Now that the Fall season is into November in the Northern Hemisphere, many people are thinking of and planning for Thanksgiving, the holiday. However, "thanksgiving" is more than just a holiday. My trusty Webster's dictionary defines "thanksgiving" as; 1) "the act of giving thanks", or 2) "a prayer expressing gratitude". It is your "attitude" of gratitude that I wish to talk about. Depending on where you are in the world, gratitude has different meanings. In the Western world, gratitude is indeed a positive emotion, which involves a feeling (e.g. we feel gratitude, feel grateful, etc) of emotional indebtedness towards another person. This emotion is often accompanied by the desire to thank them or to reciprocate for a favor they have done for you. In a religious context, gratitude can also be related to a feeling of indebtedness towards a deity. In the Eastern world, from a Buddhist point of view, the word which we translate in English as gratitude is katannuta. The connotation of katannuta is rather more intellectual, more cognitive. It makes it clear that what we call gratitude involves an element of knowledge - knowledge of what has been done to us or for us for our benefit. Therefore, if we do not know that something has benefited us we will not feel gratitude. As part of our mental, physical and spiritual growth, we must always be grateful; no matter how much or little we think we have or deserve. Without this quality, a person forgets his parents, relatives, friends, teachers and even the strangers we meet every day that need our help. If we are grateful we are sure to be happy. And, research has suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to emotional well being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). Within you, there are two masters; the Master of Self and the Master of Truth. The person who is overcome by the Master of Self isolates themselves by becoming wrapped in greed, selfishness and ego. On the other hand, the person who is ruled by the Master of Truth lives a life of gratitude and makes for harmony and peace. He will perpetually be remembered and loved. There are fantastic books that will help you find happiness and emotional well being. In a few short weeks, these powerful teachings and potent exercises will give you the truth to finding happiness in today's stressed out world and bring you more than you ever thought possible. Copyright (c) 2009 Mind Body Spirit Central, LLC
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