The Gift of Gratitude
GRATITUDE, Melina Del Mar
In 2018, I was invited to an Ayahuasca ceremony. I had been so terrified of this medicine people called the 'Grandmother' that I had declared to the Universe I would NOT seek it out... rather I would only take it if SHE sought me. Well, she sought me. A client of mine called sheepishly to say she'd been feeling for weeks an impulse to invite me to a ceremony. The second these words left her mouth, my body began weeping with relief.
I had received the CALL... and I knew it was time for the medicine.
The ceremony was at the Winter Solstice 2018... deep in the forest, in an off grid world far from normal. To capture the vibe, the shaman was mother to two giant arctic wolves who circled us like archetypal gods. These beautiful girls loped and sniffed... and HOWLED!! Primal, earthy, powerful and feminine: the ceremony was exquisite.
I received many revelations... I am grateful for them all. Yet one stands above the rest.
The Gift of Gratitude.
In Western self-help culture, 'gratitude journals' are de-rigueur... declaring experiences we liked, even through gritted teeth. I used to keep one of these when my kids were small and I was near breaking. 'Thankful that Amitav ate broccoli today' (grit, grind)... 'grateful the stroller wheel got fixed' (grrr).
The Gift of Gratitude was different.
Grandmother taught me that when we express THANKS, we energetically align from our DEEPEST ROOT to HIGHEST SHOOT. The vibration of gratitude brings us into our central core axis... hooking us into our individuated self, our perfect form.
Rather than affirming things or experiences or traits, THANK YOU is literally a divine plug in.
And why does this simple act of universal submission result in perfect alignment?
What I was shown was that expressing THANK YOU affirms to the reality that 'I am here... I am whole... and I am willing to be what I came here to be… what I was created to be… no more, no less’. This is humility… and from humility comes grace... and with grace comes capacity… and then our cup can be filled as it is meant to be.
Ironically, states of reaching, yearning, hoping and wanting affirm NOT having, perpetuating a sense of lack in our system. And being in a state of lack magnetizes only more of itself.
I was shown unequivocally that there is magic in simply BEING GRATEFUL. It opens us to our birthright.
From gratitude, we tell a story all our own, perfectly tailored to who we are, unfettered by comparison, conditioning, lies, attachment, greed, sorrow, suffering.
From gratitude, we trust. We honor. We allow. We anchor in TRUTH.
And the truth is, in the age of Aquarius, our spirituality will be expressed not as a worshiping of an ineffable force at some higher level than us (Age of Pisces) yet as an expression and extension of our INDIVIDUATED SELVES. We will be drawn to pray by being in ALIGNMENT... by bridging heaven and earth within us... by living from our DIVINE LINE… and by boldly allowing our unique current to enter the collective field and inform it.
We are all born to be exactly who we are needed to be. We are all born to sing the SONG OF OUR SELF, entirely. And when we do this, we get what we need. There is nothing missing.
So dear Grandmother taught me that GRATITUDE is like taking the FAST LANE TO INDIVIDUATION… the fast lane to ME, as I was meant to be.
Thank you. I’m so grateful. Thank you.
This season of THANKSGIVING is a wonderful time to practice the simple art of saying THANKS.
After my ceremony in December 2018, I spent hours walking with the mantra 'THANK YOU… I’M SO GRATEFUL' in my mind. I repeated those words thousands of times.... for weeks... month... years. And still today, I use this phrase every moment I remember. When I'm in darkest corners or lightest rooms... it always turns me inside out... like a flower to the sun.
Try it... and see. :)
All my love on this blessed day...
I'm so grateful. Thank you.
Sara
Tiny Dancer, Dominic Pangborn
