Gratitude, Appreciation
and Understanding

  An important part of Spiritual Healing is learning to understand and use Gratitude and Appreciation for yourself and others. Now here I’m not talking about the preachy form of “Say thank you”. I’m also not a big fan of “blessing the problems that come into my life,” but probably only because I haven’t been able to master that one myself yet.

The Gift of Understanding

In my own life, and in working with others, I use the words Gratitude and Appreciation synonymously with Understanding. Let’s think about it for a second. It’s only when you understand something can you have an Appreciation for it.

And when you begin to understand that some unwanted thing in your life had a positive intention to begin with, it’s easy to have Gratitude for that Intention.

In Spiritual Healing we need to remove Self-Judgment and Blame. I use Understanding as a way to replace these feelings with Gratitude and Appreciation. It isn’t always easy, but it is a simple process.

Problems, Reasons and Answers

Whenever we have a problem there’s a human need to attach a reason for that problem. Unfortunately, the reason that we assign is never completely accurate. Or, the reason is only accurate from one perspective.

One way that we can start addressing problems is by first trying to understand the problem from various perspectives. By doing this we have the option of choosing a useful reason for the problem.

Let’s take the example of a man in his 40’s that came to me for help with his low self-esteem and lack of confidence whenever he tried something new. He knew that the reason for his problem was that his parents never encouraged him as a child or as even a teen. Now here is a man in his 40’s still living in a self-imposed trap that he believes his parents set up for him.

By understanding the impact that he had been an only child due to several miscarriages by his mother, he was able to release many of the over-protectiveness that she had passed on to him growing up.

His parents had been so worried for the safety of their only son that they actually discouraged him from playing sports or anything that would require even a hint of danger.

Before being able to let go of the feelings that held him back, he needed to realize that these feelings were passed on to him by very caring parents. He first began to understand, and then to Appreciate and have Gratitude for the intentions of his parents to keep him safe.

It then became easy for him to let go of the over-protectiveness that his parents had passed on to him, and that he was still trying to recreate on a subconscious level. As he let go, he naturally began to expand himself and it became easy to try new things with confidence as he had always hoped for.

An Attitude of Gratitude

I love this quote, “have an attitude of gratitude.” But the Gratitude that will be most impact in our lives will be Self-Gratitude and Self-Appreciation.

By learning to have an understanding of our Self it becomes easy to start living with gratitude. And the more of our Self that we get to know, the more that we learn to appreciate.

As we learn to apply Spiritual Healing in our lives, let’s remember that all healing starts from the inside. Applying these lessons in your life on a moment-by-moment basis will go far in living the life you truly desire.