100. Gratitude

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Appreciation & Gratitude:

Their Clairvoyant Relevance

Lecture based Questions:

1. Draw or describe a reminder or symbol of one of your helpers.

Each one of us has hundreds of helpers who wish us well and are waiting for a chance to give guidance and help. Ask for help on your most urgent problem and write down your impressions.

2. What is appreciation?

Appreciation is the natural emotional response to pleasure. It is one of the elements of Love, and it is one of the requirements for maintaining the presence of a blessing that has already manifested in your life. To appreciate something is to acknowledge its beneficial effect and to also understand (at some level) that it can also be removed from your life; therefore it is precious to you.

Astrally, appreciation can be observed as a misty substance that is light rosy pink with striations of lilac. Thought forms that express appreciation usually resemble bouquets or wreathes of flowers. When two people cherish each other and realize the fleetingness of their time together, we often see the cable-like bonds between them chained with rosettes and fragrant petal-like shapes of gold and rose pink. The atoms of the sender and receiver are turned upward in receptive mode.

3. Is gratitude a natural response? How does it affect the quality of life?

No. Gratitude is a learned behavior that becomes more skilled with practice and validation. It is a combination of respect, comprehension, relief, and adrenaline energy. Unlike appreciation, we cannot feel genuine gratitude for something without full understanding of the process of how blessings are given to us and how we are able to receive them.

It is not natural to say thank you. However, it is necessary for us to learn it. Hence the karmic chain of events that eventually teaches us the meaning of gracious behavior, of praying (saying please), and of sharing and tithing (saying thanks). At certain spiritual levels, we can only learn what we experience. When we have mastered perfect empathy, that process is no longer needed.

It is a peculiarity of our nature that we cannot feel thankful for a blessing until we have already endured the lack of it. Therefore, suffering is a necessary part of the gratitude process. Not all planetary humanities require deprivation as an ingredient for thanksgiving, but our own emotional recipe extracts depths and flavors of feeling and experience that are rich and powerful.

Gratitude is required for all forms of intentional manifestation. It is one of the steps in prayer. It generates healing—both physically and emotionally. It creates an energetic indentation that can be filled with blessings to come. Gratitude is the final invocation for all blessings and actuations. There was never a magick done without gratitude in the creation.

Astrally, the act of expressed gratitude looks like a small sunburst with a sound similar to an orchestral explosion. It leaves a residue of a thick substance ranging from syrupy to the consistency of rubber cement. It is blue-ish violet, or the Victorian heliotrope color with marble like striations of gold. You can make things out of it, as though it were clay. During the expression of thanksgiving, the atoms turn upward in receptive mode and the atomic chakras dilate to their widest extension.

4. How can we best use appreciation and gratitude to improve the quality of our lives?

Be mindful that taking something for granted will cause its thought form to disintegrate. Therefore, to maintain the quality of life that you presently enjoy, appreciate everything good in your life with awareness and caring every day. Of course, things change constantly, but your intentional maintenance of blessings and your archetyping for an improved life creates a vortex that attracts a sparkling lifestyle.

To complete the cycle of manifestation, gratitude should be expressed with every prayer, request, and affirmation. This small act has more power than one might suspect. The hand gesture for thanksgiving can be used instead of words. This would be a well-known posture of briefly touching the hands [palms together in the reverence position] to the forehead.

5. What interferes with our ability to feel appreciation and gratitude?

Pretty much any negative feeling or thought will do the trick. The most common culprits are

•resistance, •anger, •blame, •destructive affirmations, •will force, •worry, •panic, •fear, and •resentment.

Some of these are behavioral habits, and some are hormonal conditions. We should not try to solve or heal these feelings and thoughts on our own. Instead, we find the best results by asking the Guardian Angel for advice and guidance, and by thanking God for our new, improved attitude and lifestyle. It is good to keep in mind that all perceived harm in our lives is self generated by karmic pattern and personal belief systems.

6. Exercise: Creating an Island of Light in the Darkness

The body has a language of its own. We can use it to create helpful things in our lives.

Sitting comfortably so that your body does not distract you, close your eyes or sit in a darkened room. Breathe normally, from your diaphragm so that your belly button goes out when you inhale. Your hands are resting on your lap facing upward in the open lotus position.

1) The Plunger

•As you breathe in, vocalize “ah.” This is the sound of wonder.

•As you exhale, vocalize “!ah” (using the glottal stop at the beginning). This is the sound of release.

•Do this four times.

•Return to breathing normally.

2) Incandescence

•Envision that you are in the hub of a wheel of White Light. The wheel rotates forward and down over the front of you.

•Your breathing affects the rotation and speed of the wheel. While you breathe, you will vocalize in a soft “hnn” moan with your mouth closed. This is the sound of self healing.

•As you breathe deeply and slowly while tensing your abdominal muscles, the rotation of the wheel increases and the Light from the wheel expands.

•Do this ten times.

•Return to breathing normally.

3) I Am a Matchstick

•Your mouth is shaped to say “ooh,” but no sound comes out. This is the sound of intensity. Maintain this expression throughout the exercise.

•Imagine your head glowing brightly with White Light. The glow extends about six inches.

•Allow the White Light to spread gradually downward through your entire body so that your whole being is glowing, the nimbus extending about two feet.