Imagine sitting on the top of a mountain and looking down into the valley. High up above, you see everything from a distance, the bigger picture. You see how streets are leading to each other, how small creeks are leading into a river, how the river flows into a lake. From up there you understand how everything works together in order to make it all a complete and how necessary every little thing is.

When we are in the middle of the valley and looking up to the mountains we might feel exactly the opposite. We don’t see the greater context. We don’t see how one thing leads to another in order to bring it to fruition. But nevertheless it does. Wherever we are, whatever we do, in whatever situation we find ourselves, there is always this greater context.

It is not always easy to trust that there is always a reason behind everything that happens. When we are in the midst of a turmoil we just feel the pain, the struggle, the chain. The thought of a blessing behind it seems like derision. Even if someone tells us about it we might be thrown so deep into that matter that we don’t even want to listen. Isn’t that what we mean when we talk about reality? The hard life, the hard work, the struggles, the tragedy, the darkness, the cold? It truly is A reality. The one that is experienced in that very moment. But there is also the other reality. The one we see when we are on top of that mountain. The clean air, the colors, the light. It all is reality. Reality is what we experience. And what we experience is always a result of how we look at life.

But back to the valley. What when I am in the valley, within a thick layer of fog? How can I get out of it? How can I regain the beautiful reality, the one that strengthens me, the one that shows me that I am the master of my life and not its victim? How ma I able to open up to the loving voices? How do I make my light shine again?

With gratitude! As weird as it may sound while you are hitting rock bottom. But gratitude is THE tool! It makes the sun break through the fog. It makes you change your perspective. It ignites a fire of love which again sets free a new power and feeling of being alive.
What happens when entering a state of gratitude?

• A shift from a state of frustration into a state of appreciation takes place.
• The beautiful things that are already part of life are surfacing.
• We get into an observing position and automatically detach from the problem. Which makes us look at the problem from a distance.
• That makes us see that the problem only is a part of our current circumstances (or even only of our perception) but not of ourselves.
• We realize that there is much more beauty and blessing than sadness and pain. Even when we are in a really difficult situation.
• We turn our face away from the things we don’t want towards the things we want which means we shift our energy from the negative into the positive.
• We radiate this positive energy which connects with the same positive energy in the outside world.
• When we connect with the energy of the things we want, we will get more of the things we want because we look into the direction of what we want.

The power of gratitude is the power of love because we love what we are grateful for. Love is the ultimate force of life itself.

How to be grateful when surrounded by things that tear you apart? Make a list! Start making a list with all the things you are grateful for, no matter how small it may appear. It can start with daily food, the sun that dawns every day, the bird that sings in front of your window. You will be surprised that once you start more things will come to your mind. You will get more and more detailed and you will reach into a depth of your life that makes you discover the most beautiful things you may have simply forgotten. Your family will show up, your friends, even the persons who challenged you recently because they were the reason to do this list. You will get aware of how beautiful you are, how much you have already accomplished in your life, and how many wonders and miracles happened in your life. Gratitude leads to awareness and awareness makes you see so many things you are grateful for. Gratitude makes you discover this world with new eyes – with the eyes of your heart!

Even if you think that you are at a point of completely giving in, of feeling like you can’t, you will discover that the power is within you. You only did not connect with it. Gratitude is the link that leads you back to your power because gratitude is another aspect of love. When you take the route of gratitude it leads to directly through the door where the power of love lives.

Gratitude is the tool that lifts you up to the top of the mountain and makes you see how the creeks merge with rivers and the rivers with lakes or oceans. Gratitude lifts the fog and opens your heart for the sunlight – the sunlight that shines from within you!

When you are grateful, awareness takes place. When you are in a state of awareness, you are always grateful!

Gratitude is seeing and appreciating God’s gifts.

Gratitude is realizing that God is by our side!

In Love and Light!