Cultivating Gratitude

by Mariana Bozesan

Having grown up in communist Romania with very little food and clothing let alone personal freedom, I have grown to appreciate the smallest thing that life has offered me along the way. Thirty years ago, my parents and I managed to leave Romania to immigrate to Germany and all we were allowed to take with us were two very small suitcases. Although our material life began for us at ground zero again we were able to build a new existence in a foreign country. My parents found jobs and I was able to get an excellent education. Therefore, we have grown to be full of gratitude to Germany, a country with wonderful people who welcomed us and helped us build a new existence, so we can now help others.

Based on this and other past experiences, I have learned that I can always start all over again if I really want it. I learned early on to let go of attachments for there is always something new that life holds for me. As a result, I have come to believe that life is always very abundant and affluent if I am willing to look for the good in everything. Thus, I have learned to cultivate the feeling of gratitude by always living in the now because this is all there is. The past is long gone and the future is not there yet. Therefore, life is nothing else but a collection of nows. I make it a priority to live in the present moment and most of all to honor it consciously. To that end, several years ago I began to demonstratively communicate gratitude to those around me:

• I always begin my day with a prayer of thanks for all the gifts that life has given me including all the love I receive from loved ones but also from the cashier in the supermarket for instance.



• I send weekly expressive, fun or profound emails to my friends to stay connected and to show them my love and appreciation for their presence in my life.



• Everywhere I go I take every opportunity to pay people a compliment and to thank them — mostly non-verbally — for being in my life.



• I never leave home without a kiss and a hug for all my loved ones



• I say a prayer of thanks for the abundance in my life including all my friends, my teachers and people who have influenced me in becoming a better person as well as my enemies without whom I would have never grown so much.



• Inspired by my friend and teacher Tony Robbins I began collecting, a couple of years ago, magic moments and once a year I share the most remarkable ones with my friends and loved ones.

These simple techniques help me focus on what’s good and loving and beautiful in life. This sense of gratitude makes my heart so full of love and compassion and kindness. It nourishes my soul, keeps me growing and has a beautiful "side effect": The world mirrors my own attitude by reflecting my love back a thousand fold. If I were to die tomorrow, I would be ready because at every moment I have lived a life full of love and gratitude.

Now it is your turn. Pick up your journal and begin cultivating your own sense of gratitude. Think about everyone and everything in life that deserves your gratitude. To help you with this process I would like to share with you a few very powerful morning and evening questions which I learned from Tony Robbins:

• Who do I love? Who loves me?


• What am I grateful about in my life now?


• What am I proud about in my life now? What about that makes me proud? How does that make me feel?


• What am I happy about in my life now?


• What am I enjoying most in my life right now?


• What am I excited about in my life now? What about that makes me excited? How does that make me feel?

Thank your eyes, nose, ears, heart and all of your organs for serving you so well. Thank yourself for the opportunity of using a computer and for being able to have access to information and knowledge including this web site. Think of several other ways to express your gratitude and say "thank you" to Existence on a regular basis. Use this sense of gratitude and fill your heart with love for yourself and others.