In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus gave us a picture of gratitude when he said, "Nevertheless, your will be done." And the gratitude of that statement was that there was a Father who had all things in His hand and that even Jesus was in that hand.

Although it's fairly common to judge ourselves, it's a source of dis-ease when you do that because you're out of alignment with who you are. When we become aware and connected with who we truly are, we often find it's a good story - a story of success, abundance and prosperity. There's a lot for us to be thankful for.

In time, I experienced that moving toward greater gratitude moved me closer to my spiritual home. It was part of my journey and of my Soul's awakening.

Focus on Gratitude. It's a great attitude, so find your gratitude. Find what you appreciate. Find the value in the situation. This is an amazing way to move things away from feeling stuck or from a problem focus. If you're viewing a situation as a problem, something you don't know how to solve or you don't know how to handle, look for your gratitude. Find what you appreciate in the situation.

Sometimes your highest good may be a little bit different from what you think it should be. You ask for the highest good and something happens and you say, "That doesn't feel too good." Yet later on you look back and say, "I'm so glad I went through that. That taught me a tremendous lesson; a tremendous experience came forward."

The more that feeling of grateful appears, the more it holds out everything else that is not that and allows the grateful in. At the same time, you will be transmuting your karma through the inner traveling, which is the way it's going to work anyway.

Everything is perfect as it is. And everything can get better. That is an amazingly great creation we live in and when you really understand that you also realize you can relax. And even if you don't understand or realize how great your life really is, you can still relax.

Always maintain a sense of being grateful for all of your blessings.

Your life is full of new opportunities to create all that fulfills you. All experiences contribute to your learning and growth, some more than others, so you always have plenty of reason to be in gratitude for all you have been given.

Observing our beingness is the process that releases us and opens us and expands us to let the Spirit flow through us. Yes, it is a miracle, but if we try to partake of it through our egos, we block it. And so we have to maintain our openness. We have to say simply, "Lord, I receive, and I am grateful."