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October-December, 2023

So Grateful!

by Rev. Greg Hesch, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Yes, I am so grateful! I am so thankful to each and every person, everything and every situation — past, present and future! Can I really feel this way? Yes, with the genuine love and peace that I feel inside from giving thanks.

This article started formulating a week ago, when a friend and I were talking on our weekly call. During our beautiful conversation, I was guided to say how grateful I was. For some reason I also said that I give thanks hundreds of times a day and also give thanks to the Holy Spirit for always being with me. Also, I am so grateful that the observer self that thinks it is Greg wants to stay connected with Spirit’s love and peace. Yes, I am so grateful.

After that, the ego started up in the mind. Hundreds? Right Greg! No way Greg! Lol. I have been with Spirit on this for a week now. And yes, I can say that I do say thank you hundreds of times a day.

I will use today as an example. As I was tossing and turning before I got out of bed at 4:00 a.m., I kept on saying thank you for this peace. Before these feet touched the floor, I bowed my head, paused and said thank you for several long breaths. I headed to the bathroom, yup — I am so grateful — I am. I am so thankful that this whole thing of being a body is not the truth. I am so grateful for this peace!

By the time I finished my three gratitude meditations, reading, emails, Facebook and exercises, I figured that I already had said thank you at least six dozen times. This was all within three hours. I started to say yes, maybe I do say “thank you” hundreds of times a day.

At 8:00 a.m. I was ready to take a shower so I could go to the farmers’ market. I noticed Greg was rushing, so I paused and said I don’t need to rush. I smiled and said thank you. It felt so good to slow it down. Before I drove out of the garage, I paused for peace and to give thanks. I always try to start the drive connected to peace. It sure did make the thirty minute freeway drive go by peacefully. I was able to give thanks as I was watching many cars go around me. A couple of times I noticed that I was racing, so I laughed, gave thanks and said that I am not in a hurry. Thank you Holy Spirit!

Even doing this all day, the ego still comes back in full force. After doing some errands at 1 p.m., Mike and I drove to pick up some pizza. After I bowed for peace, I went in to get it. The smell was awesome. Blessing everyone while waiting, I noticed the big smiles on the employees faces. I said that their smiles were contagious. We had a beautiful communion, giving thanks.

On the way home, I started to not feel all that well. I continued to thank Spirit for being with me, and felt the peace. It was like the smell of pizza in the shop and then in the car were a bit too much. As always, we paused to give thanks before we started to eat. Although I was at peace while I was eating, I was still not feeling that well. I kept on giving thanks for the peace that I was feeling. I continued to give thanks while cleaning up, even though I wasn’t feeling the best. I kept on pausing for peace and to give thanks for that peace. Eventually I was back to the peaceful and loving state that I had been feeling for most of the day. Giving thanks doesn’t always mean that the ego things don’t happen. It is that I “get to” continue to stay connected with Spirit as I go through them. Eventually I am back connected to peace and being grateful.

I needed to pause to give thanks several times, as the ego was trying to tell me that the body had a pain. When I pause for thanks, I can usually do what I need to do to adjust the body or to get the support to help alleviate the pain. So I still get the ego telling me that I have aches and pains, but I go through them with forgiveness and gratitude, then I receive the Holy Spirit’s peace and love instead of the grievances of the ego.

I had a great day as I was able to pause and give thanks while doing chores. As I folded the clothes, emptied the dishwasher, emptied garbage cans, did stretches and even when I put drops of medicine into Maggie the dog’s ears, we did it with the Holy Spirit’s peace and love together. Honestly it was a very peaceful time for us both!

I am very blessed that several times a day, I get to take the time to sit myself down in the recliner to have my gratitude meditations (most times are for 10-20 minutes). It really helps me connect/reconnect with Spirit’s peace and as a bonus they help with the body aches. As the mind wanders off many times, I have many more opportunities to give thanks. 

It is such a gift to keep on giving thanks, the gift grows as it comes back to me and then grows again as I am able to give it to my brothers and sisters. These holy instances of the Holy Spirit’s peace are so euphoric, they keep on enticing me back to give more and more thanks.

8:00 pm was my final gratitude meditation and then I went to bed. I had a rough time falling asleep. Someone shot off some fire-works and a dog was barking to get into its home. As I did the forgiveness fun on my judgments about my neighbors, I continued to give thanks. No matter how much sleep I actually get, I try continuing to give thanks all night. I don’t always have a great night’s sleep, but tossing and turning is so much more peaceful with lots of gratitude.

So yes, I do give thanks hundreds of times a day. Thinking about it, I am thankful hundreds of times more as I practice true forgiveness from A Course in Miracles. I get to bring all of these false ego thoughts and fears to the Holy Spirit. I am so thankful, so grateful and so blessed!

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