we have ever had, in this life or in any of the previous ones (if you subscribe to that) has been the result of the fact that we attracted it and co-created it through choice on some level as part of our souls’ purpose. The mere fact that you and I are alive right now shows that karmically, we have earned the right to be in a place, alive here and right now, where we can make a choice and determine our own destiny by the choices we make. The beauty of just being is that by ones’ own choice one can determine ones’ own Karmic destiny, not some arbitrary higher power who beats you up and throws you into hell for being bad, one gets to determine it yourself. Freedom, then, to realise the source of your own existence is that you have infinite freedom. Infinite freedom is that there are no limits on your choice. Surely, we can be grateful for this freedom and for this human life and with the help of Reiki and other healthy pursuits we can cultivate gratefulness and practice it more and more.
Human life comes out of an incredible complexity, the evolution of consciousness and all of its’ Karmic expressions throughout all of time is what accounts for everything that is, even for the existence of the speck of dust floating across my computer screen as I write this piece for the blog. Everything that we see is a result of the evolution of all that has ever been throughout all of time, since the beginning of time. For me to see this speck of dust, here in this exact spot, floating across my computer screen and this exact spot in the universe right now, the room has to be here, I have to be here, the house has to be here, Dublin has to be here, the earth has to be here in this place in the planetary system in this galaxy where it is right now as it goes whirling through the universe which has to be here. The atmospheric pressure has to be here, the light and the heat in this room and my breath, all have to be here for this speck of dust to be where it is right now. Can we be thankful for the infinite number of things that have had to evolve throughout all of time to account for this exact moment and for our being here to experience the moment? As the Buddha says “there is no other thing to be more grateful for than to being born a human because the likelihood of being born a human on this planet is extremely rare and the likelihood of being born a human and even hear of enlightenment is rarer still….therefore waste no time!”.
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you,
and to give thanks continuously.
And because all things have contributed to your advancement,
you should include all things in your gratitude.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century)
So, historically, philosophers have suggested that gratitude is one of the most important human emotions for the success of the society and spiritual thinkers have suggested that it is a crucial aspect of spiritual life. More recently, modern psychology research confirms that gratitude is an important social emotion that can benefit the lives of people who practice it, and that practicing gratitude itself can also benefit other people too. Research in Physiology shows the benefits of practicing gratitude are powerful and suggest it’s perfect for reducing stress and anxiety. Actually, on paper it seems harder to not be thankful as we have every reason to be. We just need to practice it more and more, but that’s another beautiful blessing of the human condition, to have the opportunity and choice to awaken oneself to that which serves us and all that is, better.
The best part of all these benefits of gratitude is that gratitude costs absolutely nothing to practice and that anyone can easily be grateful for their lives and all aspects of it. There are all sorts of ways to practice gratitude, and it can be practiced in any setting of daily life. Next time you have a free moment consider all that you can be thankful for and try practicing some gratitude. Turn on your Reiki and meditate on gratitude and bathe in its essence and send it out to the universe. You might just be surprised by the benefits it brings you.