Being Grateful for Gratitude

As we contemplate gratitude this week, we seek to boost our Earth Element within. The Earth Element excels in gratitude. Earths have an appreciation for the abundance that comes our way. The harvest in the late summer is a perfect example of when the Earth virtues are most predominant. Being thankful for the bounty of the Earth is something you feel as you share it with everyone around you!

All healing requires a shift in consciousness to change the things that got you out of alignment with yourself. Gratitude is a virtue that can change our consciousness around whatever is stuck (health related, job related, relationship related…whatever it is). Maybe nothing in your life is ever good enough. But if you begin to appreciate what you do have that is good, you change your focus away from the things that bring you discontent to the things that bring you contentment.

You also shift from a sense of powerlessness (“nothing ever goes my way”) to having control over your life (“things are always working out for me”). If you stop focusing on something you can’t fix (because you believe you can’t fix it), and focus on things that you’ve been able to fix, your consciousness changes.

One of the most frustrating things in life can be when something in your life is not bending to your will. You try and try and try to get it to change, but it stays the same. The more you focus on it not changing, the more it may become even more entrenched. Illness can be like this. Highly effective people who are used to getting their way in life are often stymied by illness if it comes. They just don’t understand why it won’t respond to their efforts against it.

To get in touch with gratitude during this holiday season, perhaps we can focus our energy on our center… the abdomen. The Earth Element is centered in the Stomach, and this is where we can focus to feel the nourishment of life within us – the seat of our gratitude – the Alchemical caldron, which is a special place of transformation that we sometimes overlook. How simple it is!