Painting by Dianne McKenzie

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” – by Melody  Beattie

“What would your life look like if the prevailing sentiment, the guiding principle, was gratitude? We all have a lot to be thankful for and yet we often go through life striving, criticizing, defending, and opposing.

Going through life with gratitude, acceptance, undoubtedly has a price. Gratitude suggests naivete; there are times that you get taken advantage of. But going through life constantly sticking up for your rights, complaining, pushing, looking to have expectations and desires fulfilled has its own price. A different price, but a steep price nevertheless.

Meditating on gratitude can migrated into meditations on love and kindness.

“What would your life look like if the major principle was gratitude?” Here are some possibilities:
•    no rushing
•    more time spent doing things you love
•    spend time in nature
•    spend time in nurturing yourself and others
•    creating every day
•    reading every day
•    meditating more, meditating on love

We should work towards expression of gratitude.  The price of gratitude is worth paying.
– Re written from Reflection of a Wild Artist, May 4th, from Roderick MacIver’s Journal