A Happier You | Rev. John Riley

Well, we are in the 5th week of our five-week series on raising consciousness, on elevating our consciousness to the I AM-ness that we are, to that which Rusty called that divine essence that’s within us, that Christ consciousness, that higher consciousness, that higher self, whatever you want to call it. 

How do we raise ourselves up to live in that essence, to be a part, to be in that on a more ongoing basis? And we began. Our first week was about emptying the cup. That is letting go of all of the things that we’re holding onto, all of our stories, all of our resentments, all of our negative feelings, to letting it go so that we can be filled with the all-ness of God. 

The second week was about the idea of celebrating the divine everywhere present, celebrating that spirit that moves in, through and as us, that we’re swimming in, that idea that God is everywhere present and that we are it, in it, are part of it, one with it. 

And as we begin to identify with that, then we step into that higher consciousness called the I AM. We step into that higher consciousness of knowing our oneness with Spirit, of knowing our oneness with this divine flow of life, love and wisdom, that higher consciousness of the universe so that we can be a part of it, an active component of it. 

Then the fourth week was about becoming and being that active component and being that I AM-ness in our lives, expressing it throughout our life. So, how’s that going for you so far? All right, I got one okay. That’s good. It takes a little practice doesn’t it? Because we get back into those patterns of our little me, our ego me, those patterns of the stories that we tell when we wake up in the morning. So, it takes a little practice to get into that I AM-ness. 

Gratitude

Today we’re going to talk about the fifth principle in this component, in this series, and that is the principle of gratitude, of cultivating a consciousness of gratitude. This is one, probably one of the most practical parts of the equation here out of all five. This is one that’s very powerful when we do it. It really lifts us up and it’s also one that’s really needed in the world today. Does anybody sense that we need a little bit of gratitude in the world today? Yeah. We can feel it. There’s a need for it, and is it easy? Not always. Not so much. Not always easy, and yet it’s one of the most powerful practices that we can have. It’s one that lifts us up out of our depression, one that lifts us up out of our victim-ness, one that lifts us up so that we can experience a greater sense of health, wholeness, and abundance. 

Of course, the brain science has caught up with spirituality. It bears this out. The idea of giving gratitude or receiving gratitude releases the dopamine and one other. – Any scientists out there? I don’t remember off the top of my head what it is. Serotonin. Yeah, sure, okay thanks. — Those are the critical components that help us, that help drive our feelings and help create a sense of happiness within us. So, physiologically, gratitude lifts us up as well. But spiritually, gratitude really puts us in alignment with God. If there’s only one prayer, as Meister Eckhart once said, there’s only one prayer that you do. “Thank you” is enough. 

Now, it’s not always easy, as I mentioned, because if we take a look at the world around us there’s a lot going on in the world. There are a lot of things happening in the world. There’s a lot of judgment that is going on because there is a lot of change. There is a lot of — we are trying to grasp at this idea of getting back to normal and things are just a little bit different. So that change creates anxiety within us. Anxiety then starts to create and generate a sense of rightfulness and selfishness where “if we just went back to the way I want it to be then everything’s going to be fine”. It creates — and that generates a sense of judgment and of self-righteousness and of egoic expression. “It’s all about me. If you guys would just do it the way I want you to do it. If we can just get back to the way it was before when we didn’t have to wear masks and we didn’t have to indicate whether we wanted a hug or not”. Although, you know not everybody likes hugs even before the pandemic. Did you realize that? So, this is an opportunity to realize that it’s okay if you don’t want to hug even after the pandemic. And for that we can be grateful. 

Grateful and Thankful

So, the idea here as was told by Paul to the Thessalonians in his first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5, is to be grateful and thankful in all things. In all things. When you look at the world around us, we’ve got hurricanes, we’ve got earthquakes down in Haiti. We’ve got a hurricane coming in right after that. We have people who are ill, people who have made their transition, family and friends. We have things that have come to light that are tragedies in the past, that are a part of our life and our experience. And so, when we look at those ideas and those tragedies that are happening in our life it’s hard to say “be grateful in all things”. The key is to remember the adjective there is not “for all things”. We are not grateful for the earthquake. But be grateful in all things, in all circumstances. Where can we find gratitude in our present state of consciousness? 

Stress, Strain, and Anxiety

So, when we are feeling those experiences of stress and strain, of anxiety, of self-righteousness, of judgment of other people, when we’re starting to look and blame other people for the way things are going in our lives, when we slip back into that victim consciousness, that victim/victor duality, “I’m either winning or losing and I’m all against you”, when we get into that consciousness it’s hard to get out and feel grateful for things. It’s difficult. If we try, we are often trying to push down that feeling of “No, I can’t feel sad. I don’t want to feel upset. I need to focus on what’s good. I’m just going to ignore that and push it down”. And then that feeling just starts bubbling up within us right. It starts becoming that powder keg within us. 

The Human Experience 

So, the idea is, as Dave Hawkins said in his book, Letting Go, the idea when we come up with these feelings. They are going to happen in life. We are on this human experience. There are going to be hurricanes. There will be earthquakes. There will be disappointments and when the feelings come, instead of pressing them down as Myrtle Fillmore said, we can’t suppress it. We just need to let it go, just to let it be. Allow those feelings to just, poof. I don’t even want to say express because when we say express we talk about well, if I’m angry I’m going to express my anger. That anger comes out as, may come out as hatred, and may come out as resentment, and may come out as judgmental. So maybe express isn’t the right word but to just let the anger be. “Ah, there it is. There’s my old friend, Mr. Anger. My shadow twin Skippy”. You have all seen him haven’t you? Oh my God a lot of you are nodding. That’s a little scary. 

When that, when we get taken over by those things, it’s not always easy to feel grateful in that circumstance. But once we become aware that we’re in that circumstance, once we become aware that “Hey, Skippy is here. I’m frustrated”, there is my key. There is my opening. The door is now open. It’s now okay, I can look at it from the observer’s perspective. There’s my Skippy self. There’s my shadow self, as Eckert Tolle might say. There is my pain body. There it is. I’m going to embrace it. I’m going to give it the love that it needs because that’s what it’s calling out for is a dose of self-love. In that self-love comes the opportunity to say, what can I be grateful for in this present moment? What can I be grateful for in this present moment? It may not be what we think it is. It may not have anything to do with our frustration and might be something completely different. For we can generate this feeling of gratitude within us by recalling things from the past that we’re truly grateful for. In HeartMath they call that a heart coherence, where we are bringing to mind that which we truly appreciate and allow that feeling of appreciation and gratitude to well up within us so that we can live more from that place. 

Where Can You Find Gratitude?

So where in your life can you find gratitude? Where in your past can you find something that still gets you excited, still makes you happy? Where can we find that within you? So that in those moments where we’re really down we have something to pull from. As we begin to cultivate that practice within us, we begin to live more from that practice of gratitude, from that prayer of “thank you” every day, so that we become more grateful for just simply being, for every breath that is breathed into us. This idea of gratitude lifts our spirits and aligns us and allows us to be present to whatever the situation is and be okay with it. 

I remember there were times when, in my past, when I was in high tech. I remember some of those big, big meetings that I just completely bombed in. Or it just didn’t go well. I remember this one when we were travelling. I was travelling to Europe and I was there for several meetings and one of the big meetings was one that the executives were very excited about. The people who would use it were not so excited about it. Now I don’t know, anybody in here used to be in sales or in sales? There’s this wonderful thing called salesforce.com, sales automation, sales, all that kind of stuff. Well, this is the very beginning of that, when we’re starting to tell sales reps, “I know that’s the way you managed people before and your pipeline, but now you’re going to do it this way on computer and we are all going to be able to see it”. So there was a little pushback there and one of the meetings that I went to was just a room filled with sales engineers, sales people and they were not having it. It was just a failure. We lost the account to be honest with you. I took it as a failure. When I remember that trip, that’s what I remember, is that standing in front of those 500 sales reps, failing. 

Any of you have something similar or some experience in your life? Sherry says no, of course not. Anybody have an experience where you thought you were going the right way and all of a sudden it just didn’t work out right, or you look in your past and you see that one thing that’s glaring at you, that one negative component of that event and that is the focus, that is all we remember? So, I started to think about that and what else was there in that meeting. What else could I be grateful for in that circumstance? I remembered flying into Amsterdam. I had an evening in Amsterdam and I was so excited because I had never been there and I got to the hotel room and instead of having an evening in Amsterdam outside I got to have it inside in the hotel room while a giant storm, a snowstorm, was falling, where the snow was actually falling horizontally. I guess I’m not going to go out and experience Amsterdam today. But as I look back on that, all I remember is sitting in front of the window and just watching it, watching the snow just hurl by. I remember being so grateful that I was able to actually get out of the hotel room the next day and drive to our next destination which was in a city — I don’t know, some other city in that area. You have to go through the countryside. I remember after those meeting spending time in London for the first time, going to some museums and going to all of the different sights and sounds and being a part of it. But all of that was shadowed because of that one experience. That negative experience that I was focused on. 

Finding Things to be Grateful For

So now I found five other things to be grateful for and now I have a library of things that I can bring to mind whenever I’m starting to feel that same frustration, that same stress. I can bring that to mind again. I can find that within me that I’m grateful for. When we focus our attention on gratitude, when we focus our attention on looking for the good in our lives, now our lens is completely different. We’re no longer in that victim/victor consciousness, in that duality consciousness. Now, we are looking for our oneness. Now we are looking for the expressions of good in our lives. We are looking for how God is showing up in the world and in us. We’re now open to expressing that goodness to other people, to having a more positive experience, to having a more positive expression in the world. And so, we then become a component of good in the world. We then become that light that shines, simply by being grateful. In all things, in all circumstances, be grateful. 

As we go home this week, as we go home today and we go out to our typical expression of life this week, take time to notice what you’re grateful for. If you consciously focus on what you’re grateful for, you’ll find something. Then notice how it lifts you up. Notice how it buoys you a little bit. And so when you go into those meetings, or go into those relationships, go into that traffic, whatever it is that’s in your life, allow that gratitude to go with you. “There’s traffic. I’m so glad, I’m so grateful that I have a car”. We’re down to one car. 1.5 cars so, as soon as my daughter Erin goes to UC Irvine then we’ll have two again. But we’re down to one car. So this last week — two weeks ago, I think it was. No, it was this last week. Time is just weird. Anyway, Monday I think it was. Monday or Tuesday. Monday. Now that we’ve got that straight, we have been spending enough time on that — Monday, my youngest daughter, Megan, was going to San Francisco to get fitted for her pointe shoes. So she only had one car, we only had one car and Tiffany needed to drive her there so I walked to the Centre. Instead of stressing about “Hey, I’ve only got one car. How are we doing this live? Why do I have to walk in this humidity and this heat?” I was grateful, grateful for the opportunity to get out and to see life, grateful for the opportunity to get out and to get a little exercise. I’m not saying that I need more exercise, but I probably need a little more exercise. 

When things like that happen – Oh. Well, that was the beginning of the week. We are down to one shower also. That’s been a long-time thing though. Eventually we will redo the guest bathroom so our kids don’t, all five of us, don’t have to use our master bathroom to shower. That’s cool but that’s going to get done. But also last week our dishwasher died. We replaced it or fixed it several times and this is a motor, the cost-benefit was okay and then the next day the sink in our master bathroom cracked. Both sides. I don’t know how it happened. I’m sure it happened when those — anyways, I did it, but don’t tell anybody. When I was replacing … Anyway, I tightened it too much. It cracked and it’s now leaking so we’ve got a shower in one bathroom that works, a sink in the other bathroom that works and we are just thinking that things come in threes — that’s what they tell me — and then my cat broke. We got her fixed though. She had a little abscess and she was … I took her to the vet on Tuesday and she’s doing wonderfully today. She has to stay inside and she’s torturing us every moment of the day. And at four o’clock in the morning when she’s pouncing on my face, I’m grateful. I’m grateful that she’s still with us, our little one-year-old pandemic kitty. Be grateful for all things. 

David Hawkins says that gratitude is the key to getting out of this egoic prideful thing, this self-righteous experience, is just find something to be grateful for because it lifts us up to a higher level of consciousness, a higher vibration. As we become more grateful in our lives, we become lighter, happier, healthier, and able to do and experience life in a greater way. 

Let’s move to our affirmation. Our affirmation is on the screen and I’m going to read it twice and then invite you to affirm it with me. I need to read it twice because sometimes I mess up the first time around so bear with me as I’m reading it. 

Living and expressing my I AM-ness, I see the beauty of this spiritual realm all around me. I cultivate a consciousness of gratitude!

Living and expressing my I AM-ness, I see the beauty of this spiritual realm all around me. I cultivate a consciousness of gratitude!

Would you affirm that with me? Together:

Living and expressing my I AM-ness, I see the beauty of this spiritual realm all around me. I cultivate a consciousness of gratitude! 

And so it is. 

I Am Grateful

I am grateful. I am grateful for this time that we have together. I am grateful for the spiritual community that we have doors open. I’m grateful for our Board of Trustees. I’m grateful to Ann who helps — that’s you — who helps us create this Sunday experience, who keeps me on track during the week. I’m grateful for Kent who has kept these grounds healthy and whole, who is putting in baseboards in our office and in our bookstore, who is keeping things fresh. I’m grateful to Catherine who has redesigned and redeveloped and, with the help of many of our volunteers, to create a new expression in our office and in our bookstore. I’m grateful to Karen who hosts our Tuesday night connection groups on Zoom, who has done so throughout this pandemic, who brings to us a prayerful consciousness. I’m grateful to Brenna with her passion and her enthusiasm for life and for equality. As she has led our DEI, diversity — what is the e? — equity and inclusion. Say it for me Lisa, diversity, equity and inclusion. My brain synapses weren’t firing. I’m grateful for Daniel who brings his leadership presence to our board, who brings his financial acumen to the board, who makes sure that we are on track and who explains to us in very clear terms what’s happening. I’m so grateful for all of you who have come here today to shine your light. I’m so grateful for all of you who are online, for being a part of this experience over the last year and a half, for ensuring that this spiritual community does what it’s here to do and that is to raise the consciousness of humanity, to create a world that’s centered in God, to create a world where we can live together in harmony, where we can express and be inclusive and we can come together even if we disagree, but still come together in that sense of oneness, in that sense of God.