“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”—A.A. Milne
When we hit a patch of road construction, do we protest the inconvenience—or do we find it pleasing to contemplate the smoother rides ahead? Can we be thankful—grateful—for whatever we are confronted by? After all, this is the hand we’ve been dealt to deal with… We always have the choice to transform that moment, with an attitude of gratitude—or to resist that moment and suffer accordingly…
In our using days, it would have seemed preposterous to be grateful for every single moment of our unfolding lives. We were in way too much pain, much too guarded, to open ourselves to the attitude of gratitude. However, as we entered the gates of recovery, we came to believe that to be grateful in attitude was to stimulate an immediate response from the world around us. Be grateful to the world and it will shower its grace back at you. We discovered that our leap of faith into gratitude was quickly rewarded in kind.
For today then, let’s welcome whatever we have in front of us with this greeting: “Pleased to meet you. How can I help?” In recovery, we learn to offer help and accept help as the currency of a healthy spirit. The butterfly sips from the plant. Pollinated, the plant spreads its seed… That’s the natural way—and the natural way is a profoundly perfect way for those of us in recovery, is it not?
When we broadcast gratitude, life transforms before our eyes. What’s magical is the speed with which this transformation happens—because it happens with the speed of light.
The gratitude choice is triggered from the mind—but its current comes from the heart. In our using days it was hard for us to love—to come from the heart—when all we were really thinking about was ourselves and our next chemical hit.
The arrival of love in our hearts was one of the nice surprises for many of us when we began our recovery. “Love exists! Who knew?” we exclaimed in wonder to ourselves—as our wounded souls bathed in the love we could not formerly feel or give… To nurture this heart energy is to nurture our recovery—big time.
With today’s internal movement method let’s be grateful for our bodies, just as we find them in this moment… And let’s in the process send our bodies some loving attention.
Lie down on a comfortable surface. Put your right palm over your heart area. Take a long, slow inhale through the nose. Sense the breath penetrating with the help of your attention deep into your beating heart. Hold your breath for about five seconds, feeling your heart. Exhale slowly. Smile gently while you send the energy out from your heart to every cell in your body. That would be the energy of love, the energy of gratitude… Hold your breath after the exhale for about another five seconds, feeling your entire body. Repeat for a total of ten cycles.
It’s empowering to acknowledge that I can transform each moment of my life by simply switching on the attitude of gratitude.