I watched in horror as our youngest child got swept away in the rip tide.
I hate that dream. It woke me up again.
Next thing I know my to do list is trying to drag me out of bed. It’s too early. I’m too tired. But it’s too late to turn off the chatter now. The responsibilities of the day come crashing in triggering the hormones that are pumping me up demanding I launch into action.
Then I remember. I’m not allowed to get out of bed until I can recall what I’m grateful for.
My head becomes empty. Crickets. Nothing comes to mind. I’m emotionally flat. I can't feel a thing.
I started thinking about the conversation my husband and I had the night before. He was telling me about times in his life that best describe his experience of a deep connection with others. A level of unconditional love.
Like when he was playing sports on a team and there was this knowing between him and his teammates about the next move they were going to make exchanging the ball. Or when he’s playing guitar with someone else and there is the sense of feeling like he is playing the other guy's cords. A melding of who is playing what.
I was jealous I never played a team sport. I felt guilty for giving him a hard time about wanting to spend time at band practice instead of dredging through family chores with me.
I heard a voice saying, “I don’t think this is gratitude is it?” Oh right. That’s what I’m stalling to get out of bed for. I’m lying here so I can feel what I’m grateful for.
Accessing the Creative Juices
All the sudden an idea comes flying in. A game that is more than just non-competitive or cooperative. It's a game that allows everyone to be their best contribution and requires a building from the other players to move the group forward with their contribution added to the mix.
This is not my idea. It is our idea. An idea from the ethers that channeled through me. I start to feel my gratitude for creativity. This kind of creativity is my genius. Ideas flow in. And when they do it is a reminder that I am open to the flow. I can sense the flow. I start to feel my gratitude for flow.
I am grateful our son didn’t get swept away in the rip tide and swallowed up by the dark endless ocean. I hear the voice again, “That’s not gratitude. That’s fear.” So I quiet the head voices and the knot in my stomach releases. I visualize myself wrapping my arms around our son and holding him in an endless hug. I feel grateful for this unconditional love I have pouring through me into this beautiful spirit.
We think we are this human who starts at the tip of our head and ends at the bottom of our feet.
Even as we go deeper and deeper into a practice of connecting with our higher self, we fall into the trap of identifying as a human in this body with these senses and this brain that help us understand this world.
Finding Pirate Booty
Creating our best life is a grand excavation.
And Gratitude is the treasure chest of jewels.
It's easy to fool ourselves into thinking we are grateful.
Like when our things and people and situations turn out the way we prefer and we are "grateful."
Or maybe we swing the other way and believe deprivation is what a good spiritual student should aspire to be "grateful" for.
Gratitude is an energy of the heart. It is a vibration. The things and people and situations in our life help us connect with the vibration.
We are here in these physical forms as humans to experience the vibration of our spirit and it shows up in physical forms.
Gratitude is acknowledging the things in the physical world as a symbol, reflecting back to us the qualities of Love that we have come to realize and embrace in ourselves.
Qualities of love like creativity, health, comfort, family, friendship, beauty, abundance, adventure, joy. These are all vibrations of God that we can learn to sense.
Embracing Beauty and the Beast
I started a few practices to grow my being about to sense the vibration of beauty. Wearing makeup is a tricky one. Especially since we call it concealer. We use it to hide our flaws. The things we think keep us from being beautiful. As I’m rubbing and brushing the tints and powders on my face, I’m imagining my fingertips are pouring out the vibration of beauty and I am delicately touching all around my face with this beauty.
Another practice I have is I use a dry brush every morning. I brush my entire body, starting with the bottom of my feet and I visualize the molecules of my body loosening up so any trapped energies and emotions can wiggle free easier. I see my body becoming less tangled and tight and it is able to increase to a higher vibration easier.
For a down to earth, it’s all about getting the job done kind-a gal, these practices seem very woo woo to my ego voice. But the higher self voice that is getting louder by the minute is worth the listen. What have we got to lose?
The Grand Finale
Artwork by Dr. Jenny Lee
The ego will control us to our deathbed if we’re not careful.
Wizardry is not woo woo. It’s a different language. It’s a language that we can’t get to with the words in a dictionary. It’s a vibrational language that we have to learn to sense and feel.
The path to learning the language of our higher self is different for each of us. We can’t use the old model of figuring out if we’re an auditory or visual or kinesthetic learner. We have practice to stay alert. Listen for the wisdom. Pay attention to when there’s a glitch in the matrix and take a peak through the crack to witness the magic on the inside.
As we open up and excavate the pieces of our spirit, we begin to bask in the rich fullness of the vibrations that we are immersed in.
Our higher self voice points us in the direction we need to grow next.
Gratitude helps us learn to feel and sense and recognize our True Essence.
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your husband is a wise soul. I love his examples "Like when he was playing sports on a team and there was this knowing between him and his teammates about the next move they were going to make exchanging the ball. Or when he’s playing guitar with someone else and there is the sense of feeling like he is playing the other guy's cords. A melding of who is playing what."
I remember feeling the same way about my duet partner when I was a synchronize swimmer, gosh, that was nearly 40 years ago now! And feeling that way about the piano keys underneath my fingers, how the chords just sort of floated out without me thinking.
heck, sometimes I get the same feeling of sycopation when I'm typing. the words flow out of my fingers without me trying.
your husband is a wise soul. I love his examples "Like when he was playing sports on a team and there was this knowing between him and his teammates about the next move they were going to make exchanging the ball. Or when he’s playing guitar with someone else and there is the sense of feeling like he is playing the other guy's cords. A melding of who is playing what."
I remember feeling the same way about my duet partner when I was a synchronize swimmer, gosh, that was nearly 40 years ago now! And feeling that way about the piano keys underneath my fingers, how the chords just sort of floated out without me thinking.
heck, sometimes I get the same feeling of sycopation when I'm typing. the words flow out of my fingers without me trying.
that's somethign to be grateful for.
I love that we are on the same "page" Connie!