CHAPTER 6

UNDERSTANDING GRATITUDE

You cause my heart within to sing

The church bells now, I hear them ring

You’ve wakened me up to a brand new day

And in my heart this prayer I pray -

Oh Lord I ask that you always be near

To hear my pleas and release my fear.

I know that you your promise have kept

And the one you promised has not left me bereft.

So Lord I thank you from the depths of my heart

I know that now we’ll never part –

No, not if cataclysms cause havoc on earth

Will this love be divided as it brings such mirth.

The joy I feel in my heart today

Will carry me upward from my feet of clay

They’ll lift me high into the sky

And on wings of joy I will surely fly.

© C. Hamilton 1999

Understanding gratitude and its place in our lives is hard for many to believe. Many would not think gratitude had a place in world peace, but it does. Because everything around us is given to us freely by the earth herself, what she desires in return is mankind to be aware enough of her to thank her for the goodness and abundance she offers. The American Indians, the Australian Aborigines and all the indigenous people of the planet knew this and have known it for hundreds and thousands of years. There is life in everything. That is why it is important to be grateful to everything that crosses our path, even inorganic objects, as they too have their life forms, even if we cannot see them.

Material and earthly abundance can only be achieved through a deep connection to Mother Earth. Abundance is the love and gratitude for what we have received. If there is no feeling of gratitude then the receiving is not as powerful, or fulfilling, as it could be. When we are free and allowing, we feel gratitude for everything that comes to us. We can be open and grateful for every little thing as if it were a gift from the Universe. This way we begin to see what can be accomplished by the simple act of gratitude. When we offer blessings, we are giving to ourselves that which we wish to receive. Gratitude towards what we have is one of the surest ways to receive blessings without exception. We receive blessings as we give out gratitude. This is a natural law and one that is immutable. "For what we are about to receive, Lord make us truly thankful" - our prayer for our food. This is like saying we have already received what we are expecting, and it is the right way to go about praying. If we pray like we already have what we are asking for, we are creating it already and are sure to receive it.

We don’t really understand the power of prayer, or why it has such a strong affect on those things around us. When we pray with a deep heartfelt desire, we are actually causing our own cells to awaken to their true God potential. These cells connect to our subconscious, which hears our words and they likewise respond. I have been told many times that I only had to pray and my prayer would be answered. I seem to have a connection with the angels as my prayer is usually always answered for me. I can also send healing this way, through praying for people as those in spirit are only too ready to oblige.

Each morning when we step out of bed we have another new chance to begin again. We should never carry our worries and our distresses over from the day before. Each day is a gift in itself. We are alive. We have air to breathe. If we are lucky we have food and clothes. If we are even luckier we have a good job and a roof over our heads, and even a family or friends. Sometimes we forget just how lucky we are and how much we are blessed. Why should we fear for yesterday or tomorrow? Each day the sun shines for us, the air is fresh again, the sky is different, and the earth is newly awakened.

Despite the news of tragedies that surround us at times, there is always something to be grateful for. Even the smallest thing can make a huge difference, as we lift ourselves by our attitude, and it builds up our spirit. Each moment we are creating our own reality and our own world through the gift of gratitude. Our gratitude for the new day has a very large bearing on how we see the day, and how the day treats us. There is always something to be grateful for despite the state of our health. We have the opportunity at each sunrise, to change any thought, either negative or positive, that we have carried through from the previous day. Every little bit helps. If we are depressed and low, we attract those things of like to us, but when we lift our hearts, even a little, it can do so much for our morale and our spirit.

We don’t realise what a great gift we are given by Spirit. If our gratitude is truly sincere, we have the addition of an extra gift, as everything we are grateful for, is given to us many times over. Every time we send gratitude for a blessing received, heaven takes the acknowledgment and doubles the blessing. Thus is the greatest gift of all time given to us.

The Indigenous peoples of the world knew how to give thanks. They were much closer to Mother Nature, as we were when we first came to earth, and they knew the importance of giving thanks for everything they took from the earth. They would give thanks to the vegetable or fruit before they plucked it from the earth. They would offer thanks for the life of the animal before they killed it. The Indigenous people did not just give thanks before eating, but before taking life. They were in touch with the vibratory construct of the planet itself. They knew how life worked, and that by giving thanks and gratitude, all things are lifted to a higher vibration.

The seer, Edgar Cayce, in a trance state, would see the molecules changing in the food as it was blessed. Holy water is water that is blessed so that the molecules change, thereby altering their composition and repelling anything of a negative nature.

The Australian Indigenous people have showed gratitude to the earth and their land by blessing it before the event of the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2002. This, to me, seemed a remarkable achievement and a wonderful gesture by the Olympic Committee. In fact, all of this grand event in Sydney, offered an opportunity, and indeed was received as such, for every country of the world to see how giving and sharing can bring about great things. It was gratifying to see the Australian Aborigines blessing the land in a ceremonial way, at the Opening Ceremony of the Games. I felt it was one sign that our world is changing, and that the consciousness of the planet, has indeed shifted.

In fact, with all the fears about the new millennium at the turn of the century, on the first of January 2000, it was gratifying to see the peoples of the world, all singing in joy at the beginning of a brand new era. It held quite a spell, watching such a momentous event on our television sets, and the world watched in excitement, and some trepidation, wondering what would happen. It became a joy to watch such enlightenment spreading across the face of the planet as people sang and danced in exultation.

The Indigenous people of the Americas, the Indians of America, would rise each morning and raise their hands to the sun, singing and dancing, and give praise for the new day. They would always give thanks for anything before they took it from the earth, and pray to the soul of the animal, thanking it for its life, before they took its life and killed it for their food. This was done in ceremonial ways.

Like the Australian Aborigines, the American Indians had members of each tribe who would not touch certain animals. Each of the people within various tribes had their own particular totem. I remember hearing a story of an Indian Chief who would never eat or kill buffalo. When he was old, his tribe left him in his tepee to die, as he was too old to continue to the warmer climate. One morning when winter was nigh, he was near starvation, and he came outside. There, lying in front of his tepee, was a buffalo that had come to die. It had given its life for him to live; knowing it was going to die, in gratitude for his refusal to kill the buffalo!

Gratitude in Nature

We can see how gratitude works within nature. The birds wake each morning and sing in gratitude, then go about the task of collecting food for their young. They are never disappointed. Nature provides their every need. Every morning and evening the birds can tell us something. They sing every morning out of sheer gratitude to the new day. They do not hold anything back, but give it their all. Their songs actually cause the vibrations of the air to bring growth to the trees and plants. Have you heard of people telling you to sing to the plants?

Plants do respond to light-hearted sounds, and the bird song is one of nature’s greatest gifts to the earth. It is the melodious sounds within the bird-song and the different notes that are sung, which cause change and growth in the plant kingdom. (This is why it is important for an unborn baby to hear the classical music on a multi-note scale as it increases the expansion of their brain cells. Hence babies that have experienced this type of music in the womb tend to be more intelligent children.)

The birds do not know where their next meal is coming from, but they sing in gratitude for it, knowing that they will be provided for. This reminds me of the time the Master spoke of the birds of the air - they do not toil, neither do they reap yet they are fed and clothed in all of nature’s glory. They ask nothing but receive all, because they are grateful just to be alive.

The birds and animals also understand that gratitude for lifee is an assurance that what they need is already provided.

On gratitude, Astara told me :

Dear One,

When gratitude fills a heart, it not only lifts the vibrations beyond the thought of the human form, but it actually opens the cells of the body and allows more light to enter in. It is the basis of creation. It allows all things to take place. You have read in your holy books that the angels in heaven are continually praising God. This is how life forms - through gratitude. Love and gratitude are the things, above all else, that will lift mankind and create anew. They are what will raise the planet into a new vibration of light.

When blessings and thanks are given for food before you eat it, the cells within the food actually respond and change, thereby altering their composition and creating a vital source of life and light, allowing light and life to enter the body when they are taken. Vegetation is alive and conscious, as well as the animals upon your earth. Each has a consciousness that understands Universal Law, and responds to gratitude, as it understands all things in their place. For when you eat foods with gratitude, you allow the life forms of that which is eaten to enter your system, thereby transforming its life into something else. It becomes another form of energy, which is another form of life. This is the cycle of change that is continually happening in nature, and one which you help to continue, by blessing all that comes to you in gratitude.

Gratitude opens the heart. It allows blessings to come pouring in. Have you not heard that when gratitude fills a heart, heaven takes the acknowledgment and doubles the blessing? This indeed is what happens. It is the law of giving and receiving. All that you give out is returned to you multi fold.

When you send blessings to others, you are opening the path for blessings to flow back to you. It is how all things flow within the Universal Law. Have you not noticed how we close our greetings to you with a blessing? Yes, my child, gratitude and blessing have great power, and are far more than mere words. They hold within them the very power of creation themselves. Bless you this day.

Blessing is a gift that we give ourselves. When we are open to thanking ourselves, we are open to receiving all that we ask for. It is indeed important to thank ourselves for the God within which is in all of us. If we send our prayers of thanks to others, we are in effect, giving our power away. By praying within to our Higher God Self, we are offering ourselves a double blessing. Blessings and gratitude actually open us to that part of ourselves which is called our Higher Self. True knowledge comes from knowing that the power of blessing our inner self, or Higher Self, is our greatest strength.

When we are grateful for what we have, we open a channel for more to come into our lives. If we go about our daily lives grumbling that we don’t have this, and we don’t have that, then nothing that we want will come to us. But when we go about our lives being grateful for all that we do have, then we will find our paths open up, and all that we could ever desire will come to us.

By being grateful, we open the channels for all good things to flow back to us. We can even be grateful for the sad times and the times when we appeared to have nothing. For even in these times, we had opportunities given to us to expand and grow. The wisest men in the Chinese culture believe that when these sad times come it means good luck. They say that when we have our sad and bad times it means that we can only go upwards from here on.

The ancient act of tithing actually originated because it followed a universal law. By giving freely without any expectations in return, we open ourselves to receive from the universe. It is a universal law that what you give out comes back. When people were asked to give one tenth of their income and they did so freely, they could fully expect to receive ten times in return from the Universe. Whatever we give out, always comes back to us many times over. If it is food or clothing we are in need of, then we can be sure that what we give out in the way of material possessions, or even a kindness, will always come back to us, and usually just at the time we need it most. I remember one story where a man driving along a highway late at night helped a stranded woman driver change a tire. This man was on his way back to his sick wife and three little children. He really didn’t have time to stop but he did. Because of his kindness, he in turn was given a kindness when a neighbour came to the door and offered the family food and medical supplies. When we help others, it has a boomerang affect. The universe works in this way. We give in gratitude for what we have, and the more we give, the more we find others doing the same.

We do create what we want by the way we view ourselves. If we believe our income is limited, for example, then we have to ask ourselves who limited it? Our universe is an abundant universe. There is no lack within nature or within the universe. It is only our belief system that is limiting us. Everything that comes our way can be looked at as a gift in some way. We always receive from the universe what we need the most for our own growth. And remember it is we who asked for this on a soul level prior to this incarnation. The greatest tragedies of our lives can be looked on as stepping stones, or gifts, or catalysts to help us on our path forward in life. It is when we come to realise the gifts we have been offered that we have begun to understand how gratitude works. It opens opportunities for our further spiritual advancement.

Jesus once told a story about a man who was going away on a journey. He called his three servants together and to the first he gave five talents, to the second, two talents and to the third one talent, according to their abilities. While he was gone the servant with the five talents traded them and made five more. The servant with the two talents did the same and made two more, but the servant with the one talent buried it and hid it in the ground for fear of losing it. When the master returned he was impressed with the two servants who had doubled his money, but when he discovered the servant who had hidden his talent in the ground he was very angry. He took the talent from the servant and gave it to the one who had ten. In Jesus’s words "To him that has much, more will be given, but for him that has not, even what he has will be taken away". A talent was a particular sum of money in those times. Jesus was showing us that if we are grateful for what we have, and use it wisely, we have more given to us. But if we refuse to make good with, or bury, what we are given, we lose it all.

I have heard of people who walk around telling everyone that they ‘don’t have’ this and they ‘don’t have’ that. They seem to be forever wanting, and are never satisfied. They may be ordinary people like you and me. They seem to be like us, but they are the type of people who wear you down because they are always complaining that they ‘don’t have’ what they want. They are the ‘have not’ type of people. Then there are other people who appear to have little, yet you never hear them complain. They will be grateful for the small change they receive from their groceries. They will be grateful for the person who baked a cake for them. They will be even grateful for a small cup of milk, or being able to smell a rose. They are grateful for having seen a sunset. These people are the ones who believe they have everything they could ever want.

The difference in these two types of people is that the ‘have nots’ are never grateful for what they do have. They are always wanting more, and are never satisfied. The people who are so grateful for the small things are the ones who are always grateful for everything. Things just appear to come to them. Can you see the difference in these two types of people? When people are afraid that they ‘don’t have’ all the time, this causes so much resentment, that wars can start because of it. Why do you think wars begin in the first place? It is because the leaders of a particular country think that another country has more than what they do, and they want it.

From our smallest resentments and arguments, to the total futility of war, it all begins because one party wants what the other party has. But we do live in an abundant universe, and the sooner we can reconcile this idea in our minds, the sooner we will receive through our gratitude and the knowledge of this truth. What we believe we have, we manifest for ourselves. If we believe that we have all that we need, then the universe provides all our needs for us. Others who see this, think that they should have it, and may try to take it, causing more pain for both sides. Otherwise they might go about with resentment in their hearts. They may feel that what they have is ‘not good enough’. What they believe, manifests. What they have, no matter how good it is, will never be good enough, because that is what they believe. They believe they do not have what they need and they manifest a ‘not have’ attitude for themselves.

I’m sure we all know someone who is always complaining. It would not matter if you gave them everything you had, including the shirt off your back, they would still be the same. It is their attitude that is the problem. Until they are ready to acknowledge what they have, and be grateful for it, they will always be the same. We probably all have moments when we are not as appreciative as we should be. We might grumble about something, only to realise later that it was the best thing for us at the time. When we start to realise that what we are given, is exactly what we ask for, then it will change our attitude towards everything. An enlightened attitude will bring all that we desire to our very own homes.

The universe gives us everything, and we often fail to recognise this, and in so doing, we are negating it and pushing it away. Gratitude fills the heart. Resentment cannot live with gratitude. Gratitude is fulfilling by itself. Remember, we do live in an abundant universe! We should always remember to thank our guides and angels before we receive what we are asking for. This is the way the law works. We expect to receive it, therefore we thank them for it, knowing that it is already there for us on the next plane.

By being grateful for the small things we do have, we can change the very vibration of the law of life. Gratitude creates a vortex of energy around us, which brings everything to us that we could ever want. The unchanging law of giving and abundance that is Universal, will bring more to those who offer thanks and are grateful, many times over. There is no limit to what we can receive if we open ourselves to the eternal spirit of gratitude that is within us. When we fail to have gratitude for what we have, we fail to see the opportunities that are there for our growth. We also fail to see the need for gratitude in the evolution of our planet. When we are grateful for all that comes to us, we raise our vibrations, and that of the planet. Once we allow this consciousness to be a natural part of our daily lives, we are assisting in the earth’s ascension in ways we cannot even imagine.

Our gratitude should be to the living earth itself, as she provides all our needs from the smallest seed to the air we breathe. Gratitude can change the whole way we see life. It gives us a power over our negative feelings, as it boosters up any feelings of resentment or depression we might have. When we begin our day with gratitude in our hearts, we allow all things we could ever desire to come to fulfilment in our lives: peace, love, joy and the light of true knowledge. As we find this light of knowledge, we become more open to the reality of the spiritual world that surrounds us.

Chris Hamilton -