Do You Ever Stop To Think …

About All That You Have to Be Grateful For In Your Life?

I'm starting with a disclaimer here. I am not a Buddhist. As a yogi, however, I've learned many Buddhist teachings as well as Hindu/Sanskrit teachings. The Three Universal Truths: 1. Everything is impermanent and changing 

2. Impermanence leads to suffering, making life imperfect 3. The self is not personal and unchanging. 

The Four Noble Truths: They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. More simply put, suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end. The Four Noble Truths contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings. It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree.

Within the Four Noble Truths is found the guide to the end of suffering: the Eightfold Path (of the noble mind). The eight elements of the path are: (1) correct view, an accurate understanding of the nature of things, specifically the Four Noble Truths, (2) correct intention, avoiding thoughts of attachment, hatred, and harmful intent, (3) correct speech, refraining from verbal misdeeds such as lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, and senseless speech, (4) correct action, refraining from physical misdeeds such as killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, (5) correct livelihood, avoiding trades that directly or indirectly harm others, such as selling weapons, intoxicants, or poisons, (6) correct effort, abandoning negative states of mind that have already arisen, preventing negative states that have yet to arise, and sustaining positive states that have already arisen, (7) correct mindfulness, awareness of body, feelings, thought, and phenomena (the constituents of the existing world), and (8) correct concentration, single-mindedness.*

Practically the whole teaching of the Buddha, which he devoted himself to during 45 years, deals in some way or other with this path. He explained it in different ways and in different words to different people, according to the stage of their development and their capacity to understand and follow him. 

Scholars and folks like you and me still contemplate the meaning of the words from the Buddha. The thought of so much suffering (Dukkha) in the lives of ordinary people seems unfair, but consider this…

The Buddha attributes all forms of suffering, whether physical pain or an emotional struggle, to one factor: impermanence. Everything changes.

However, people feel better when having a sense of predictability. This makes us deny the simple truth that nothing stays the same. Rather than surrender to change, we fight against it. We try to keep things the same; our job, our partners, our friends, our homes, our communities. Then, when the world around us changes, as it will eventually, this causes anger, sadness, and frustration.

And yet, change is inevitable. Rather than constantly clinging to the past, or grasping for something better, the Buddha recommends accepting things as they are, at this very moment, by living fully in the present. 

That means letting go of the past so we can fully appreciate all that exists right now. In this way, we live in harmony with nature, always changing. We open ourselves to all that the present moment has to offer and do not struggle against the current of impermanence… sounds a little like gratitude, right?

To cultivate a mind of gratitude, the most important element is maintaining daily practice, whether chanting or meditation. And remember to be grateful for the practice itself.
 
Moment-to-moment mindfulness and gratitude go hand in hand. A good way to strengthen mindfulness is to set aside some time every day to fully engage in mindfulness.

When you find yourself fretting about things going wrong, remind yourself of what's going right.

You may be helped by keeping a gratitude journal or at least regularly reflecting on being grateful. It won't happen overnight, but with consistent practice, gratitude will grow.