Stop. Right now. Take a minute to appreciate this moment. (I’ll wait.)

Getting Real With Gratitude

• All That We Have

• All That We Must Leave Behind

• All That We Seek

• All That We End With

If we take in the big picture of life from time to time, we can appreciate the moments as they happen. Just pause and appreciate your life, your love, and your bright path forward. Accepting that THIS is life. THIS moment is all you have to recognize and be grateful for.

THIS moment is perfect in every way. It’s our challenge to stop and be appreciative to our higher power (Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, your AA or Al-Anon program). This comes on the back of my last post about pausing in the moment. (SEE: Pura Vida: Finding and Sharing Our Eternal Optimism)

All That We Have

Gratitude is the antidote to depression and regret.

All that we can’t leave behind, the baggage we carry with us, weighs us down. If we can find gratitude in this very life, at this very moment, we can come closer to experiencing our own empowerment. All of these wonderful parts of my life. All that is going right. The lessons from the parts that aren’t going to plan. All that I am revving up to get done in my life.

“At this moment, I have enough, I am enough, and I rest in this loving moment of peace.”

All That We Must Leave Behind

We’ve all got skeletons that we carry along in a heavy bag as we attempt to climb the waterful that is life in these turbulent times. My bag is full of pain and anger about my divorce. I have some regrets. I have some wins. I still have some resentment and rage to let go of. In time, I know I can continue to cut on the tether holding me to the painful weight of the past regrets and dreams unfulfilled.

Like Rodrigo (De Niro’s character) in The Mission, we are pulling a heavy bag up the steep climb of our lives. And our job, in processing our misses and regrets is to continue cutting on the rope until we can drop the shame and sadness of our losses. It may take supporters along the climb. It may take the compassionate help of a fellow seeker to finally help you sever the ties with your burden. Letting go of your past trauma is a lifetime process. We get lighter and clearer in our purpose and intention was we release our past woundings.

All That We Seek

Setting a plan, a road map, the sequence of milestones that lead to your liberation, is part of the most important work we have to do in our lives. As we release our pain back into the void below us, we become stronger and more clear about what *is* most important in our life.

My two children are LOVE #1. Nothing is more important than continuing to establish and reestablish my loving connection to my kids. This is a tether I welcome. LOVE #2 really has to be myself. Paying attention to my health (physical, mental, and spiritual) is actually my priority, but I would forgo any of my goals to support my child if they needed help. Finally, LOVE #3 is my connection and adoration of a partner. Finding and nourishing my relationship with “the beloved” brings me closer to my spiritual fulfillment.

I am happy alone. I am able to expand my love exponentially when I’m in a healthy and loving partnership. I am seeking a partner to complete my spiritual connection to the beloved. I’m no Rumi, but I do keep trying to celebrate and ravage the beloved, both in poems and in the physical world.

All That We End With

The love you make, well, that’s all there is.

As we imagine the close of our chapter on the Earth, we must understand now, that our joys and sadnesses will come rushing at us in the contemplation of our lives. Have we spent most of our lives in some form of depression or repression? Have we given our lives over to spiritual growth and contentment? It is important to understand the things that you are still pulling along as your burden. (Depression, Loss, Grief, Anger, Resentment)

Our experience of living happens in our experience of each moment. The power of NOW is coming to recognize that in each moment our consciousness, what we are thinking about, or not thinking about, IS OUR REALITY.

What Waterfall Are You Climbing?

What are the things you need to leave behind?

What do you need to cut the tether attaching you to this bag of these BULLSHIT-LIES you keep telling yourself? Write them down. Identify the “little black bastards” pulling you down. I visualize my LBBs as black oily beavers gripping their fierce teeth on the skin of my back. Whatever it takes to get those LBBs off me. That’s what I’m going to pay attention to in my work. (journaling, blogging, talking to my therapist, talking to my coaches and mentors and sponsors)

How can I support you in cutting the tether between you and your heavy bag of bastards?

And I will end as I began. Say it aloud as you read it.

I celebrate NOW in this moment.

Namasté,

John McElhenney – life coach austin texas
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