What is Gratitude?

Gratitude cannot be forced, because it is a form of love that already exists, ready to be accessed anytime, any place, any circumstance.  It is not something to find, or go and get. But, I've worked hard to uncover it.  Sometimes it arises as a surprise, in a moment when all else is peeled away. And in that moment it brings me to my knees, embracing all that is, and I say, "thank you universe, for this moment right now." Sometimes it comes easy. When my heart speaks and is heard by someone. It comes easy when I give all that I can. It pours when I give even more.

Gratitude is not separate. Not this or that. It is the could be of the should be. Gratitude is personal yet universal in origin. Gratitude is for all. It is a choice. It can be felt in a moment of pause, in acknowledgment of the ordinary, and in reverence to the extraordinary. It is a salutation to wishes fulfilled. Hindsight of the hard times that shape the good times. It is letting the good times roll...

Remembering

Once only a seed with a plan,
Beautifully designed to dance to every beat.
Refined and confined
until some perfect spark.
Splitting, dividing from one to a million.
Becoming,
Some body.
A cauldron of love.
Announced by some voice, a cry.
A blanket wrapped tight, shrouds.
Forgetting, forgetting, forgetting.
and so it goes,
life begins.

Wandering and wondering,
becoming somebody.
Falling and tripping into the same hole,
with passion, with determination.
A mystifying encounter,
A glimpse of that spark,
A taste of sweetness,
Heart pulses with ecstasy.
Oh yes, now I remember,
Love.