You might ask, Why practice gratitude? The disciplined focus on gratitude should not be approached from the perspective of “what’s in it for me?”, but rather, consider what fills your own heart so that you are moved to attend to and appreciate events in your life in new ways.

Gratitude is a fullness of heart that moves you from limitation and fear to expansion and love. When you’re appreciating something, your ego moves out of the way. You can’t have your attention on ego and gratitude at the same time.

Deepak Chopra

So, simply, get out of your own way throughout your journey to gratitude, and experience (initially and continually) some of the following benefits:

1. To boost your immune system
2. To lower depression
3. To build a resistance to stress
4. To increase your energy level
5. To help you sleep

More particularly, the spiritual practice of gratitude is frequently described as a way of life, as a state of mind, and even as a “grammar”, a “syntax”, “an underlying construct”, and/or a “structure” to make sense out of our lives.

The rules of this grammar cover all our activities. Its syntax reveals a system of relationships linking us to the divine and to every other part of the creation.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The rules for this practice are not so simple to follow. We are not divine. We have egos that get in our way. We have greed, we covet, we feel entitled, we are jealous, we want satisfaction, and acceptance. Thus, it is through our spiritual teachings that we learn to count our blessings, to become kinder, to say “thank you”, and begin to understand how we are linked to each other and every other part of our world.

Spiritual practice for gratitude lays a foundation upon which we build to discover our pathways in everyday life, and through which we link to others.

• Spiritual practice gives us our “maps” to gratitude.
• Spiritual practice is our “light” out of our darkness.
• Spiritual practice busts through our limitations and fears.
• Spiritual practice might be viewed like an athlete rehearsing their motor movements, over and over and over again, until the dance, jump, leap, run, ball toss, snap, hit, etc. becomes automatic toward the goal.
• Spiritual practice is our “yellow brick road” to guide us along life’s way

Practice, practice, practice to make sense out of your life, and to find and count your many blessings!

This is #gratitudeultra. See post on February 28, 2021 for definitions of categories of gratitude.