Okay folks, let’s talk gratitude. But not your grandparents’ gratitude. This one is fierce and powerful. That’s because the energy of gratitude is very, very strong. You might say it’s of an incredibly “high vibration.” Fear, on the other hand, is of a very “low vibration.” Think about a ridiculously bright and powerful state-of-the-art LED spotlight versus a weak flashlight from the 80’s with questionable batteries. Which one would you rather use to light up a big space?
The name of the game is viewing anything – anything – with more gratitude and less fear. And “viewing” means shining that light on it, the strong one or the weak one. That’s why you might’ve heard the phrase, “the light of awareness.” And I’m not pretending that we won’t have fear. But we already know what to do – when a part of us is afraid, we love that part on the spot as I talked about in our first corona post. Hands on heart and breathe love into your heart if you can. Else do it with eyes open and looking normal. That’s always first – loving what arises. So that handles fear as it arises – or anger, sadness, despair, hopelessness, confusion, insecurity, you name it.
Once that has been done to a sufficient degree, we do our best to shift to gratitude. And it has to be authentic, as a feeling in the body. We find something about the coronavirus that we feel grateful for. It doesn’t have to be the whole thing, but just one thing, big or small. I’ll give some examples below. And we even say, “Thank you coronavirus for [blank].” And if the words “Thank you coronavirus…” are triggering then you return to love. Then you continue with the gratitude. Just keep breathing and keep practicing this, and it should become more natural. And over time, gratitude will be anchored more and more deeply.
Just saying “thank you” and “coronavirus” in the same sentence is an evolutionary shift from what the world is doing. And we’re evolving beyond what the world is and has been doing. Remember, that’s the whole point of this. It’s a huge shift, a very uncomfortable jolt. But there is a plan. The world is not healthy now, and it hasn’t been for a very long time. And yes, I agree that this is extreme! I didn’t invent it or decide on it, but I’m absolutely doing my best to understand it and master it, so as to speed this whole thing up as much as possible. And to smooth it out as much as possible.
When we say, “Thank you coronavirus,” it sends a very bright light to the coronavirus. And that’s what we want. It’ll eventually return to the light from which it came (all things do – more on this in a post coming soon), so we’re literally speeding this process up. And I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer that we speed this up! So we learn to use gratitude. And… why not try this as a science experiment just to see how you feel? There’s nothing to be lost by experimenting.
Note: This brings us to an old superstition that if you speak it aloud, it gets magnified. Not true. Maybe this was true before, but it is definitely outdated now. I know because I’ve been doing this exact practice with other things, this radical gratitude for tough stuff, for the last couple/few months. And I’ve seen some crazy things shift, in my own life and when I’ve done it on behalf of someone I know, like a friend or client. Literally like magic. It’s crazy, and it has really gotten my attention. This stuff definitely seems to work. I started this gratitude practice only this year, as I said, and now I see that it was preparation for using it on the coronavirus. A quick boot camp. And like many things, I learned it from Matt Kahn. And he learned it from the universe.
So make no mistake about it, saying “thank you coronavirus” sends light and awakening to coronavirus. And that’s exactly what we want. When we’re afraid to say it out loud, we’re back in fear. And that literally slows down time. Gratitude speeds it up. Which is what we want. Just give it a try. Because it’s here, and we have no idea how long it will be around. So why not try something that seems radical? Do your homework on gratitude, and you’ll see that most paths of spirituality or personal growth and development make a big deal about it. Let’s try it here and see if that’s actually true.
So what might we be grateful for about the coronavirus? Let’s try to find some things, which I mentioned in a previous post. It is causing the world to simplify. It is causing the world to slow down. It is causing us to connect more with ourselves (because when we slow down, this is what happens). It is causing the world to come together more. It is causing the world to find joy in simpler things, like nature. It is causing nature to be healthier. Check out the blue skies in China or the clear water and dolphins in Venice. It is causing us to re-examine our financial structures. It is causing us to re-examine our current manufacturing system (relying on China). It is causing us to re-examine toilet paper. The bidet crowd is feeling good about themselves right now, by the way… It is causing us to re-examine our health system. And it most definitely causing us to re-examine how we handle pandemics and novel viruses, which could save us if and when one comes along that’s a much bigger threat than this one is.
There are plenty more things to feel grateful for, and you’ll have examples that are specific to you. If coronavirus has brought about one good thing in your life, put it on the list. And this is why I wrote the last post about always focusing on your transformation when tough things happen. Whatever those things are, and the list will probably grow over time, they are things that you can feel gratitude for.
So how do we put this into practice? Pick one thing to be grateful for. Then with eyes open or closed, say, “Thank you coronavirus for [that one thing]. Thank you.” Then FEEL the feeling of gratitude in your body as you breathe in and out, this is important. Really let it flow. It might even start to feel like the cells of your body are taking an energetic bath; that’s the high vibration working its magic. Repeat this as much or as often as you like. Then go to something else on the list and do the same. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. But if you are saying this and feeling the feeling – that’s huge – you can know that something is happening. It feels amazing after a while – and powerful. That’s what I’ve noticed. It feels like you’re blasting a bright light on coronavirus and on the world, on this whole situation.
And you know what, what if none of that is happening? Then you’ve still just spent some time out of your head, in your body, and feeling really good. Yay! It sure beats the alternative. So we’ve got that going for us. So part of me doesn’t even care if this “works” or not. Because I feel better. But with this gangster gratitude practice that I’ve done with other things in the last couple of months, something definitely does seem to be working. It seems to be affecting the outer world, to the degree that it has really gotten my attention. Loud and clear. And I’m a math major! I’m really logical. So I would not just say that flippantly, because I know those are very big words. And again, you can always give it a try for two weeks or a month and see. Science experiment.
What if you’re having trouble finding something to be grateful for about the coronavirus (or anything that’s difficult in your life)? Here’s the last resort, and this is really cool. It will resonate with some more than others, though, so don’t force anything; you are always right where you are supposed to be. So when you’re having trouble feeling gratitude for something, you might be grateful for the fact that this is making you really dig deep to find gratitude. This is stretching you; it’s causing you to grow. And if it’s helping you grow, then you can simply be grateful for that. Isn’t that cool?
Another way I like to look at it is that you’re sitting there racking your brain to find something for which you can be grateful about the coronavirus (or anything troubling that you see). Well, look at you! If you’re even attempting that, then you’re very different from the rest of the world of 7.5 billion people. You’re a light worker, leading the way to A New Earth. You’re anchoring something that’s really good and something that’s really needed. YOU CARE! So you can be grateful that coronavirus is reminding you of what a caring person you are. And of how much you are interested in growing (by finding gratitude in something that seems awful).
So there we go folks, shining the powerful light of gratitude on coronavirus of all things. And on anything else as well. It dissolves them faster. And we feel better along the way, a win-win. And when fear arises, or anything else that’s not pleasant, we love. I’m proud to be a broken record about “loving what arises,” probably for the rest of my life. It’s the central tenet of the new paradigm, the new times, the new era, the new way. We alternate between gratitude and self-love as needed, and we heal super fast and our outer world transforms as well. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s truly my honor and joy to share this with you. And more to come as I learn and practice it. Much love to you, hang in there, love yourself through it, do a radical gratitude science experiment for a month or two, and as always, I’m here to help if I can 🙂