On the surface, gratitude appears to arise from a sense that you're indebted to another person for taking care of you in some way, but looking deeper, you'll see that the feeling is actually a heightened awareness of your connection to everything else. Gratitude flows when you break out of the small, self-centered point of view-with its ferocious expectations and demands-& appreciate that through the labours & intentions & even the simple existence of an inconceivably large number of people, weather patterns, chemical reactions, & the like, you have been given the miracle of your life, with all the goodness in it today.
It is easy, as Roger L'Estrange, the 17th-century author & pamphleteer, said, to "mistake the gratuitous blessings of heaven for the fruits of our own industry." The truth is, you are supported in countless ways through each moment of your life. You awaken on schedule when your alarm clock beeps-thanks to the engineers, etc...
Your morning yoga practice is the gift of generations of yogis who observed the truth...
Your body (for which you could thank your parents, the food that helps you maintain your good health, doctors, healers...)
When you awaken to the truth of this incredible interconnectedness, you are spontaneously filled with joy & appreciation. It is for this reason that one of the most transformative practices you can engage in is the cultivation of gratitude.
Patanjali wrote that santosha (contentment, or appreciation for what you have) leads to unexcelled joy...
If you're like most people, you notice what goes wrong more often than what goes right. Human beings seem hard-wired to notice how reality fails to meet some idea of how they think things should be...
If you limit your attention to how life lets you down, you blind yourself to the myriad gifts you receive all the time.
You can end this frustrating situation by mindfully shifting your attention. Begin by paying attention to the reality of what is rather than the desires you cling to...
One formal practice for cultivating gratitude, developed in Japan by a practitioner of Pure Land Buddhism, is known as Naikan, which means "looking inside." It's a structured method of self-reflection that encourages an objective survey of yourself & your relationship to the world...
Naikan can also be done as a daily practice & can lead you to the realization that you are rich indeed, & that you are not only not alone but are truly supported by the universe! You may even come to see the truth in the exhortation of the 13th-century mystic Meister Eckhart: "If the only prayer you said in your whole life was 'thank you,' that would suffice."
Frank Jude Boccio - Yoga Journal Magazine issue December 2006
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