Gratitude and Presence

There are many spiritual teachers teaching that we should practice gratitude as a daily, even hourly part of our routine—so that we will maintain a positive outlook, increase our mood, decrease our stress and make us generally nicer people. Two problems with that: 1) when we add "should" to gratitude it ceases to be gratitude and becomes a duty; 2) anytime we add a "so that" to our spiritual routines, they cease to be spiritual and become conflated, contrivances meant to manipulate the gods. Gratitude is actually a form of presence. And presence is a spiritual practice that has only to do with embracing life on life's terms. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to live, rather than merely survive.