Gratitude Diairy

COVID-19 caught all of us with our pants down. And for many - if not most, it is dictating that we go inside to reflect on that which is. It has also, as Barry Malone said: “not been an equalizer. It has been a magnifier of inequality and injustice that permeates every aspect of society allowing some to take refuge behind privileges and money whilst those less fortunate, are left to struggle.”

Much has been written about the anxiety caused by the lockdown and how to overcome the sense of powerlessness and despair. Many suggest that one focusses on what you have right within every moment, rather than fussing over what you don’t have. Expressing gratitude has indeed been shown as having a calming effect on the mind and the emotions.

I was once told by my exco (God and the angels) to “just be”. On inquiry as to the precise meaning, this was the reply: ‘to be, is to do absolutely nothing (but being grateful and visualize) in order to achieve absolutely everything’’. 

But here’s the thing. Is a simple emotionless expression of gratitude enough?

Visualization is an amazing technique for manifesting that which one desires in life. In fact, the Essenes - authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls and who, 2000BC lived near the Dead Sea at a place called Qumran, was adamant that any visualization will only yield results when one can actually vividly smell, taste, feel, hear the elements within your visualization or prayer.

So visualization should then in fact be a total immersive emotional/physical experience even though one would be quite still and stationary. Does this make sense?

It does. One has to experience – take ownership of the content of your visualization as if it already is – right here right now. The emotion which accompanies successful achievement is indeed a truly deep and authentic experience as I am sure you can relate to. You see, to think about something is one thing. To actually passionately experience it in your mind, is activating that thought or desire…

So this morning as I woke and expressed gratitude for a new day – I was suddenly struck by the sound of that expression in my mind. It was so - casual and meaningless – I was stunned!

If it sounded meaningless, it is meaningless. I dug into the subconscious to extract reminders of experiences that rendered authentic emotions of gratitude (and there are many), and then I again expressed gratitude. This time it felt different – my soul responded.

Now I am not trying to simplify the challenges relating to stress and anxiety. To practice gratitude is not always that easy. Tell someone who hasn’t eaten for days, to be grateful – or a parent who has been starving themselves in order to feed their children – it is not that easy and I don’t have all the answers either.

Point is if one expresses gratitude and your soul do not respond to this expression, if you don’t feel that gratitude – if you don’t feel the intention and attention – you have not gone inside - and then, in my opinion, the expression is pretty much meaningless.

Lockdown dictates a redirection of our focus. If we make gratitude part and parcel of that new focus and we share within our communities, the gifts may well surprise us all.

 

 

LESSONS FROM NATURE

We have two of these feeders in the garden. And at times, the number of birds in attendance makes it looks like the Gillooly’s intersection in Johannesburg.

During breeding season, it is fascinating to sit and watch how, in particular, the sun birds would guide their offspring to these feeding stations. The parents would drink for a bit, fly to a branch nearby and wait for the little ones to drink before they again fly off. They will repeat the process until such time that the little ones have memorised the location and fly in of their own accord.

And then, at some point, they will actually chase the offspring away, violently even, when they want to drink whilst the parents are drinking.

This is the way of nature. When it is time to wean the offspring, the parents will display violent behaviour when chasing the offspring away to go and fend for themselves.

The question which arose in my mind is this. Why is it that we human parents or most parents anyway, insist on subsidising (mentally and materially) their children indefinitely no matter what? And I am not referring to unemployed or disabled children.

In their Gospel of Peace, written thousands of years ago, the Essene people said that we should take our lessons from nature and not from the written word as the latter are dead.

The Dead Sea scrolls (a fascinating read and study) were also written by the Essene people. They lived a sedentary live near the Dead Sea at a place called Qumran and away from “civilisation”. Cultivating their own food by day and teaching their children the truths of the world by night and by observing nature in all her beauty.

And then there is a school of thought that suggests that, if as parents, we teach our children as and what we are supposed to, that by age 7, children should be able to fend for themselves.

I do not support this though but yes, I do question the notion and motivation of infinite subsidisation of children/young adults/young working adults. I am all for drawing the line sooner rather than later, though. The time for this will be determined by the manner of how a parent teaches his/her children to become independent.

Is it because parents feel guilty about their neglect of duty – or low self-esteem?

What do you think?