Are we truly grateful?

We've all encountered teachings that suggest things like we ought to begin each day with gratitude or that the more we are able to recognize the things we can be grateful for each day, the more we can recognize occasions to be grateful for. But when we do express "gratitude," are we truly grateful or or are we merely paying lips service? Intellectually grateful perhaps, but do we truly feel that sense of gratitude within us?

I have to admit, despite having "taught" the idea (or more specifically the need) to be grateful for all the blessings we have received in life - often times the act of being grateful has been more so an "act" than an actual experience. By this I do not mean it's all pretense or lying to oneself. Indeed it is a conscious choice to look for the "silver lining in dark clouds" and a choosing to look for these things/events to be grateful for. 

We may earnestly seek to be thankful for them, but the greater test is whether we really feel it in our hearts (as opposed to just intellectually knowing we should be thankful for but not necessarily feeling it.) For example, many of us are able to say "I am thankful I am alive," or "I am thankful for my family, my friends, etc." but the question remains - are we feeling that sense of thankfulness or are we saying it because well everyone knows these are things we should be thankful for.

The power of gratitude and the promised changes it brings to our lives, I believe, reside in whether we feel that gratitude or not. The key or the secret, I believe is to Feel the Thinking.

Why not give this a shot today. Right NOW - examine to see if you are thinking the feeling or if you are feeling the thinking? What are you truly grateful for? Can you identify things/events/people/situations to be thankful for? To be truly thankful for?

List down of these that you can think of. You need not list down a whole long list. Just come up with a few. Then pause to ponder on each of them. Feel them. What makes them blessings? How does it feel without them? And how does it feel with them? Are you able to truly feel that sense of gratitude? 

If you don't succeed the first time around, take a break. Come back to it a little later. Give it another shot. Visualize how it feels to be thankful for it/them. See how this makes a difference. I bet it will make a difference!

Shalom