Attuning to gratitude is a powerful practice.

As you attune to the feeling of gratitude, it’s like massaging your consciousness—the places that are tight, tense and constricted begin to loosen and relax and open to receive the blessings that are ever-present.

As you awaken to feeling of gratitude, it becomes apparent that “you” are surrounded and embraced by the beauty, bounty and brilliant creativity of Life.

You’re like a fish in the ocean—only you’re immersed in an Ocean of Being: the boundary-free Sea of Presence.

You’re surrounded by beauty. Every possible—and even unimagined—experience is there.

Love. Health. Success. Wisdom. Everything. It’s all here—and available to you.

But, it is only available when you open and allow it in. Life is absolutely gracious and will never intrude. Life will never force you to have more happiness than you’re willing to enjoy.

Imagine the Buddha standing at the door of your house knocking and knocking.

He’s come to your house with a special Buddha-delivery: a box of Radiant Wisdom! But, unless you open the door and allow him in—he’s stuck outside, wisdom in hand. The Awakened One won’t practice breaking and entering.

The door that must be opened, if you want to receive Life’s blessings, opens on the inside.

The fullness of Life resides at the threshold of your consciousness. And it will continue to reside there, as long as the door remains closed.

Life might slip notes under the door.

“I’m here. Please let me in. I have what you need!!”

Life will send you reminders of the possibilities and the richness that’s available to you—moments of peace; experiences of bliss; simple, beautiful moments of simply being present. Ahhhhhhh…

Such moments are wonderful. So, why don’t we open the door to receive the fullness of life?

Because a closed door feels safe.

There’s a certain security living behind a closed door or just opening it up a crack.

There’s a feeling of being in control and of managing things my way.

But, there’s also unresolved longing and the gnawing sense that:

By protecting yourself from what you can’t control, you’re also denying yourself what you most deeply long for. 

So, how can you open the door and begin to live more fully and more creatively?

This is where spiritual practice comes in, because you can’t open the door directly. But, you can cultivate the conditions that naturally open the door heart to Life’s blessings—by cultivating gratitude.

It’s that simple and that powerful: cultivate gratitude.

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Author: Eric Klein

Editor: Emily Bartran

Photo: aussiegall/Flickr; Author’s Own