WELCOME - I arranged this afternoon just for a chance for us to meet up somewhere that is nota funeral! I have a called the event gratitude so what does it mean to me.
To me true gratitude is a feeling, not just a thought like saying thanks. When I was child i had to write thank you letters to Uncles and Aunts that had sent me a Christmas or birthday present. If I hold the door open for somebody I expect them to say thanks. We say thanks to waitresses and bus drivers. In Spain I say "Grassias" and they answer "De Nada" - it's nothing.
I am not saying
we should not say thanks like that, but it's not like true gratitude
- like "Thank God that didn't happen".
It's
not always easy to feel Gratitude.
I remember 16 or so
months ago, saying "The Universe has treated me well".
Whether that was some higher power, passed soul, Karma or good
luck, I never really felt Gratitude. I had a purpose - looking after
Lesley. I had a great rented bungalow to live in. I had my health,
my friends and some money.
I
never felt Gratitude though.
I forgot that pendulums swing both ways.
I lost Lesley when she passed - that cut deeply.
I had to move house.
Then I got ill. I caught covid in September. Last October. I went for two weeks to Italy with Jacqui and suffered a suspected heart attack due to physical and mental exhaustion. I was hospitalised for five days and ended up spending aaltogether ten weeks in Italy with my Goddaughter, Melissa, and her family
This year in April I went back to Italy again and suffered the loss of sight in my left eye due to a
detached retina, and had an eye operation. I spent another ten weeeks in Italy recovering before coming back by train.
And I did ask why? What had I done to deserve that?
It
took a kick to make me feel gratitude for what I still had - my other
eye, my friends and my health was nowhere near as bad as it is for
many and I am getting better.
People ask "how are you?. I
say "not too bad, or fine, even if i don't feel it". "It
could be worse!" "I should say "Do you really want
to know? Where shall I start. Well. when I was four years old "
Then the story of the good and bad that happened.
The
swing of the pendulum of events is inevitable - we are born and
inevitably die and we need to try to focus on enjoying life in
between and feeling Gratitude for or to whoever or whatever.
PREM RAWAT said QUOTE "Gratitude is the highest expression But it can only happen when there is truly a reason for it. If you’re not thankful…? Just by saying it, it’s empty. What are you thankful for in your life? And it’s, Oh, I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for my family; I am thankful for my job; I am thankful for this, and I’m thankful for that. I have to say Really, are you thankful for being alive? Are you?
"How many times during the day do you say, My goodness! I am alive. Thank you for this life” END QUOTE
True Gratitude allows us to appreciate all that we have been given. Gratitude for my life and for your lives and the BREATH that keeps us going - and gratitude for knowing those that I have known and who are no longer with us.
I
will read a few
poems
,
RIVER ALIVE,
I CAN
SEE YOU and POSITIVITY
The first poem, River Alive, is the story of my life, and I wrote it whilst sitting besides a river near the village of Aru in Kashmir in 1972.
RIVER ALIVE!
Whether we laugh, or whether we cry,
the river of life goes rushing by,
down the hills and mountain sides,
into valleys, long and wide,
towards the ocean that is its goal,
it's journey travelled by our soul.
When I was but little boy,
the river rippled and dashed with joy,
and as I grew and longed to learn,
the river for the ocean yearned.
As young man travelled round the world,
the river twisted, turned and twirled,
eager to find it's resting place,
eager to travel in time and space.
And as the seeking man grew older,
the river found the bigger boulders,
but on it travelled without care,
it knew it's destiny's not there.
The rushing water's now quite slow,
the river old has nothing to show,
it's happiness is calm and deep,
as old man takes his final sleep.
The ocean that is never ending,
is to the sky it's waters lending,
to rain again on mountain top,
to make sure life's rivers never stop.
The rivers message lies in this
Ocean of Mercy, Peace and Bliss.
I
CAN SEE YOU
I
can see your shadow in the sun.
I can see you, since time itself
began.
I can see you on that empty chair.
I know you’re
always there.
You
may have passed from my direct sight.
You may have travelled to
that divinest light.
Yet I see you rustling in the trees.
Yet
I see you in the buzzing bees.
You
went before me, travelled on.
Yet I hear you in every loving
song.
I never thought so soon you'd go.
You never went, I
truly know.
I
can see you in my mind.
In my heart it's you I find.
My
time will come, I'll see you there.
And peace and bliss I know
we'll share.
POSITIVITY (2015)
Always to be
found in this the same place,
Throughout our universe of time
and space,
On I will travel, at my own pace,
Can you now
see it, in my face?
Never to
question how or why,
Upon this earth I find I,
Content and
amazed beneath earth's sky,
Yet soaring above white clouds on
high.
Hidden
within us there is a clue.
It looks like I, it looks like
you
For once we were one and that is true,
Now one of so
many amongst quite a few.
There is a
Love, there is a Light,
Forget any guilt, ignore any
fright,
Focus within on a wondrous sight,
The future is now
and it's ever so Bright.
