Dear friends,
It was a delight and privilege to share the very first episode on my Podcast channel, Call to Awaken last Sunday. We seem to have chased the gremlins from the technology and it went off without a hitch. Very grateful to each of you who showed up in the room for the livecast and for those who would like to listen, the replay is available on the channel page here.
During the broadcast I spoke about “Growing in the Cracks of Life”, which reveals the paradoxical nature of human challenges. Humanly we typically see difficult circumstances as disadvantages that diminish us, and we feel are against us. However, from a spiritual perspective, a great challenge is often the catalyst for "waking us up!" In this session, we explored how difficulties of life can take us deeper into the truth of our essential nature.
As many of reflect this week on all that we are grateful, I encourage you to recognize the hidden power of gratitude as a spiritual practice. We are all too familiar with the antithesis of a grateful perspective, that shows up as scarcity, not enough, not right, namely, the voice of the complaint department. From an evolutionary view we seem to be wired for the negativity bias, and so it’s not our “fault” per se that we default to a what’s missing perspective. But we need not settle for the default when we have this awareness and the power to see it all differently thereby reverse the effects on our minds and hearts. Whenever I look for what’s missing, I always come up short. Conversely when I look for what is present that is good, and right and true I find I have all that I need. The whole basis of the spiritual journey portends a recognition of something present that is beyond sensory recognition, beyond consensual reality, and yet deeper and truer and more enduring than what we see and hear and touch.
I commend this practice of gratitude to you as a powerful antidote to the negativity bias both personal and collective. We live in a culture and time that is rife with negative narratives and jaded commentary. But so what. Just like the marshmallow asparagus dish on the Thanksgiving table does not command you to eat it, we can refuse to digest the rants that are served up by social media and our own discursive thoughts. We can all be more conscious consumers, make healthier choices and reap the boon of the enlightened perspective in what we allow in and what we express. I honestly believe there is no more potent singular practice in the spiritual life than to adopt an attitude of gratefulness. And perhaps even more unexpected is that in times of great difficulty gratitude can pull us out of the depths when no amount of rational reasoning avails.
I've tasted those sweet moments on a few rare times in my life and know it is possible to stand in the storm and be glad and grateful even before the trouble has passed. Ultimately, we can only get there if we trust that difficulty and challenge are not against us, rather allies on the path that strip us of falsehoods, and show us our bare naked eternal true selves. As Henri Nouwen has written, gratitude is a discipline, , "because it challenges me to face the painful moments-and gradually to discover in them the pruning hands of God purifying my heart for deeper love, stronger hope, and broader faith.... "
As colleagues, friends and kindred spirits on this path I hold with you the great possibilities of our awakening together. May you find a table of blessings to satiate your deepest longing, and feast on all the good and plenty within you that is never depleted.
With immense gratitude,
Larry
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