Lead with Gratitude, access your Joy

Living in our busy, mind-oriented world is not always easy. Much of our attention is drawn into what's wrong and who is doing this or that. We often don't realize it but we are constantly bombarded by input, whether it be at work or from the news or social media. This leads our attention away from ourselves to be almost possessed by outer circumstances, never truly allowing us to feel deeply within.It is not strange that so many of us are feeling anxiety and stress, so much that many are on different forms of medications and other supplements to make us feel like we have enough energy to sustain.

This means that we are more or less always completely cut off from ourselves and our inner sense of reality. But when we access ourselves, our inner states and we learn to disconnect from the outside world, we are able to find peace.

Thus is the way into your inner world and meditation. And once we begin to practice some form of self care, which will not be complete until you also practice sitting in meditation, we gain access to another level of awareness.

In this deeper inner space we realize that the outer circumstances will always change, the world will always have it's own drama with the ups and downs. While your inner space is your sanctuary, your temple if you will.

As you enter your own inner space you find a whole new set of experiences, many will be based in your own inner peace. Because, you see, your inner state is that of peace and balance. Look at the symbol of Yin and Yang and you see how the perfect balance created between the black and the white parts of the sphere create the whole.

When you begin to experience your inner state you connect deeply with your own Life Force Energy. This is your original state, before the world taught you to defend yourself, to live in different levels of fear.

This inner energy is the same energy that flows in the trees, the birds, the grass and the dolphins in the ocean. And if you are fortunate enough to sit with nature and learn from her, your understanding of yourself and your connection grows.

This is when we access gratitude for Life itself. Not because of what you own, have in your life or who is part of your life, but your inner connection to Life itself. A true sense of gratitude is found deep within. When you realize that you are Life expressing itself, just like Life expresses itself through all the trees, all the birds and all the different forms of creatures in existence.

So your inner sense of gratitude is not affected by any outer circumstances. It sure can be difficult to access at times but your Life Force Energy is always present within you.

And when you connect to the deep sense of thankfulness for just being in existence at this point in time you gain access to your true power and your innate sense of joy. You see, creation itself is joyful, even though the outside world may not always seem to be that way. Creation is an expanding, creating process of Life expressing itself on our planet and anything that is in that state of expansion is also innately joyful. Think about yourself when you were a child, or just imagine a child, running barefoot in the grass, sun shining down, maybe the kid is playing in a lawn sprinkler. That kid is incredibly joyful to just feel a sense of aliveness in hers or his system.

This inner energy still lives in you and you can access it by sitting with the image and feeling the feeling of aliveness.

Become grateful for the pure fact that your heart is still beating, your lungs still breathing and blood is flowing through your body and you will find joy.

Feel free to reach out to me or to comment on the post if resonated with you.

Much Love, in deep gratitude,

Aho,

Art by Skyler Kenny from Marcus' book, "The Four Elements, We Are Earth Mother"