I used to be grateful every chance I got. But then I realized I was being grateful "to" or grateful "for" something outside myself. I was reinforcing the perception of separation between me and all of life.
Then, I cultivated the habit of being in appreciation for everything I experienced. I felt I was somehow participating in life if I simply appreciated how it was unfolding.
But now I'm practicing CELEBRATION. When you score the winning goal in the last seconds of the game and we shout and hug and jump and down together (whether we're physically together or not), I'm creating joy by celebrating you, the score, the game, my experience of it and yours and everyone else's. I am life creating life. There is no separation. The part of the whole that is you scored the goal, but the part of the whole that is me had to witness it to create the celebration.
Let's celebrate you, dear friend. Let's joyously revel in who you are, where you are, and how you are. If you're feeling down, let's celebrate that . . . in which case "celebrate" means "to experience together objectively." It means to thoroughly experience/feel what you're feeling until you don't need to feel it anymore (the difference between pure feeling and emotion is that feelings pass through in time but emotions make up stories and stay around forever), note it and learn from it, then move on. If you're feeling up, let's thoroughly experience/feel what you feeling until you don't need ot feel it anymore, note it and learn from it and move on.
Namaste - I join you in CELEBRATION.
