Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted by Kristi Nelson

Author:Kristi Nelson [Nelson, Kristi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: self help
ISBN: 9781635862447
Google: YnPbDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1635862442
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Published: 2020-11-24T05:00:00+00:00

Voices of Grateful Living

Gratitude as a way of being enables me to get out of my own way in seeing that I am not the main player in the universe. It broadens my sense of belonging to things beyond me, reconnects me to deeper parts of myself that were neglected. This feeds a feeling of sufficiency. — Alan D.

Become Present to Who You Are

You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing. You don’t have to do anything to earn it. No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be here. — Ram Dass

The practice of intentional self-appreciation is cultivated in the present moment. As is. As we are. Appreciation invites us to be fully present to what is “so,” and then to lean in with an open heart. When we direct attention toward ourselves, the present moment asks us to surrender the burden of the incessant goals, striving, and our need for accomplishment. We honor each moment when we release the litany of ideas about what might be required before we can be grateful for who we are: all those unfulfilled resolutions; things we think we need to have, be, or fix; and people whose permission or approval we think we should await. There are no preconditions for self-befriending. We can even set down the confining ways we have learned to identify ourselves in the world. You do not need to do, have, or be anything to be worthy of receiving your own acceptance and kindness. Instead, you can turn toward yourself, extending a more merciful appreciation for every aspect of who you are, exactly as you are. All of it. Here. Now.

It is human — and culturally encouraged — to want to work on, change, refine, and try to “better” ourselves, always aiming toward some yet-to-be and might-never-be future. But before we undertake any efforts toward self-improvement, we must first compassionately accept ourselves for the fullness and truth of who we are; acknowledge the courageous, circuitous path we took to get here; and recognize that it is all actually enough. We are served by approaching ourselves with a sweeping and inclusive embrace of the many qualities we may be inclined to judge or disavow. The exiled parts. The pathologized ways of being. The marginalized feelings. The hidden hurts. The tender sensitivities. You discover a gracious capacity for empathy when you learn to lean into yourself with the embrace of a close friend. And then, ironically, many of the things you have long wanted to “better” become compassionately integrated into a more beloved sense of self. You are the ever-available focus for your own loving exploration, and the unconditional consideration you so readily offer, and long for, from others.

Our capacity for gratefulness will depend heartily on the depth of companionship we offer ourselves. Learning to be present, we recognize that self-befriending will take us a very long way down the road of leading more grateful lives, and so we turn toward a more sacred partnership.

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