“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

There exists a place in all of us where the world truly lives, where everything is bright and free. Within this hidden place of sanctuary, we find the keys to life, to love and to our own inner wisdom.

This place is only found in gratefulness. And though we may seek for a lifetime to find truth, or to find meaning, we need only be grateful to find peace, to find purpose and to know of halcyon; a living Elysium.

It has been said that in gratitude, everything else simply falls away. Pain becomes joy, and sorrow becomes ecstasy. We are then liberated by the work of our soft hearts.

Gratitude genuinely gives us freedom.

Each day is a gift, and we must be grateful. Each beat of your heart has been given to you and you did not have to pay for any of them. In knowing this, we must also remember that each word we speak is expensive, carrying far more a price than we are aware.

With freedom, comes a duty to life.

It is only in becoming aware of our duty that we can acknowledge the true power that we all have within. We should all strive to speak with purpose, with altruistic intention and divine surrender. I was reminded of this the other night. I was reminded of a time when I wasn’t free, when I was a prisoner, an inmate incarcerated by my own mind.

It wasn’t long ago that I was lost to a vengeful heart, to a sour dream and an unforgiving pattern of thought. I looked upon the world as an enemy, as something that I needed to conquer. I looked at love and scoffed at it, disregarded it, blocked it and pushed it away. I was a victim, and nothing was ever my fault.

But then, one day many years ago, I heard silence on wind for the first time and it brought a message. As I stood looking out over a barren landscape of desert high among the Colorado Plateau, leaning into the wind and mesmerized by the orange red rock, I felt the grace of life rush across my face and through to my heart.

I felt peace. I felt life.

Life was no longer a burden, a race or a test. That day it became a gift, and the wind and Earth I stood on were both my witness and my proof.

It was then that I forgave myself, and it was then that I was grateful for every facet of life that I’d ever had the pleasure to experience. With one thought, and one powerful feeling everything in my world changed.

And the change was bright.

Our thoughts become alive when given power from the heart. In gratitude we find the magic to become truly humbled and feel deep thanks for the experiences we are given, for the people in our lives, for all that we touch, see, feel and dream. The more we cultivate this blessing, the more it grows and bears fruit, and our lives become full in every way.

But you cannot simply be grateful, you must feel grateful.

You must feel it in your body, and you must feel it so intensely that tears stream from your eyes each time you think about how much you love, how much you are loved and how beautiful this life truly is. It must beat within you, to the rhythm of your own heart. It must fill the chest and pour out from the soul.

This feeling must be born from within. It must grow and burn and explode. It must trumpet through the body and ripple throughout the universe. It must make you feel alive.

This is gratitude. This is where love exists.

Be grateful, and begin to see how beautiful this life really is.

I promise you it’s all free..

And it is so bright.