By Rev. Elizabeth Rowley,
Spiritual Director
November 26, 2020
American New Thought writer, teacher, leader, and Science of Mind founder Ernest Holmes observed, “An attitude of gratitude is most salutary, and bespeaks the realization that we are now in heaven.” (The Science of Mind, page 497.2)
To be salutary means to produce a beneficial effect or promote greater health. To have an attitude of gratitude is to have a mindset of appreciation and thankfulness. Thus, having said mindset is beneficial to your health. I posit that to include mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health.
I’ve heard it said there are three stages of gratitude. The first stage is to be grateful for all that you have, the second stage is to be thankful for the less than pleasant experiences you’ve had, and the third stage is to be grateful for your existence.
You can enter the first stage now by stopping right here to ponder all the many things for which you are grateful. Grab a pen and a piece of paper and begin writing them down. Just like that, you are in the flow of gratitude. Notice the shift in your energy as you move into the high-frequency state of appreciation. As you practice writing a gratitude list regularly, you will adopt the mindset of thankfulness.
As you move into the second stage, you become grateful for the less than pleasant experiences you’ve had. I’ll admit this one is a challenge! As with all challenges, once you take that initial ostensibly gigantic first step, your intention is set in motion, and an opening occurs. In this stage of gratitude, when something seemingly bad (because good or bad are subjective mental constructs) happens, now you say, thank you, I’m so glad this is taking place.
Why? Because we live in a progressive universe. Earth revolves around the Sun, while the Sun revolves around the Milky Way galaxy center, and the Milky Way rotates throughout the cosmos at an estimated pace of 1.34 million miles per hour.
When you can find something to be grateful for in seemingly negative experiences, you align yourself with the progressive universe. Aligning with the cosmos leads to a quickening for us all. You learn your lessons faster, move through your challenges more quickly, and open yourself to the infinite possibilities within you. You now understand that it came into your life to help you grow, develop, and unfold, to elevate the potential within you that otherwise could not have happened.
Now you move into the third level of gratitude, which is gratitude for existing. At this moment, all of nature is giving thanks for existing, period. You’re grateful that you get to participate in this realm of the Divine as the unfolding good everywhere. The static of worry, doubt, and fear have diminished, and you hear the guidance of your soul, your intuition, the voice of wisdom within beckoning you to become more.
On this day of giving thanks, let’s mine the blessings from every experience.
And so it is.
