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Reyv · 02-01-2007, 09:00 PM

Gratitude L2 feeeels goood.

I've been practicing this ever since the blog entry came up, and it's been working brilliantly for me.

I haven't yet conditioned it to the point of having a constant "Wow!" in the back of my consciousness, but that seems rather inevitable.

Currently, whenever I think of Level 2 Gratitude, I become instantly rooted in the Now. I begin noticing the details of everything around me, and I feel gratitude flowing through me over the very experience of being alive.

I can kind of liken it to the excitement of being in a lucid dream and noticing the quality of the dreamworld, such as stopping next to a plant and being amazed at its detail.

Another parallel I can draw is with the notion of being in a virtual reality. I can sort of detach myself mentally from reality and realize that it is an artificial construct created by consciousness. In that framework, I can feel even more gratitude and amazement over how brilliant and beautiful everything is (even when, objectively speaking, everything should seem very mundane).

Oh, and it also serves as a sort of an instant release. If there was pressure or stress occupying my mind at the time, I can feel most of it dissipate. Plus it gives me a new framework to reevaluate what I was thinking and doing (if it was something that was giving me a hard time).

As the post-it next to my bed says, "How wonderful it is to exist!"

So far this alone has been enough, but I'm going to continue practicing and see how much more pervasive I can make this attitude become.

One thing I'm at odds about is whether feeling gratitude for negative things attracts more of them. I could easily feel gratitude for a negative experience if I put it in the right context, but does that in any way give it power to replicate in my experience? If I feel gratitude for something, doesn't that kind of mean that I'm aligning myself with it?

02-01-2007, 09:00 PM	#48 (permalink)
Reyv Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Source Posts: 82	Gratitude L2 feeeels goood. I've been practicing this ever since the blog entry came up, and it's been working brilliantly for me. I haven't yet conditioned it to the point of having a constant "Wow!" in the back of my consciousness, but that seems rather inevitable. Currently, whenever I think of Level 2 Gratitude, I become instantly rooted in the Now. I begin noticing the details of everything around me, and I feel gratitude flowing through me over the very experience of being alive. I can kind of liken it to the excitement of being in a lucid dream and noticing the quality of the dreamworld, such as stopping next to a plant and being amazed at its detail. Another parallel I can draw is with the notion of being in a virtual reality. I can sort of detach myself mentally from reality and realize that it is an artificial construct created by consciousness. In that framework, I can feel even more gratitude and amazement over how brilliant and beautiful everything is (even when, objectively speaking, everything should seem very mundane). Oh, and it also serves as a sort of an instant release. If there was pressure or stress occupying my mind at the time, I can feel most of it dissipate. Plus it gives me a new framework to reevaluate what I was thinking and doing (if it was something that was giving me a hard time). As the post-it next to my bed says, "How wonderful it is to exist!" So far this alone has been enough, but I'm going to continue practicing and see how much more pervasive I can make this attitude become. One thing I'm at odds about is whether feeling gratitude for negative things attracts more of them. I could easily feel gratitude for a negative experience if I put it in the right context, but does that in any way give it power to replicate in my experience? If I feel gratitude for something, doesn't that kind of mean that I'm aligning myself with it?