Gratitude

By David Matthew Brown

Now most us are taught and encouraged to be thankful or live in gratitude. Some attend workshops that suggest that gratitude is an attitude. But is it possible to be grateful with out receiving or giving? But to simply live in gratitude.

It is easy to say thank you for a gift, or give a gift to someone. But as we explore more deeply into who we are, and sit with “What is gratitude? Can I be grateful without noticing beauty, or perceived beauty? Do I have to notice it, to then claim it? Is it possible that all is life? That every situation is a perception of right or wrong, so it would appear that in everyday life, some situations would be grateful and yet some would be not grateful. And if the concept were in the attitude, wouldn’t the attitude imply a self that is separate from the other. Now play with the idea for a little bit.

I have created this attitude of gratitude, I give energy, which is forced and manipulated to achieve something. It is an act of willpower. So even if I am not grateful for something this attitude kicks in and says, “I have to, to achieve a result, a positive results.” But the attitude is threatened by the absurd idea that gratitude is an attitude. It is a wonderful rhyming technique, but it achieves disdain sooner or later.

What I am asking us to inquire on is, is it possible to be gratitude? Not imposed attitudes of something but to actually live right now as gratitude itself. Do you understand what I am asking?

Gratitude happens for most people when the condition is right. Things are going good, so I am grateful, and things are going bad and I am not.

Just sit with this inquiry without trying to answer it. Just be with it. Can I be grateful for no reason at all, no logic at all, no understanding at all? Simple grateful.

Thoughts cannot answer this question. Empty out everything you think you know about gratitude and then sit with this question, “Can I be grateful now?” Without expecting things to change, be different, look for something, do something, look at your cell phone hoping someone will call, watch TV, or read a book.

Nature is grateful, animals are grateful, beings are grateful, mother earth is grateful, children are grateful, etc…Sit with it and observe the question, and “Can I be grateful now?”

When we take away expectation, time, beliefs, organizations, religions, and all the nonsense the media talks about, and just simply rest now, with no mind, no care, is it not gratefulness. Are you then not living it already? Life itself is grateful, that is its very nature, and there is no attitude to achieve. I hope you can see this for yourself?

The understanding of this little question may help in a total change right now.