{"id":2373,"date":"2017-11-22T13:49:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T18:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/?p=2373"},"modified":"2017-11-22T13:49:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T18:49:27","slug":"spontaneous-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/blog\/2017\/11\/22\/spontaneous-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Spontaneous Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have a yearly holiday in this country, Thanksgiving, in which we are to give thanks for our blessings. It\u2019s a nice tradition, and one in which people of all religions can partake.<\/p>\n

Of course spiritual teachings encourage us to have gratitude all year round. \u00a0We may even make a list, or create a \u201cgratitude journal,\u201d finding specific things to be thankful for each day.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But there is another kind of gratitude, one that doesn\u2019t have to do with being grateful for \u201csome thing\u201d but grateful for this moment, this breath.<\/p>\n

Spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle bids us to become still, and acknowledge the presence in ourselves and in all things, a quiet honoring of all that is.\u00a0 If we choose, we can do this without saying anything at all.\u00a0 Or we may become inspired to create a poem, a song, a painting, a piece of music.<\/p>\n

St. Francis of Assisi is said to have composed a song known as the Canticle of the Sun<\/em>, praising all things of this world. Some say he composed it after he had already become blind, dictating the words to another. He was able to perceive the unity of all things, their brightness, through his mind\u2019s eye. \u00a0He praises Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, Mother Earth, and even Sister Death.<\/p>\n

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, all things are said to be made of five elements\u2014similar to what St. Francis wrote about: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Space. These elements form the basis of life.<\/p>\n

Today and everyday, be still and reach beyond the thinking, conceptual mind. You can go beyond mental concepts, and you will receive a quiet perception of the presence that is within you, the source of your true power, the same power that sustains all of life, even unto death.<\/p>\n

“If you go deeply into the present, gratitude arises spontaneously, even if it\u2019s just gratitude for breathing, for the aliveness that you feel in your body. Gratitude is there when you acknowledge the aliveness of the present moment.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the things that truly matter, beauty, love, creativity, joy and inner peace arise from beyond the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2015\u00a0Eckhart Tolle<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have a yearly holiday in this country, Thanksgiving, in which we are to give thanks for our blessings. It\u2019s a nice tradition, and one in which people of all religions can partake. Of course spiritual teachings encourage us to have gratitude all year round. \u00a0We may even make a list, or create a \u201cgratitude […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,112,21,161],"tags":[114,62,7,29],"class_list":["post-2373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awareness","category-body-mind","category-breathing","category-gratitude","tag-body-mind","tag-breathing-techniques","tag-focus","tag-thoughts","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2373"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2377,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373\/revisions\/2377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juliannedavidow.com\/demonew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}