Gratitude is a gateway.
So much research demonstrates that a discipline of gratitude leads to health of many kinds. But, it also confirms that it needs to be a conscious thing...otherwise we just don't do it. A centrifugal-type force seems to draw us towards the dynamics of problems and fears, so we have choose to countermand it...at a habitual level.
But, the benefits of doing so are irrefutable. It helps us make more positive personal choices, like eating well, exercising, and getting outside. It improves our relationships and gives us a more positive outlook on life. Perhaps, one of the more insightful observations about it is that giving thanks is an essential part of what makes us human.
Gratitude is like a big invitation…to more. An invitation to recognize goodness, an invitation to love — to an understanding of true abundance. Not the kind that is about the endless accumulation of things, but the kind of abundance that is the endless participation with all the graces that are around us (love this observation of Wm. Paul Young). It is like a door that opens us up to nearly everything that is good — a gateway.
Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.
-- Eckhart Tolle
