“Your sacred nature allows you to feel gratitude and give unconditionally. Your ego wants payback.”
Expressing gratitude for the wonders in your world is one of the best ways to make every moment of your life special. Every day, advancing on your path, have conversations with God in intimate and important moments. In these conversations, do not ask for special favors, but confirm your willingness to use all your inner power to create solutions.
Ask for inner wisdom to do so and thank God for the help. Knowing that you can receive divine guidance is more than a Sunday morning service. It is a knowledge that comes from within, and it is unquestionable and unshakable because these moments impact the way you live.
As your awareness of the divine presence flowing through you in each moment grows, you will find yourself taking more time to enjoy the beauty around you.
When you observe a bird, a flower, a sunset, an elderly person, a mother nursing her child, a school bus with children, open your heart to them. Allow the love to flow from you to them and feel it return. The more you practice receiving love from your surroundings, the more energized you will feel.
There is energy in everything and everyone. We receive this invisible energy by truly appreciating the beauty and wonder of our universe. Gradually you will learn to radiate outward the love you receive by admiring the beauty. Try it!
Another positive result of feeling grateful for your world is an increased ability to give. When you feel gratitude in your heart, you will find a new willingness to give to others so that they also can feel your joy. You will notice that you want to satisfy the needs and wants of others without any expectation of recognition.
However, it is important to distinguish between giving and sacrifice. The sacrifice is usually for something. A sacrifice is made only to achieve something. When you sacrifice, you give in order to receive, and you are driven by your ego, which programs you to believe that you are so important and special that you deserve something because of what you have given. The ego wants you to be proud and believe that giving is evidence of your superiority—as if your generosity limits you from others who are not as generous as you.
If you are giving because you feel you must, you are not truly motivated by your higher self. This is also where the ego comes into play and tells you that you are much better than the recipients and that they should be grateful to you.
But there is a huge difference between giving as a means of sustaining intolerance and love that comes from your sacred essence. When you cultivate a true sense of generosity that stems from your own gratitude for the gifts you have been given, you will understand that giving is receiving and receiving is giving in all its glory.
Being sensitive to the needs of others is one of the most blissful experiences. Remember how exciting it was to present gifts to your parents, your grandparents, your brothers and sisters. Your gratitude for their happiness equaled, if not exceeded, your excitement at receiving gifts. Why? Because by giving, you have received.
You see, your sacred nature allows you to feel gratitude and give unconditionally. Your ego wants payback. But it is, only because the ego knows only that – you continue to reward it for separating you from the loving presence. Allow your ego to feel the love and tolerance of your higher self and you will automatically begin to act in the same way in your outer life.
