Gratitude is the key to our experience of abundance. It is how we learn to receive so that we able to come into alignment with our true self. When we are grateful, we give thanks for what we have. We do not dwell on what we don’t have. We celebrate the beauty that exists in our life. 

We appreciate the love and the support that is here for us. We do not focus on the love or the support that we feel is missing. What we focus on is what is reinforced. So if we focus on what is missing, it will continue to be missing. But if we focus on what is present, it will increase and intensify. We too need to learn to be grateful for the abundance we already have. That is what makes it grow and multiply. If there is lack in our lives, it may be because we are focused on what is lacking. We may be complaining about what is missing and feeling sorry for ourselves. This is victim consciousness. It leads to the experience of scarcity, of feeling that we do not have enough or that we are not enough. It stems from a deep feeling of unworthiness. We do not feel worthy of love and so we do not find love in our lives. Yet love is all around us and as soon as we know that we are worthy, love easily finds us and takes us up in its arms.

By focusing on the negative we confirm it and recreate it. By focusing on the positive, we also confirm and recreate it. What we focus on is our choice. As we enter the holiday season this year, let us appreciate the gifts that have already been given us. In this way, we can truly receive them. For to be grateful for the gift is to receive it fully. Once we have received it fully, we can give it back effortlessly. For receiving and giving are linked together. Without one, we cannot have the other. Many of us are wondering what our gifts are. We may even think that we don’t have a gift to give.     But the Great Spirit has given Its gift of love to all of us. When we take the time to receive that gift, our own gift becomes clear and we are not afraid to give it.