Gratitude

I was reading the LillahsNorthEastPagans Spell of Gratitude and it make me think about Gratitude at this time of the year. Since my beliefs are slightly different for a witch, I decided to do a kind of paraphrasing and interjection of my thoughts in the matter.

Gratitude is one of the most profound emotions we can feel. To be grateful is to feel content and to acknowledge the things in your life that you truly and fully appreciate. So often, we go through life forgetting to say "thanks" to life itself. We often focus on the negative and forget to count our blessings.

I cannot tell you how many people I know, including my mother, who reflect only on the negative and pass that on to other people. Don't do that - if you need to gossip, try to make it positive information and not negative. We are so quick to speak the negative onward, but fall silent when it is something good.

Gratitude is essential on any spiritual path—including the path of life itself! It is after Hannukkah, (the Festival of Lights, celebrating a light that did not go out) Christmas (celebrating the birth of a Savior), and is shortly after Yule, the Winter Solstice, which celebrates the rebirth of the Sun and Kwanzaa, celebrating a heritage. And now because this time of year represents rebirth, renewal, gift-giving, and love, it's a perfect time to give thanks to the universe. Take a walk in nature by yourself, smelling the natural smells, feeling the Earth and the trees, and seriously paying attention to the profundity of the natural world. Give an offering of food or incense, and say your own prayer of gratitude.

Tell the Universe, put it out there, put it positive, shout it, whisper it, whatever way, just say it.