intuitive and grateful blog

The Importance of Feeling Grateful

Sometimes I start feeling small, hidden behind self-negative talk, self-doubt and self-criticism … This quote from Ram Dass expresses it so clearly; ” The problem is you’re afraid to acknowledge your own beauty. You’re too busy holding onto your unworthiness.”

Why do we do this to ourselves? We would view it as something bad or cruel if we did it to other people. It is easier to see the positive, the beauty, the growth, the progress, and the talents in others.

This feeling of unworthiness holds us back from sharing with others, from creating, it is like a defensive barrier making us procrastinate. All because of the fear of rejection. In this way we just subtly push away happiness and love. This feeling of unworthiness is like a cage we need to breakthrough.

Why does fear and our ideas of not being enough block us from seeing and appreciating our own virtues and achievements, however small?

If we can see others through compassionate and loving eyes it should be easier for us to see ourselves in that way too. To understand ourselves with more patience and more tenderness, even when it’s not easy.

To un-learn this useless habit I am working on being more grateful for the qualities I have. Even when I’m having a bad moment, being afraid, or feeling stuck or in tension, I am learning to remember to turn to gratitude. By coming back to my intentions I’m able to recognize where real improvement is needed and where the necessary work can be done. Only I can do that work for myself, and this applies to us all!

We can treat ourselves kindlier when our thoughts and emotions are beating up our brains. We can let those thoughts pass and come back to that calm place behind the thoughts. Then we watch our mind, that seat within ourselves, the seat of our consciousness, the source of our attention.

We can choose to remember everything we are grateful for. It doesn’t matter how small; we can always feel so much better after doing it. By returning to gratitude once again, no matter how far away it seems, we all can realize how much we have to be grateful for.

We can remember that everyone of us is an embodied expression of the Divine Source. Therefore, we are all Love. We are worthy, we’re a Sacred Being, and we are enough exactly as we are.
“I have the right to exist exactly as I am”, repeat this as a mantra.

This reminder can keep us afloat and keep us going on. It will move us closer to feeling we really are this Divine Love and that we are all part of it. Remove this defensive barrier and see for yourself how it’s holding us back from the greatest Love of all.

Nurture yourself, spend time sitting in silence, observe your breath and the beat of your heart. Read something inspiring and remember what a gift it is to be alive. After being covered by some darkness and dirt, all seeds will bloom in their own unique beautiful ways.

Give warmth and contentment to your heart by giving yourself time to remember, what are you grateful for today?

… Written by Andrea Navascués (Peru)