Living Miraculously…. Got Gratitude? Open your heart!

One question……and I ask that you answer as honestly as possible: on a scale of 1-10, how grateful are you right now?
It is a time of great challenges for many people – more than I can ever remember in my life. The list is long. Many people are losing their homes, their jobs, relationships, health, family and financial issues are at an all time high. With all this pain, how do you step into gratitude? You can… and…. we have to honor our feelings first.
Yet we dare not show our vulnerable side to others. Why is that? First, in the spiritual community it is not always “law of attraction etiquette” to admit you may be less than grateful. You know, “what you talk about you bring about” stuff. We feel if we lose our cool or we’re angry we’re not spiritually aligned.
“Count your blessings” “put on your big girl panties” “Be Grateful” we’re told. Good advice! And yet god knows, we have enough on our plate without being pressured to feel grateful!
Yep…we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And yet, even Jesus was pretty angry in Gethsemane. He did let it go… after he acknowledged his anger. Psychologically burying our feelings…..not a good thing. There is a wonderful book written by Karol Truman that says it all: Feelings Buried Alive Never Die.
Can I tell you something? It’s ok..…it’s really ok to acknowledge the pain, the worry or the fear you may be experiencing during these trying times. Awareness and acknowledgement are the first steps in healing. The next step is to share it, then release it and then you can step into gratitude.
I’ve been conducting a little private experiment lately. I’m in contact with lots of people on a daily basis and    wherever I am, I make it a point to look people in the eye and then smile. Most everyone returns the smile, some even a nano second later when they realized I just smiled at them! And I have this knowing that behind those eyes is a unique story to tell…. many times it is about suffering.
How do I know? Well that’s the next part of this experiment. I’ve also been making it a point when in conversation, even with a stranger, if they ask me how I’m doing I don’t say “Oh, I’m fine, thank you.” Instead, I will briefly share with them some of the challenges I’m going though, not in a dramatic over the edge Virginia Woolf kind of way, but as the simple fact of “what is.” You know the astonishing part? More often than not people will then share with me their challenges.
In that amazing moment, when we’ve both opened our hearts, we realize we’re not alone and in some miraculous/quantum shift way we acknowledge how we’re all connected.
So I’ve been thinking (a dangerous word to my husband!) that we need to begin to form small intimate communities where we can meet and share our stories and open our hearts. Not only to release the pain, but also to have these conversations where we might be able to help one another through emotional support, the connections we might have and even create some type of barter system.
I know there are barter systems around, but what I’m talking about is totally free. A free place to meet, share ideas, stories, referrals, helpful suggestions (no judging) and an opportunity to exchange services and to grow. You need coaching? OK… I need my house cleaned. You need a vet? OK, the vet needs computer services… and so on. Not a new idea, but one without any fees attached and also a place to really connect and release some of our pain.
The answers to our challenges and to help change the world is not in choosing the right political system. It is within each one of us and in recognizing our “inter-dependence” and opening our hearts to one another.
Now that is something to be grateful for. If you are seriously interested in forming these communities I would love to hear your comments!
Live Miraculously!
Namaste,
Michele