“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened.”   -The Bible

This is the verse that often pops into my head unbidden of late. The more I practice focusing my thinking through gratitude, the more I know that what I am seeking is right there in front of me, waiting for me to see it.  I have recently noticed this in being able to track my own progress.

In the past, it has often caught me off guard, this getting from A to B.  Suddenly it seemed I was in a different place but wasn’t able to witness the process getting there.  Now, it seems enough to notice that I am doing new things that used to feel frightening and I am present to them without having to know where it will lead.   Progress feels like freedom to be myself more and to trust the process.

I am not fully graduated yet. There are still vestiges of fear camped out in my body that seem like they have staked a claim. Befriending these aches has given me a direct internal barometer for my experience of being able to receive, let go and believe that the door is opening for me. So even my pain is now a gift to me, keeping me honest about how I am thinking.

All of this is progress and sometimes it isn’t that comfortable, but when I don’t need to make a story about it and I can just let the pain be there with me, it shows me over and over again the magical power of attention. Gratitude is attention multiplied with acceptance.  Sounds so easy, but generally the simplest things are the most challenging to achieve.  It is a skill – and it gets easier with practice.