The Great Giff Of Gratitude

An extremely big aloha.

Aloha,

Aloha,

And aloha.

I'm Reverend Cindy Palos,

And it's a rainy day here.

Yes,

Get a little rain.

I wanted to talk today about thank you,

Gratitude,

Gift of gratitude.

Oh,

It is such a wonderful practice to follow the gifts of gratitude because,

Well,

We're coming up when I'm recording this pretty close to Thanksgiving time,

You know,

But Thanksgiving should really be every day in my mind.

There's so much to be grateful for,

And there's some amazing keys that happen when we understand the gift of gratitude.

It is one of the best way to change your state of mind.

Whenever we can just stop and be grateful,

For even the hard lessons,

For even the challenging times,

For whatever is there in your life,

There's a gift present.

And here's the key.

The key is unlocking that ability to understand the gift that is within all things that happen in life,

And especially the hard things that happen in life.

And as you begin to do that,

You can have a deeper understanding of how precious each moment of life is.

Thanksgiving is an amazing time.

I know we celebrate it here on a certain day in Canada.

It's other times.

It doesn't really matter what time,

Where you celebrate it,

Because I believe the gift of gratitude,

The gift of being thankful,

Is really such an important attitude to have,

To take the time to realize how much we have to be thankful for,

Period.

Okay,

Should I just stop there?

Well,

The thing is,

We don't even realize how lucky we are sometimes,

Because look at what people in third world countries are going through.

Look at what people in other places of the world are having to go through.

And we are in such an amazingly beautiful place where we can take the time to meditate and pray and be together and to share this time together,

Where a lot of the world is not in that state where they can even do that.

We're really truly blessed in so many ways that we just don't recognize.

Now,

I understand that pain and hard times can really be tough to go through,

Because I know,

Because I've been going through some very hard times.

And sometimes the only thing that really helps is to realize the gift in pain,

To realize the gift of being able to feel those feelings,

To be able to experience those feelings and know that this is now that I'm experiencing this,

But there's also another side to that.

There's more going on,

And that I can realize with gratitude that this is a gift as well.

Because as we love and live,

We can also experience loss and pain.

And what a gift.

Would we give up the love in our life?

No,

Not for a moment will we give up what we get,

Even though it can bring pain.

And that's such an amazing thing.

I love music.

I've been in the music field most all of my life,

Really.

And there's so many great musical songs written about this.

So much has been explored in this field,

Of course,

Through music.

And I can play and listen to music,

And it helps me.

It helps me also realize that gift that is present when we can listen to music,

And then we can look at art,

And we can see what was expressed through time,

Sometimes in the very painful times in our life.

So we get perspective.

I love Tibetan Buddhism,

And I love His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

And he talks about this actually quite a bit,

And he certainly has seen this and experienced this a lot with his country,

And what he's had to go through in his life.

And we recognize that.

We recognize the challenges.

The challenges that come can actually make your life much more valuable.

And so gratitude is a key.

It's a gift.

It's the opening,

And it can change your state of mind so quickly.

It's just absolutely amazing if you can just stop.

You can just stop and be grateful.

Now,

Let's just do that.

I mean,

Enough talking on my part.

I'm a talker.

But what about if you right now were to stop and take some moments to really think about five things that you should be,

And can be,

And are grateful for?

Let me take,

You know,

There's always the standards.

You know,

I see people,

There was an app that had you do five things a day to be grateful for.

And I hate to say this,

But I really was at the point where I come up with easy ones,

Because it would just take time.

So I'm going to ask you not to just do the standard easy ones,

But to take the time to really go dig deep,

Dig deep inside yourself,

And possibly think of the things that you didn't realize were a blessing,

But indeed came to be a blessing in your growth,

In your life,

In your relationships,

That you wouldn't have experienced if you hadn't gone through this.

So that kind of changes the context of this experience of gratitude.

Now,

It's easy.

Let's just start with one.

Take one experience in your life and think of at the time where it was really difficult.

But then think about what may have come from that,

That might have been something extremely valuable.

And it could be that it was based on an amazing relationship,

Or it could have been based on what came after that experience that made you recognize a good relationship.

There's really so many things that can be,

But just take one first.

One thing that you didn't realize was a blessing to be grateful for,

That you realize now what it is that you can be grateful for and how you experience that gratitude now.

And take it and just be grateful for that experience.

And now take a moment and pick one person in your life that's been really important to you.

A person that you really have found has been there for you and has taught you and has loved you.

And take that person and just be really grateful.

Be really grateful for that relationship.

Now,

Take a family member.

Possibly it was the same in the last one,

But take a family member.

Now,

Our family knows us in ways other people don't.

So,

We don't always realize how important our family really is to us.

So,

Take a family member you're grateful for and just be grateful for that person in your family that's in your life there,

Usually for a lifetime.

And just be grateful.

And if they've passed away,

That doesn't mean they're not there still.

So,

Be grateful for that person.

And now we're up to number four,

Okay?

And we're going to take another moment to be grateful for something that is the creative factor in your life.

Now,

This could be music,

It could be a poem,

It could be art.

But take a moment to appreciate the beautiful gift of the creation,

The creative factors that bring you so much,

So much in your life to lift your spirit and give you insight.

And just be grateful for that.

And here's the fifth one.

The fifth one is the final one I'm going to do here with you now.

The fifth one,

I'm not going to put a limitation on it.

The fifth one is to be grateful.

And this can be in any particular field or way in your life that there's something that you really feel is important that you want to be grateful for and recognize.

Something that is unique to you,

That could be anything.

It could be meditation,

You know,

It could be things that you have experienced.

It could be as wide as your imagination is.

It could even be your imagination.

But take a moment to be grateful for that fifth element that is yours,

Specific to you.

And I want to add,

I want to be grateful to you and Insight Timer,

I really do,

For this amazing ability to share with people all around the world,

With people who are here in our lives that we wouldn't have known otherwise,

That have been able to bring us together to share our insights,

Our ability to be inspired,

Our ability to have that time of recognition of this wonderful gift of being here now.

And I bow in deepest gratitude to you and may every day be Thanksgiving in your life.

Thank you for being there.

God bless you always.