Your Path of Giving Will Become Receiving — Inspiration Powered by Gratitude
“Thank you,” is only the tip of the cosmic iceberg…a visible sign of deeper meaning and empowerment that you can both access and build on your purposeful way to Serendipity. Growing up, your parents insisted that you say, “thank you,” but has it retained its meaning, or suffered the fate of so many truths transformed to cliché? Contemplate gratitude in the fullness of its flexible utility, significance, and power.
You can show it.
You can feel it.
You can give it.
You can receive it.
You can connect through it, and use it to inspire…all at once.
It costs you nothing, but produces value each time you genuinely offer it. In the offering, it can become a celebration. Forget about “pity parties,” you’ll have a much better time throwing an “appreciation party.”
No worries about running out of gratitude. This is one of those tanks that can’t run dry.
Society today is shaped such that your lizard brain can become over-stimulated, running wild in constant “fight or flight,” even when there’s no immediate danger. What’s the downside from an over-stimulated sense of gratitude?
You can be thankful for things that you might not yet even imagine. As a wise woman once said, become thankful for sadness and its cleansing effect. Ever cried tears of joy for the sadness of others, seeing their tears cleanse them of toxicity and pain? If this type of tear resonates from experience, you’re already on a meaningful adventure into gratitude and praise. The mundane can do magic. Be enchanting and enchanted with gratitude.
“Thank you,” is your high-octane, liquid-lightning, multi-purpose tool in practicing the art of gratitude.
“Thanks,” for Another Arrow in Your Cosmic Quiver
“Thank you,” is so much more than basic courtesy. You practice appreciation like it’s a foregone conclusion, but do you do it so much that you take gratitude for granted, overlooking it as an art form and source of inspiration? “Thank you,” is your high-octane, liquid-lightning, multi-purpose tool in practicing the art of gratitude.
You can understand something intellectually without realizing it at the deepest levels. Sometimes you repeat what you understand so many times that it loses meaning even though it’s fundamental truth. Things can be so good, such classics, that their inherent value gets overlooked.
See beyond the simple and elegant tool of gratitude. “Thank you,” can do triple duty as a sign of appreciation to others, a manifestation of value and values in the Universe, and a signal of mindfulness for you.
You’ve thought about the way your chest feels when you get that painful stab of anxiety. To say it distracts is an understatement. You’ve gone beyond the pain and seen how to transform that ache into a signal for mindfulness. It’s not only the shadow that can, or should be, transformed. Each time you give thanks, make it a reminder to open up to the moment.
If you practice the art of gratitude, then “thank you” is your musical instrument, your keyboard and mouse, and your hammer and chisel. Inject mindfulness and make it meaningful everytime you express it. Get in it up to your elbows and say, “thank you,” as much as you can. Bring it to life with, “thanks,” for another arrow in your cosmic quiver.
Gratitude’s part of your practice equation. The more you do it yourSelf, the more it’s brought to life.
Gratitude’s Part of Your Practice Equation
Appreciation may bounce off some folks’ ears, but it’s definitely noticed when it’s missing. So ironic that thankfulness is one of those things that someone might not pay attention to until it’s not there. Whether this’ in your heart, or in the email someone wrote you, a missing “thank you” is always a missed opportunity for connection and more.
Gratitude’s part of your practice equation. The more you do it yourSelf, the more it’s brought to life. For some, it can seem like missing the opportunity to express it’s no big thing. But you consider the moment from the other side of the table…what about when someone misses the opportunity to say thanks to you?
Ever hold the door open for someone and they take it for granted? Does it feel good? Inspire you to do more good? It takes practice just to let go of expectation that you’ll receive gratitude. That expectation can lead to resentment when you don’t get the smile or wave you attach to in your imagination. Why’d you do it in the first place? Because it’s the type of thing you do. Helping is a form of praise and gratitude.
You’re here to help, and know helping as its own reward. Some might not give it much thought when another gives thanks…but you know what’s missed when they don’t.
Thanks.
Balance means being at peace with it all as you walk your path– both the light and the shadow.
The Perennial Profferance
Ever find yourSelf looking for the right thing to say? You can’t go wrong with “thank you.” Feeling a bit off center? Come back to balance when you find something to say, “thank you,” for, and someone to say it to, even if it’s the Universe. Of course, there’s true balance, and then there’s the perception of balance.
Some might say that balance is boring, and they prefer the action. They experience balance as a stop, but balance isn’t a closed state of stasis — you’re open wide and feeling it all. Balance means being at peace with it all as you walk your path– both the light and the shadow. It’s all unfolding just as fast as it always does. And if you’re bored, you might see it as a signal to become mindful in the moment. There’s so much going on, you can’t be bored when you’re open to all of it.
Balance isn’t the absence of the ebb and flow of life — it’s the ability to stand tall despite the ebb and flow. Imagine standing in the water at the seashore. The waves push and pull. There’s no stasis. It’s an inherent state of constant change driven from events that occur so far away you cannot see them. This is like life — perpetual pulling and pushing. You can achieve balance, but it’s not because of stasis — it’s because you’ve given up resisting the waves, and instead of crashing against you, they flow through you like a net.
You can go beyond acceptance and be grateful for both the shadow and the light. The light feels great, but the shadow brings insights you can distill. Without shadow, there’s no motivation or material to transform — and you’ve got to keep your transformation muscles in shape.
There isn’t ever only one way. There are many doors to where you want to go, and many ways to express the right thing to say. Sometimes it might even be silence. But when there are words to say, you can’t go wrong expressing thanks.
Gratitude has this much power — and you can unleash it at will. When in doubt, “thank you,” it out.
Never Fear with Thankfulness
Gratitude isn’t only something to communicate; it’s a reason to communicate in the first place, and a reward once communicated — your porous shelter so fear doesn’t carry you away, while you remain open to feeling. This cosmic Kung Fu gives other forces nothing to push or pull against.
You never have to be afraid when you’re saying thank you.
When was the last time you felt super grateful and anxious at the same time? It reorients you, if you take it beyond the intellectual to a place of deep realization.
You face more than daily reminders that we live in a time defined by prominent shadow — but have you thought that perhaps today’s shadow is inoculation against much greater shadow tomorrow? You’re grateful for preventative medicine if it works for you, but have you been able to appreciate the engagement and awareness afforded by the early introduction of shadow? It seems to have awakened a collective mobilization against slick ignorance and denigration of value and values.
Gratitude has this much power — and you can unleash it at will. When in doubt, “thank you,” it out.
Gratitude’s A Thing. Want More? Create More.
Every bit of gratitude and praise you can add to the world is a real thing. It’s your work as much as anything else.
Why are you grateful?
How much gratitude can you express?
When will you next express it?
Who can you include in your expression of gratitude?
Where will you fit a regular practice of gratitude into your day?
Gratitude is a cosmic entity. Like love, it’s out there in the Universe and growing with every bit you bring to life. Take a moment and create some more. You’ll be grateful you did.
What’s your gratitude plan?
…AND, oh yeah…
If this piece has value for you, I’d be honored if you’d recommend itby love-tapping that ole heart down there. You’ll be making it possible for others to take part in your orientation.
Thanks for your time and energy here today!
This is Tao of Yummi, Sutra 53. We publish the full 6-frame strip of conscious cartoonery, once a week, here on The Coffeelicious.
The Tao of Yummi is a serial conscious cartoon strip about finding your way to the delightful and unexpected through purpose and mindfulness. If you’re living into purpose and mindful in the moment, you’ll open to the infinite love, inspiration and creativity that is already yours.
Infinite love and gratitude, as ever, to Kris Smith, Jake Nelder, Ben Nelder, Amy Nelder, Peter Rutter, Jan Kadrie, Kaleo Sallas, Meika Cooper, Laura Hoffman, Joni Woolard, Korbin von Stentzsch, Malia Henriks, Alex Tanassi, Ben Cooper, Danna Colman, Srinath, Neal Gorenflo, John Heinsen, Glase Lomond, Derek Sivers, Jay Lauf, Max Schorr, Ben Goldhirsh, Casey Caplowe and Amy Jo Martin!
