Happy and Thankful

The first word I woke up to this morning was: GRATITUDE

A few days back I was helping my son rehearse his speech for an upcoming symposium and the following two lines managed to stay buried in my head,

"Je Sukh de taa tujhe aaraadhi,

Dukh bhi tujhe dhyaayi;

Je bookh de taa ith hi raaja, Dukh vich Sookh manaayi"

These lines are from the Guru Granth Sahibji, the Holy Scripture of the Sikhs. 

I have no doubt in my mind about every other Holy Scripture in this World being a work of Lyrical Metaphor. There is such Beauty and Humility that fills your heart when you read and meditate, deeply, (even if it's only for a few minutes) and ALLOW the meaning, message, translation, call it what you will, to COME TO YOU, rather than rush after it. Because when it does, the Truth behind those Words seem so utterly simple and yet can seem so enormously complex to the unconscious mind...!

Loosely translated, the above lines mean,

"When I'm blessed with Happiness, I worship You,

In Despair too I meditate on You;

When I feel Hunger, I'm still deeply Satisfied, in Sorrow (seeming) I still find Happiness"...

In a nutshell, isn't this just GRATITUDE for EVERYTHING that happens?? :-)

I find when you feel grateful for all that has been Given (what You NEED as opposed to what You WANT), it is very, very difficult to stay Unhappy. :-) There comes an innate ability to see a Silver Lining in situations that others around you may consider completely hopeless. You'd wish you could help them See, that it is not so, but again we only See when we are READY TO SEE.

We are Sooo much MORE than our daily dramas and pathetic egoistic fulfillments! When we resort to thinking and viewing Life as children do, there is incredible Beauty and profound Joy even in the simplest and ordinary things of our daily existence. If we can't construe, for instance, the unceasing spinning of this Globe that we are on, without being thrown out in Space, as a Miracle, we have lost that ability to Wonder, somewhere, and we need to go find it!!

Every Breath, every second, every day is a Miracle and a Gift. The moment we recognize this and let it fill our hearts with the deepest Gratitude, how can we not be Happy and Thankful? :-)