Gratitude = Artificial Or Egoic?

[Visionary]

Hi guys,

The more I'm developing on this path, the emptier I feel. Now after having some unity consciousness experiences i really have difficulty to be grateful. It feels very fake. Feels like an emotion you have to artificially (non-authentically) create yourself and force it into reality. It doesn't feel natural.

I have a question: does gratitude attach your ego to stuff? I can remember that Leo said you should try to be grateful for non-egoic stuff. So not only your personal belongings, achievements and so forth. But.. Being grateful for example for someone else's happiness, for the beautiful nature or even for the most negative things on earth. Aren't these projections by your ego? Aren't we attaching ourselves to these things?
 

[Dodo]

In my point of view, if you're grateful about stuff - that's fine. If you're not grateful - that's also fine. Just be natural and don't force it if you're not grateful. Simple.

[key]

Attatchement to identity is ego. 

Identity just is , included in being, so emotions are most defiantly not fake, they're very real, and thinking they're egoic, thus illusion, therefore fake, is egoic. 

Gradutitue within itself is natural, real & defiantly not artificial, so don't be afraid to feel  

[Arman]

Gratitude is divine. It is also a choice.

I suggest that gratitude does not create attachment. Find out for yourself. 

It feels unnatural and forced for you because it's not something you have practiced. Gratitude is a powerful way to flow energy into your life. Whatever you are grateful for, you flow energy into. If you choose to flow gratitude into something you like, you receive more of it. If you choose to flow gratitude into the things that are challenging or resistant, they dissolve. 

When there is a large vibrational gap emotionally between where you are and the vibration of gratitude, then it feels uncomfortable to practice it. In that case start small and general. Like being grateful for the comfortable chair you're sitting on, or having water to drink. 

9 hours ago, Visionary said:

Feels like an emotion you have to artificially (non-authentically) create yourself and force it into reality. It doesn't feel natural.

The word artificial is a bit of a hang up here. Exerting force over reality usually creates resistance. You don't need to overpower your current experience, but rather accept that you have a choice and align with the kind of experience you would rather have. I think choosing to create your experience is a lot more authentic then having your environment dictate how you feel. Choose to flow energy regardless of circumstance. If you wait for your environment to show you reasons to be grateful, you will be waiting forever. If you choose to flow gratitude into your life regardless of what your mind or other people tell you to be feeling, then your external reality will shift and gratitude becomes natural and second nature. 

Gratitude may not feel natural to you now, but does where you are now feel natural to you? If it does, why? Inquire into if your current experience feels natural because it is inherently aligned, or whether it is simply because it's what you're most used to, and what you have practiced for so long. If you have been without function in your legs for longer than you can remember, then learning to walk again will feel unnatural. The ego always wants to resign to what was, and negates anything new and positive. 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by Arman

[Bob84]

@Visionary good observation. To go even further: your opinion about ego is also ego 

Its the ego that attaches. And that is fine and normal. You can not prevent this. 

You(nothing) can however not attach to the ego, where it wil become extremely clear what the ego is doing. And from there you can choose to give it attention or not.

Hope that makes sense 

[Visionary]

Wonderful advice people. 

8 hours ago, key said:

Attatchement to identity is ego. 

Identity just is , included in being, so emotions are most defiantly not fake, they're very real, and thinking they're egoic, thus illusion, therefore fake, is egoic. 

Gradutitue within itself is natural, real & defiantly not artificial, so don't be afraid to feel  

Exactly that last thing you said. Afraid of feeling emotions kinda is a part of my anxiety problems. Thank you!

 

2 hours ago, Arman said:

Gratitude is divine. It is also a choice.

I suggest that gratitude does not create attachment. Find out for yourself. 

It feels unnatural and forced for you because it's not something you have practiced. Gratitude is a powerful way to flow energy into your life. Whatever you are grateful for, you flow energy into. If you choose to flow gratitude into something you like, you receive more of it. If you choose to flow gratitude into the things that are challenging or resistant, they dissolve. 

When there is a large vibrational gap emotionally between where you are and the vibration of gratitude, then it feels uncomfortable to practice it. In that case start small and general. Like being grateful for the comfortable chair you're sitting on, or having water to drink. 

The word artificial is a bit of a hang up here. Exerting force over reality usually creates resistance. You don't need to overpower your current experience, but rather accept that you have a choice and align with the kind of experience you would rather have. I think choosing to create your experience is a lot more authentic then having your environment dictate how you feel. Choose to flow energy regardless of circumstance. If you wait for your environment to show you reasons to be grateful, you will be waiting forever. If you choose to flow gratitude into your life regardless of what your mind or other people tell you to be feeling, then your external reality will shift and gratitude becomes natural and second nature. 

Gratitude may not feel natural to you now, but does where you are now feel natural to you? If it does, why? Inquire into if your current experience feels natural because it is inherently aligned, or whether it is simply because it's what you're most used to, and what you have practiced for so long. If you have been without function in your legs for longer than you can remember, then learning to walk again will feel unnatural. The ego always wants to resign to what was, and negates anything new and positive. 

 

Wonderful advice bro. It's so easy to get caught up in the emotional game we play on this path. You even forget the basic things you learned. Emotions are fooling us to keep us where we are. Of course anything out of the habitual zone will feel like resistance. I have very much difficulty distuingishing intuition from the deep unconscious emotions. So I probably thought this must be my intuition guiding me (the arrogance lol). How does that work out for you man? You look somewhat like an expert on emotions. Is your intuition guiding you and your decisions in life?

 

Peace

[LiakosN]

Are you grateful for things you don't possess? 

[Visionary]

1 hour ago, LiakosN said:

Are you grateful for things you don't possess? 

The difficulty here is that you actually possess everything in a certain way. You project yourself upon everything and everyone. It's probably just as egoic as your "official" possessions and belongings. The world is really your mirror.

But the answer to your question: i'm doing my best haha. Gotta work on it. Nowhere near as grateful as i am for material possession or achievements.

[LiakosN]

4 hours ago, Visionary said:

The difficulty here is that you actually possess everything in a certain way. You project yourself upon everything and everyone. It's probably just as egoic as your "official" possessions and belongings. The world is really your mirror.

But the answer to your question: i'm doing my best haha. Gotta work on it. Nowhere near as grateful as i am for material possession or achievements.

Aha..  I like the way E. Tolle sets gratitude. Not verbally, meaning thank you God for having or doing this,  but actually giving your fullest attention.  For example when you eat just eat as mindfully as possible, and that is real gratitude..

Edited January 28, 2017 by LiakosN

[Arman]

On 1/28/2017 at 5:13 PM, Visionary said:

How does that work out for you man? You look somewhat like an expert on emotions. Is your intuition guiding you and your decisions in life?

Not an expert but I've just been going through trial and error to see what helps. The more I relax into the silence and find the silver thread of intuition the easier things seem to be. I didn't start following it because I thought it would be a great idea, more just getting to the point where nothing else seemed to be working to create sustained happiness. Would follow practices, do this and that, behave this way and that way, jump through hoops but still find myself unhappy. I still experience challenges and pain of course, but the more you practice following intuition, the more readily accessible it is, so the challenges seem easier to transmute into growth because you're more able to scale your awareness back and allow the perspective to remind you to access more of who you are. Also it has been leading me to more fun and excitement.
 

If you want to experience the power of intuition firsthand, release all intentions and will over the body and mind and see what happens. Don't resist any thoughts or anything and just be aware of the awreness, and allow the body to do what it does. The body automatically starts healing itself and transmuting the energy that arises breath by breath, it's remarkable. It will also go about the day like a wind-up-toy doing everything it's supposed to, even without you 'willing' anything. Healing, insight, and alignment with better things is observed serendipitously when operating in this awareness. That's intuition 'in-action.' 

 

Edited January 31, 2017 by Arman