Gratitude gets a lot of press. There are all kinds of books about gratitude, gratitude journals, gratitude cards, and magazine articles with all kinds of tools and techniques for gratitude galore. “Count your blessings” is one of the earliest teachings we hear about gratitude. Surely, all of this is evidence that there is something to this gratitude business.
How often, though, do we really find a way to connect with the experience of gratitude—with doing it in the way that does it, so we truly know how powerful it is? Those opportunities are pearls of great price, and one of those opportunities came along with this year’s PTS Gratitude Workshop (offered by Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy or PTS, the educational division of MSIA, Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness).
Happy gratitude practitioners and MSIA Staff members, Marjorie Eaton and Angel Gibson, facilitated the workshop, interspersing workshop material with personal experiences that helped bring the “how-to” of gratitude to life. We spent an evening listening, laughing, and doing interactive processes with each other, with ourselves, and with Spirit, discovering ways to answer the question, “How can I have a great attitude with whatever is going on?” Just asking the question is part of the process!
There was plenty to be grateful for right there, with the hour or so spent in workshop time. Yet the evening had even more to offer—the opportunity to walk a labyrinth. There is a full-sized labyrinth on the grounds of the headquarters for MSIA, known as Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens. The labyrinth is an exact replica of the labyrinth found at the Chartres Cathedral in France. The labyrinth is plenty beautiful to look upon in itself, day or night, and this night that beauty shimmered through the lights of candles people held as they walked the labyrinth.
Walking the labyrinth is an ancient spiritual practice, and a way to release concerns, receive blessings, and simply relax. While walking, Angel and Marjorie played a labyrinth meditation CD, a lovely mix of music and excerpts from John-Roger (Founder and Spiritual Advisor of MSIA), John Morton (Spiritual Director of MSIA), and Pauli Sanderson, DSS (Doctor of Spiritual Science—for more information about this program, visit the PTS web site at www.pts.org).
The evening completed with people sharing about their experiences, and then gathering in the dining room for tea and desserts. The energy of gratitude and the calm of the labyrinth seemed to blanket everyone—whether indoors or outside. Gratitude is surely a way to do the “let” of “let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”
God bless us all, and have fun being grateful.
What are you doing New Year’s Eve? Come join us at Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens for a beautiful “Sacred Tones Evening” facilitated by Paul Kaye. What a great way to ring in the new year–chanting the names of God.
Date: December 31st
Location: 3500 West Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Time: 8:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Yummy desserts and Urth Caff
