Gratitude: More Than A Platitude
This Sunday we will be considering the spiritual practice of gratitude. Gratitude is one of those concepts that gets tossed around a lot, making it is easy to take it for granted, or dismiss it all together.
I can honestly say that I have not always understood or fully appreciated the practice of gratitude. Instead I have sometimes heard myself think, ‘yeah, but it could be better’ when I have tried to be grateful for certain aspects of my life.
After some work, I came to realize how my gratitude practice had been thwarted by some of my other practices! Namely my tendency to compare myself to others and my inability to face and feel my own fear and grief.
It turns out that our resistance to our fear and sadness doesn’t just protect us from the those feelings. It also dampens the fullness of our experiences of joy and gratitude.
It is also easy to think of gratitude as an over-used platitude, misused to minimize the challenges we experience in life, and the pain that accompanies them.“Think of all that you have to grateful for,” can really sting when you are in the depths of despair.
Yet, it can absolutely shift your perspective just enough to allow you to see beyond your pain.
In those instances, considering what we are grateful for reminds us that we are always more than our challenges. In fact, if we can stay present to those challenges, trusting that we will not be enveloped by them, we reveal a depth of ourselves that may otherwise never be known.
In my experience, that process was also accompanied by a deepened sense of inner strength and understanding. I had the strength to see more clearly where I had been walled off or shut down, and a greater understanding of how that had affected my thoughts and behavior in limiting ways.
As soon as I could see that, I could also see more of the light of Spirit shinning through my challenges.It revealed that there is indeed always something to be grateful for- namely, that we are strong enough to hold it all- the pain and the joy.
I can honestly say that I have not always understood or fully appreciated the practice of gratitude. Instead I have sometimes heard myself think, ‘yeah, but it could be better’ when I have tried to be grateful for certain aspects of my life.
After some work, I came to realize how my gratitude practice had been thwarted by some of my other practices! Namely my tendency to compare myself to others and my inability to face and feel my own fear and grief.
It turns out that our resistance to our fear and sadness doesn’t just protect us from the those feelings. It also dampens the fullness of our experiences of joy and gratitude.
It is also easy to think of gratitude as an over-used platitude, misused to minimize the challenges we experience in life, and the pain that accompanies them.“Think of all that you have to grateful for,” can really sting when you are in the depths of despair.
Yet, it can absolutely shift your perspective just enough to allow you to see beyond your pain.
In those instances, considering what we are grateful for reminds us that we are always more than our challenges. In fact, if we can stay present to those challenges, trusting that we will not be enveloped by them, we reveal a depth of ourselves that may otherwise never be known.
In my experience, that process was also accompanied by a deepened sense of inner strength and understanding. I had the strength to see more clearly where I had been walled off or shut down, and a greater understanding of how that had affected my thoughts and behavior in limiting ways.
As soon as I could see that, I could also see more of the light of Spirit shinning through my challenges.It revealed that there is indeed always something to be grateful for- namely, that we are strong enough to hold it all- the pain and the joy.
How grateful I finally am to be able to feel it all, and for my growing revelation of my true inner strength and and my ability to continue to reveal all that I am, in Spirit, no matter the challenges that I may experience.
(Full disclosure- I had professional support in this process as well as trust-worthy people in my life supporting me along the way.)
I came across the following reading from Rev. Eric Butterworth that sums this up perfectly:
I came across the following reading from Rev. Eric Butterworth that sums this up perfectly:
Remember, Paul says, “In all things give thanks.” Many have thought that this means you should go around giving thanks for everything—give thanks for your suffering, give thanks for your unemployment, and so forth. But that isn’t it. Paul doesn’t say “for” all things, he says “in” all things. In other words, you have the sense of gratitude, and you give that gratitude, that praise, that thanksgiving regardless of what the conditions are around you because you are keeping yourself in tune with the divine flow. You give thanks from the consciousness of your oneness with God. You are grateful for the realization that you are a spiritual being, and that you have within you the capability to cope with all the changing circumstances of life.
(Excerpt from Eric Butterworth’s Sermon on Gratitude, delivered on September 22, 1975)
Consider for yourself:
- What is your relationship with the practice of gratitude?
- How might you strengthen that practice?
- Is there something you might be ready to face, or to feel in order to feel a deeper connection with gratitude?
Join us this Sunday at 10am to continue this exploration of gratitude.
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