By Swan Michelle
Thank you. I am sorry. I love you.
“It is not happiness that makes you grateful but gratefulness that makes you happy.” The Book Of Joy- Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu & The Dalai Lama
Revelation is there, right before your very eyes. Go all in. Notice this moment. Inhale it completely. Appreciate it. And, exhale it all out, sharing it. When we are grateful we are not fearful of receiving nor of sharing. Gratitude connects us to those things we think are lost. A direct migration back to Spirit can be found the more we express gratitude each day.
Appreciation is the rekindling of all that is magnetic. It is like discovering a hidden treasure again and again. Today, upon waking up, note the first thing you see, and give thanks. Open up your day with gratitude. Close the day with thanks, palms pressed together at the heart.
Thank what you first think about, be it a worry or a beauty, for it is a revelation. Today, write down a long list of all that you find to be so incredibly supportive of your very existence, be it practices, places or solid, reliable beings that believe in you and have proven time and time again they are ever supportive, not only in their words, but their actions.
Catalog what you receive each day, be it a smile, an opportunity or less pain than yesterday. Thank your support in the ethers when those things you are grateful for are not visibly seen. Offer the warmth of gratitude in person whenever it is possible. It brings contentment and lifts the frequency of you both and us all to do so. Gratitude is the polishing of the mirror and the precious gems of this life, seen or not yet discovered. Nourishing what we receive each day with focus and non-distracted recognition insures that it will not gather dust. It is life’s polishing.
What you find dull can be made resplendent once again if you wish for it to be. This is the power and pivot of transformation and manifestation. You are worthy of this as are we all. Gratitude, an act of noticing, turns anything base into gold.
Worth is here. Worth is there. It is behind the worry; behind the anxiety. Behind what you think you do not have, or don’t have in you. Gratitude reciprocates worth back to you. Worth is there when you close your eyes. Worth is there when your eyes are open, unless you think otherwise, and somehow sacrifice it all away.
Made of carbon, a diamond has undergone a process of serious heat and pressure, which can represent our pains, dissatisfactions and perceptions of inadequacy. What is revealed under this pressure is valuable and rare. Not rare in the sense that it only happens to a few beings, but that the process of revelation is quite a vision that is anything but ordinary. Appreciation reminds us this is all extraordinary; the pain, the adventures, the losses, the teachings, the serenity, the stillness, the concealments of this moment , the revelations of the next.
The word “sacrifice” comes from the word “sacred.” Often, without appreciation, we sacrifice the sacred to such an extent we then feel empty and we believe it is lost. What can have deep, eye opening meaning feels ephemeral and distant. What we thought would be fulfilling we then resent, hurt or turn away from.
Sacrifice only this: the illusions of what you can not see or face, and the fear that keeps tucked away a feeling of hopelessness and nothingness of which is not you.
Protect the sacred with your gratitude. Maintain protection of all that supports your deep inner growth, keeping it well polished instead of further depreciated.
If this is sometimes difficult for you, practice this mantra:
Protection Mantra:
Saha Na Vavatu.Saha Nau Bunaktu. Saha Viryam Karavavahai.Tajas vi navaditam astu. Ma vidvishhavahai.
This chant is the opening verse of the Upanishads, and thus, encapsulates the essence of the Vedas.
OM, “Symbol of Supreme”
Saha, “Together”
Nau, “Us”
Avatu, “Protect”
Bhunaktu, “Protect, nourish, guard”
Viryam, “Heroism, prowess, strength, vigor, courage, power”
Karavavahai, “work, accomplish, create, produce, compose”
Tejasvi, “Brilliant, bright, successful, powerful, heroic, noble”
Adhitam, “Study”
Astu, “May it be”
I often feel I can come back to being well held and well guarded in my original form after chanting this. I find again a place from where I am ever appreciative and can give freely and generously, which is my true nature. The luminous vision of fortitude found in appreciation can redirect any of the confusion a belief in lack blurs. If we believe we are not enough, often in time, others belief this too. It simply is not true.
Not appreciating makes the sacred look worthless and easily expendable. It blocks the flow of essential value. Unworthiness is an imposter that keeps us in demise or falsely guarded behind walls, tempting us to take more, give less, and care less. Appreciation will protect the sacred.
“To have, give all to all.” –A Course in Miracles Chapter 6
“The only cost of anything should be the cost of your own suffering, sense of loss, anxiety and doubt. Gladly make the ‘sacrifice’ of fear.” –A Course In Miracles, 323
Pricelessness is revealed when we have done our part. We do not have to sacrifice and give up the sacred in order to have more. Nor do we need to take in order to have, which will eventually leave us barren of the work involved in feeling the worth of the things we receive.
Adhere to your inner value and values. Too much self centeredness is the source of suffering. Let another feel your appreciation of them. Thanking and giving to another keeps an energetic flow of reciprocity and all of us in the currency of recognition and manifestation. You give love to one, you have given love to us all.
Hoppinopino: 4 words to be sure you say each day to upgrade values
- Hello
- Thank you
- I am sorry
4. I love you
“Clever is the one that pursues material wealth. Wise is the one that pursues happiness.” –Socrates
The word for inner wealth in Sanskrit is “Artha.” It is one of the 4 Vedic Aims of India. Wealth is related to the Goddess Lakshmi, the ever generous Goddess that seems to flow in an ongoing ocean of abundance and endless giving, never running dry in the drought of unattended to inner poverty. Of all things, be ever generous of heart. Even in pain, give. We receive when we give. No matter how much we have or don’t have, we can give appreciation.
The etymology of Lakshmi’s name is “aim.” She has one purpose, one point, and one action: To give. Just as nature does with natural checks and balances for a healthy, symbiotic ecosystem, Lakshmi’s giving is the harmony of reciprocity. She isn’t really looking to get. This is why her life force keeps increasing and why she gives up on nothing. Her very giving connects her with the value of this life and the essence of the worth of her being.
Your attention is what you value and what you find to be most worthy of you. Poverty consciousness belittles everything. It leverages who is privileged, who is lucky, who is worthy of being good enough, or not deserving of the resources of this shared life. It is a belief in lack that leads us to compare, to believe there is only so much to go around, and to compete in order to have more, making it seem as though others have less.
Once we believe in scarcity, or that there is very little to go around, we will also believe anything we do receive or experience is never enough. “Artha’s” definition of wealth is a principle, not an object. Our health, free will, teachings, tools, relationships, experiences, practices and actions gather as an abundant reservoir. If you are loved by one another, Artha is present and is more than enough
Artha is both material and spiritual. It directs our awareness to taking care of our bodies, attending to our homes, and offering reciprocity to our relationships and communities to cultivate appreciation. You must offer to this life for life to reflect to you its meaning. It can not just simply be enjoyed. Any task, done consciously and with sincerity, is all that is asked of you. Do not waste time, your health, nor your relationships.
“Using leads to misusing leads to abusing leads to useless.” –Swami Sivananda
To keep the well replenished: Smile at someone that feels alone, feed the birds, or let someone go before you. This is good enough. What you have offered another you give to us all.
Mindful Reducing & Refraining
It is difficult to remain appreciative and mindful if we are doing too much at once.
If you do a lot in one day, train yourself to make a to-do list with less on it so that there is also permission to feel the moment while engaging in an exhale. Responsibilities are clearly valuable, as is rest, moving the body, and attending to your purpose, family and relationships. Scratch anything off your to-do list that is not needed today. Keep a well-balanced list according to what fulfills you. Be practical, intelligent, healthy, playful, and loving with this list, so that these things do not feel neglected.
For you to feel your worth, work on quality over quantity to more easily recognize your life is indeed very reciprocated.
The more you do, the more you need, the more distracted you become, the more likely you are to wander off into sacrificing all that you truly appreciate and love.
“Scarcity & inadequacy are the great lies.” -Brene Brown, Daring Greatly
It can be difficult to recognize when something is enough until you discover it is certainly too much. Having too much is not necessarily abundance. Be careful attaching your worth to anything outside of you or you may become imprisoned to it. What is valuable will ever remain, indestructible like a diamond.
Instead, treat each ordinary moment as something rare and priceless, never to be duplicated nor held in the throws of materiality ever again. From this exquisite vision, it may all be important and worthy of your recognition.
“My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today have but one purpose.” -A Course In Miracles
Your mind, your body, and your speech are priceless assets. What you do with these can add to the appreciation or take away from the value of your surroundings.
Turning away from mindfulness dulls a precious moment into something mundane. If you trust in the generosity of over flowing abundance, you can easily give away what it is that you want, secure in the return of all that you need.
What you currently call ordinary may be you overlooking the extraordinary. The moment you recognize that the “ordinary” is actually breathtakingly extraordinary is the moment that these shared miracles step out into plain sight as though a film were finally lifted from your eyes.
To help you recognize that your health, home, relationships, and experiences are valuable and worthy of your effort to see them, chant to Lakshmi 108 rounds each morning with a shiny gold candle:
Om Shri Lakshmaye Namaha
There is a privilege each of us has in being exactly who we are. What more is needed? Being happy for and offering to others, we are always filled. Start with whomever or whatever is right before your eyes. Nothing more is asked of you to sacrifice, especially your generous heart.
“Sacrifice illusions and nothing more. As illusions are let go of, you will find the gifts that illusions hide.” -ACIM, 322
Appreciation Meditation:
Come to a comfortable, seated position in a place that is simple. Place before you something you immensely appreciate and wish to emulate, be it the ocean, a picture of a teacher, or an image of a beloved that you deeply cherish. Keep yours eyes at a soft gaze upon them, giving them your utmost attention. Pause with them. Stillness is appreciation. Inhale. Exhale. Beyond the form of what you see with your eyes, connect with their essence, their noble, generous, good hearted nature. Picture them well loved, taken care of, and provided for with total respect and adoration. Love them. Pray that they are protected, appreciated, and in their essence of joy. Offer them gratitude and well wishes, feeling their nature, of complete worth, just as your very own. Inhale, and exhale. Sit with them daily until any low grade thoughts of them, or visions of suffering have vanished. Tell them out loud ” thank you. I am sorry. And, I love you.” Inhale, and exhale.
In gratitude of this generous heart and life, Swan Michelle
