Gratitude: A Silent, Unspoken Prayer
Rama J. Vernon is the founder of the California Yoga Teachers Association, which is the founding organization and publisher of the YOGA JOURNAL. Rama’s international work as president of the Center for International Dialogue (founded in 1984 to create a framework in which the citizens of the US and the USSR could overcome their differences through dialogue) and her vast background in yoga has led her to co-found the Institute for Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies. The Institute uses East-West psychology, spiritual principles, and Patanjali Yoga Sutras as the basis of inner/outer nonviolence training to create international teams of conflict-resolution specialists.
A great seer once said, “The angels hover over the earth looking for the rays of thanksgiving and gratitude that radiate from a selfless heart.”
The word gratitude is defined by Webster as the quality of feeling or being grateful. (Great-full) or (thankful) means filled with greatness or grace. Gratitude is the giving of thanks, not one day a year, but every day, every minute, and with every breath. Its expression within our lives and with others blossoms into the realization that we are whole and complete within ourselves.
Gratitude has always been like a prayer, silent and unspoken for me. When sent forth from the center of our soul, it acts like a winged messenger transforming personal ambitions and petitions of needs and wants into a transcendent view of life’s cycles and patterns.
When gratitude and thanksgiving become a way of life, all abundance—physical, spiritual, and material—co-exist simultaneously; our personal power mingles with the powers of the universe to heal the world as we heal ourselves. Gratitude carries us to the heights of the higher vibratory frequencies transforming cellular pockets of tension and dis-ease.
As we express gratitude with every breath, we become a symphony of compassion, love, and understanding, Borders of separation within dissolve into an awareness of our Oneness with All.
Even in life’s darkest moments, we can open ourselves with reverence and great-fullness, knowing that crises give birth to new opportunities. With the joy of acceptance and thanksgiving, life’s events flow like a steady, gentle stream of consciousness, transforming stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
Gratitude is our offering to a higher power, having faith that there is something greater than ourselves that is guiding, holding, and protecting us. The practice of gratitude is an offering that creates a field of resonance that unifies and empowers our vision of personal and global transformation.
How does one practice gratitude? You can practice gratitude each day with each word, each thought, and each gesture. Even though you may have lists of needs and wants, ask yourself what it is you have to be grateful for now. Look for things that trigger gratitude in your life, even if they may seem insignificant at first. Soon you will automatically begin to feel buoyant and joyful. Practice celebrating thanksgiving—not once a year, but every day. Make a gratitude list, and watch it grow. Focus on the abundance now existing in your life, rather than the lack.
Hold the vision of your life as being complete and whole. Affirm it. Realize it. Be it. There is nothing to reach for beyond yourself. You are the universe, contained in its own perfection. As Shakespeare once said, “Assume the attitude, tho’ you have it not, and it shall be yours.”
You can practice gratitude anytime or anywhere. To do this, simply become conscious of your breathing. As you breathe in, imagine the universal consciousness being pulled in from all directions simultaneously into the center of your Being. Hold your breath comfortably as you allow yourself to luxuriate in a sensation of fullness and completeness. As you breathe out, spread your inner fullness, joy, and abundance to all within your life and within the world.
A few other suggestions that I have found helpful over the years in cultivating a spirit of gratitude are:
See all people in the light of universal love while you work and walk beside them.
Let your words heal rather than wound.
Be the first to forgive and take the first step.
Hold every person within your life with love and thanksgiving (especially those with whom there have been past or present difficulties).
Be a spontaneous channel for the outpouring of unconditional love wherever you are, whomever you’re with.
Embody the peace you would like to see within the world.
For me, gratitude is an attitude of mind and heart. It starts from within and flows through every part of my soul. It leaves no area of my being untouched. It encompasses all that I am and asks for the highest and best that I can envision and aspire toward. For me, gratitude is a state of being rather than doing. It is unending love for the Creator and all of life’s creations.
