GRATEFUL - GEAR 4

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love".              

 ~ Marcus Aurelius

Let’s be Grateful  ;-)      

Focus on these, our greatest gifts, which were given to us at birth, but are recognize perhaps not often enough. It can really be fun to heighten your sensitivities to these precious gifts you've been given! Make it a discovery!  

     Be specifically grateful for your body! Regardless the color, shape, age or gender, the human body is just miraculously awesome!  Have you considered this?  

     A good friend and mentor of ours, Dr Andy Barlow, told us at a seminar we attended:

“The human body is a self healing, self regulating organism. It just needs some help once in a while!”

     When you consider all the human beings on this earth it is amazing, and just overwhelming, to imagine that ALL these intricate bodies and body systems are constantly working, like little chemistry sets, moving all about the globe. Not just in our household, our town, or our state but all over the globe!

     Millions upon millions of human bodies are working their magic, every single minute of every single day. They are even at work up in the space station, for months and years at a time!  What?  Yes! Deep sea divers can go deep into the sea, and their bodies continue to work! Miners can be in deep, dark, caverns, and their bodies continue to operate. 

Are you appreciative of your senses?  

I am grateful for myself and my body. I am grateful for my ability to see, hear, feel, taste, and touch”

~ Louise Hay

Be Grateful for your senses...not just “common senses!”

     If you are like the rest of us, we often tend to take for granted some of our most important gifts!  This week, we’d like to find Gratitude for our 5 senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.  Perhaps all of your senses are strong; perhaps, not so much.  Have you lost one or more of your senses?

    There is a restaurant in Canada, we’ve been told, where all patrons who go there to eat walk into a room that is totally, blacked-out, dark.  Once your meal is decided on (from a verbal conversation with your host), you are served in the dark; you eat in the dark; and you pay in the dark.  

     As you may have guessed, the establishment is run by the blind community, and the purpose is to bring awareness of the challenges of the blind.  Wow.  That’s pretty powerful stuff.  To even imagine that experience, for us, brings complete gratitude for our sight, thus, the focus of this week’s “Gratitude”.  

If you are able to read this right now, you definitely have something to be Grateful for!

When you ride in the car or go outside, LOOK around!  Notice shapes, colors, shades, textures, big, little, etc. Notice the contrasts of colors from the bright blue sky to the deep green trees.  How many shades of green are there?  Are there clouds against the blue sky?  How many orange cars are on the road?  Tune in!  Look up!

When you experience quiet time LISTEN!  Notice squeaks, clicks, rustling, blowing, splashing, crunching, etc. Does your quiet house talk to you? What is talking?  What does it say?   Pets?  Listen to them! 

When you breathe, use your nose. Notice the different SMELLS of pine trees; the beach; the harbor; the yard; the kitchen; candles; cleaning supplies; hose water; mulch; pet food; cedar chips; fishing boat; suntan lotion, shower soap; barbecue grill; the newspaper; gas for the car, the grocery store etc.

When you have something in your mouth, TASTE it.  Focus on the toothpaste, mouthwash, coffee, cream in the coffee, water (it has a taste!), gum, condiments, pepper, salt, etc.

FEEL what your body TOUCHES.  Tune into the warmth of your chair when you stand up or the coldness of it when you sit down, the nail file against your nails, the feeling of bumping yourself against something, sand under your feet, bed sheets against your skin, your pool water, sweat running down your face, a bug landing on you, etc. 

When you focus on these gifts you have, you become very mindful...you come to “the moment," the “precious present” when you are one-with-yourself, on the most primary level, and you are better able to appreciate just what all you really have to be grateful for.  

None of it comes from the mall, or can be bought.  

It is inside of you. it has been all along!