The Power of Gratitude
By Lisa Vunk
There is much talk about gratitude this time of year because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
While I believe in the power of the words we use, equally as important is the intent with which we use them. For many it has become blind repetition or habit to be thankful or have gratitude, especially at Thanksgiving and the religious holidays celebrated through the New Year. Many people use the words but the sincerity and intent are lacking. Just saying that you are grateful does not make you so as forced gratitude or apologies carry no authenticity, only the weight of subservience. Gratitude is a very powerful tool but it must be nurtured with love and attention or it does not grow or thrive just like a garden or children. Both gardens and children reflect what type of environment they are grown in and what they are exposed to. I would like to
inspire you to help me flood our gardens, our children, and our world with more gratitude. I know I would prefer to live in a world where there is an overabundance of gratitude instead of selfish entitlement and food instead of starvation.
Gratitude is an alchemical emotion. That means that it can literally transmute lead into gold, chaos into order, and lack into abundance. Whatever we put our focus on we give energy to and help to proliferate. This is no different with gratitude. However, gratitude requires authenticity of thankfulness. In our modern technological world where the media constantly pummels us with only superficial characters addicted to plastic glamor, greed, and entitlement both authenticity and thankfulness have fallen by the wayside. Even though it may not be easy or convenient, our current culture is a fertile soil for gratitude. The less we have the more opportunities for gratitude we have in simply meeting our basic needs. In America we take for granted being able to turn on the faucet and get water to drink. In other countries people wake up grateful they have the use of their legs to go walk miles to get water for their families while still others have gratitude for rain alone. It is all perspective. Once I fell off my horse, broke three ribs, and collapsed my lung needing surgery to re-inflate it...and I was a single mother.