Sara Wiseman - Living a Life of Gratitude: Your Journey to Grace, Joy & Healing

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Living a Life of Gratitude: Your Journey to Grace, Joy & Healing 2013 by Sara Wiseman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2013

E-book ISBN: 9780738738413

Book design by Bob Gaul

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Cover art: Background iStockphoto.com/Oksana Pasishnychenko

Part page art: Background iStockphoto.com/Oksana Pasishnychenko

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the beautiful souls who showed up as miracles during the writing of this book: the listeners of my radio show who sent their love from all over the world; the many folks who emailed me with their experiences and kind words; the very perceptive folks at Llewellyn; Dr. Steve Koc; and my children.

Dedication

If you already know how to live with a grateful heart, this book honors you. If you are in the process of learning how to live this way, well this book is wholly and completely dedicated to you, and to all of us who accompany you on the journey.

Contents

Introduction

Part One: Birth

. There is only one entrance

. Mother is the first Beloved

. Father is the first teacher

. Noticing the particulate

. Becoming the I am

. The beauty of your true self shines

Part Two: Emergence

. What is your calling?

. Who am I?

. Be your own platypus

. Finding our true skin

. Tethered

. Exhilaration

. Your future self awaits

. Bloom when youre ready

Part Three: Connection

. Portal of miracles

. The red thread

. At table

. The karma of pie

. What a soul needs to do

. Tenderheart

. Walking the tightrope

. Catching beauty

Part Four: Love

. We hear with our skin

. True loves

. Coming home

. Becoming luminous

. The gift of sex

. The shedding of skins

. The feast

. Swing step

Part Five: Convergence

. A simple slice of pizza

. The young saint

. Snow day

. The energy of loving kindness

. With bells on

. The granting of all wishes

. You are here

. Brown-black dog

Part Six: Expansion

. Speaking our truth

. Age of anxiety

. Tenacity

. Saying yes

. Saying no

. Stacking stones

. Wake-up call

Part Seven: Nature

. Meeting the redwoods

. The Universe is singing

. Aurora Borealis

. The soul sings

. The magical variety

. The love of animals

. Crossing the stream

. Breathing light

. The music of sunset

Part Eight: Awareness

. Lock into the hum

. A single drop of water

. The secret life of plants

. The air is not empty

. Three Buddhas

. In the moment of noticing

. Out of body

. Abundance is always present

. Holding space

Part Nine: Awakening

. Electrons, consciousness, soul

. Prayer to the sun

. The raga of plants

. Medium awakened

. Kundalini rising

. Spontaneous Buddha

. Dreamtime

. The container of our lives

Part Ten: Presence

. Lending a hand

. The unending cycle

. Rest stop

. Miracle glasses

. Heavens ledger

. Angels in the road

. I see you

. Prayer Flags

Part Eleven: Transition

. An ordinary day

. Beyond the veil

. Homecoming

. Marys song

. Birthing into death

. The container is the mystery

. The feast of everything

. My fathers gift

. The moment is now

Part Twelve: Birth

There is only one entrance

Introduction

In the moment we give thanks, everything changes.

Our hearts crack open. We are flooded with love and light. And in that exact instant, we shift from our negative state to an awareness that is positive, joyous and brimming with blisswe experience the Divine healing that is our birthright.

The trick is to learn how to create this moment not just once in our lifetimes, but over and over again.

The secret is found in gratitudein the surrender to the grateful heart, the open heart, the heart that willingly walks in the magic and the mysterynot just for a moment or moments, but at all times.

In essence, to become grateful is to become Divine. Its a lifes journey, walked step by step, on the path that unfolds before us.

Now, it all sounds fantastic, wonderful, amazingexcept that at first, most of us arent very good at being grateful. Were rusty. Were resistant. Weve forgotten how to live in wonder and awe. Even as we commit to a gratitude practice, we get off track, we backslide, we slip into our habits of negativity and blame and oh yes, we struggle!

Most of us would agree that its not always easy to choose gratitude. Yet with perseverance, gently coming back to this place of thanks over and over again, something begins to change inside us, and we begin to move toward the light, like a flower turning to the sun.