“Your mantra is thank you. Just keep saying thank you. Don’t explain. Don’t complain. Just say thank you. Say thank you to existence.” ~ Mooji

~

~

It’s easy to be grateful when things in your life are going great or when you are having one of those soul-opening moments where your Kundalini energy is flowing to the point that you feel one with the universe. 

These are the moments in my life when we overflow with love and gratitude. These are those moments that we can’t get enough of out of life, and the times when the people in our lives shine especially bright.

During these times, it is important to be present and take in all the yummy feelings and use them to propel you forward toward manifesting your dreams.

What about the other moments, though? The moments where we find ourselves laid out on the floor in a puddle of tears with our faith in ourselves, humanity, and life in question. Those moments where everything seems to be falling apart, or those moments when nothing is falling apart but we just feel empty and that sometimes feels worse. These are often the hardest times to have gratitude.

It’s hard to be grateful when your perception is that things are going wrong.

The problem is often it’s just that—a perception.

When we are in the middle of a situation, it is difficult to see the positives that can come from a difficult situation or, conversely, the negatives that can come from what was perceived to be a positive situation. Tremendous growth and transformation can occur at our lowest points, and a situation that feels heavenly one moment can turn devastating the next.

It often takes time and sometimes space to get a different perspective on a situation. We don’t see how our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are manifesting our whole life into being, how we are creating the reality in which we live.

There are many times that things are not getting worse but we are simply beginning to pull back the veil of new learning and transformation. Without these events, nothing would change, and our needed growth would not occur. So, it is our perception of how things are that is creating the problem, and this perception in turn stirs up difficult feelings. The more energy we place in resisting something, the more we struggle and manifest more of this same negative vibration.

This is where the mantra of “thank you” comes into play. When we simply say thank you (and mean it), we immediately let go of a level of resistance against that event or person. We are validating that everything and everyone we experience in life comes to teach us in some way. Some of these lessons feel better than others in the moment, but all are important. Even those times when we search our minds and can’t find any possible lesson, I promise there is a lesson to be learned even if it takes years to become clear.

Here are some examples from my own experience:

The phone falls from my hand after I read the text that rips my heart apart and brings my ego to the forefront. A lover has just dropped a major bomb in my life, and I feel frozen. Then, I crumble like a million pieces of sand on the floor of my living room as a stream of tears floods my face. I feel both too much and not enough in this moment and simply want to die…thank you!

It’s my first bodywork session, and I am both excited and nervous. Shivers run down my spine and butterflies dance in my stomach. I feel like I am becoming one with the table and the soft strokes that help my body open up to sensation and teach me to reconnect with my body. The moment comes for the session to end, and, when I open my eyes, the most beautiful flowers have been laid upon my chest. I hear my mentor call me a goddess, and she tells me to feel and see my divine beauty in that moment…thank you!

I’m in the back of the car with a lover (now ex-lover), and he is very drunk from the evening. It has been a long night, and the last thing I want in this moment is to be touched. However, he starts kissing on me and grabbing at my breasts. I tell him no and that he is drunk. I tell him no and push him across the backseat. He grabs me aggressively, and the soft kisses turn cold and hard as he takes things further despite my protests. My stomach turns to rock as I realize what’s about to go down in this backseat, and I’m not physically strong enough to stop it…thank you!

Someone takes a leap of faith and is vulnerable with me…thank you.

$600 unexpected bill for new tires…thank you.

A smile and hug from a friend…thank you.

An empty, hollow feeling in my gut…thank you.

All of that said, I do not believe that saying “thank you” will necessarily change all feelings about all situations; however, it does begin our journey through these feelings in a more positive cognitive space. If we begin with “thank you,” then we begin by noting there is something positive to come from the moment.

We become grateful for our simple existence.

Yes, there are going to be times when it might be harder to be in full alignment with the mantra of “thank you.” We don’t always understand the events in our lives, so when someone’s sick, dies, or a traumatic event occurs, it can be especially hard to have any form of gratitude. But in that gratitude, one can begin to find healing and often greater alignment with the universe.

So thank you—just thank you!

Author: Addison Bell

Image: Flickr/Eli Christman

Editor: Callie Rushton