By Grace Alone

By Grace alone: 

there's no practice to be grateful, it's spontaneous, natural, arising completely on it's own - nothing needs to be invoked, it happens all by grace alone. This is more about attention, to just notice that I'm alive, and given breath. I am thankful to simply be here, and from this point comes a deep appreciation. To find myself aware, experiencing life through every moment...

this is all that's needed.

and yet I don't discount rituals, symbolic acts can be beautiful in their motion and display - but they never bring forth anything that's not now found present. They're simply reminders of what's already here, overlooked, only needing to be seen. 

my ritual is the morning, my first glance to start the day, noting that all that's been given, from breath to sun and infinitely more - all appear without my asking. The world too is spontaneous, natural, and comes by grace alone. This is gratefulness without the label, just a moment found aware. 

and it all happens on it's own.

to be aware, is to find myself grateful - everything is appearing truly as a gift, nothing invoked to be here, just arising, seamless from one experience to the next. That I somehow belong to this flow of events, an occurrence of my own singular importance, is a note of joy and wonder. Remembering this, writing this now, and I find that I'm never not grateful for each moment. It's always present, an intimate sense of being alive, belonging, of being grateful for it all. 

~

Peace, Eric