This post from @bozz has shifted me into a state of gratitude this morning. Thanks for that, my friend.

The events of the world in general this past week haven't exactly been ideal for shifting a person into a state of gratitude. The financial turmoil from the SBF/FTX meltdown, stray missiles hitting Poland and potentially triggering WWIII, and a whole host of other reasons to want to pull the covers over your head and just stay in bed.

You know what though? It’s precisely in these kinds of moments that it’s most important to look inward and count your blessings. Why? Because refocusing on the positive not only shifts you into a more positive state, it also attracts more positivity, peace, and abundance to you.

This is a recurring theme for me lately and it’s fitting with the Thanksgiving holiday coming in the U.S. next week. Honeydue’s thought-provoking post (thanks @honeydue) a few days ago first got me contemplating the importance of gratitude in anchoring us to the present moment. In my comment to her post I said, The past is almost never as great as we imagine it to be and thoughts of the future are usually fear/worry-based and serve no real purpose but to throw us into negative states. I find myself refocusing on the present pretty often throughout the day because I've learned that the present is where all of our most valuable lessons are to be found. The universe literally is teaching us in real time but we miss so much of it because our mind wanders. Practicing gratitude is a great way to keep our consciousness anchored (for a little while anyway) in the present.

I realized this morning that my comment was far too narrow though. Living in a state of gratitude is exponentially more powerful than this.

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“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” – Ernest Hemingway

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Yes, the ways in which power is concentrated in our world today is terribly unfair. In the world we live in, a small handful of sociopaths claw themselves to the top, often by nefarious means, and can decide the fate of such a large swath of humanity.

Politicians, media execs, and CEOs can now decide:

Whether a majority of us live or die;

if our social media echo chambers prompt us to agree to disagree or hate;

whether we are free or not; and

whether or not we achieve financial independence or continue to exist in a state of vulnerability, only able to focus on our day-to-day survival.

They also love to regularly tell us that we can't be complete and happy without continually buying more "stuff". I couldn't leave that out because it's more damaging than most people realize.

It’s probably always been this way but today’s technology makes everything more volatile and this small group of psychopaths infinitely more powerful and far-reaching.

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“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

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In all my travels and years of living I’ve learned several important lessons but this one stands out as perhaps the the most important of them all.

Despite which borders they were born within or what they've been convinced to believe, people are generally good wherever you go. They only want to be happy and most of them want you to be happy too.

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“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.” – Maya Angelou

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In this day and age it’s awfully easy to feel powerless but there is one thing those in power still can’t completely control, our thoughts and inner states of being. In this way gratitude is the superpower of the common person everywhere. As long as we still have this, and most importantly realize that we still have it, we still have hope.

Paradigm shifts have never and will never be sparked by violent force, they are born in the remote recesses of quiet minds then radiate outward to change the world. Each of us can be a conduit.

What are you grateful for?

It's a good time to remind yourself of this. This year I’m thankful for much but, most of all, I'm thankful for gratitude itself. It's how we open the door and free ourselves from the troubled state of our world.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

All for now. Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.

~Eric Vance Walton~

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(Gif sourced from Giphy.com.)

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Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.

Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.

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Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.

These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.

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