Contemplations on Gratitude

How often do you experience gratitude? Not just express it, but actually experience it?

Here’s what I’ve discovered - I find it easier to express gratitude rather than actually experiencing it. It may beg the question, “But don’t you need to experience it to express it?” Answering from personal experience, it’s sad to admit, but I would say, “Not really.”

I say this because I’ve felt what I thought was gratitude, but that feeling didn’t stand the test of time and was often forgotten until I was reminded of it. I may have mentally felt thankful or appreciative but didn’t really experience gratitude. 

That’s because the heart is the vessel where the experience of gratitude takes place, not the mind. It’s a deep, weighted feeling that when experienced fully, cannot be erased. It leaves an enduring impression in not just the heart, but also in the consciousness.

In order to process it fully takes time, presence and an ability to access the heart. In the overwhelming and hectic world we live in, rarely do we get a chance to stop, become still and feel within. It’s only when we do so that we have an opportunity to internalize and allow our hearts to be touched. 

In this case, allowing the heart to be touched means to fully explore the length and breadth of how another persons’ actions or circumstances have served to impact our lives in profound and meaningful ways.

It’s only when this takes place that we can give ourselves and others the greatest gift we have to offer - a heart filled with gratitude.

I leave you with this question to explore:

Where in your life have you expressed gratitude, without really experiencing it?