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The Perception of Thanks

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“All I have is all I need and all I need is all I have in this moment.” – Byron Katie*

 

Everything you express into the world is created by your brain. Thanksgiving is a holiday that encourages the expression of thanks or gratitude, the acknowledgment of the things in your life you appreciate.

Spiritual leader Byron Katie is a master at giving thanks. It’s not because she keeps a gratitude journal, or has a positive attitude. 

It’s because she’s done the incredible work of challenging her mind to give thanks for all things that her brain perceives as bad. 

Just like thanks is created by the perceptions of your mind, so is dislike, rejection, and unforgiveness.

If you can untangle the knots your brain has created around what you judge as bad, you can change your perception, and even create gratitude for what has been shown to you about your own mind.

Take war for example. If you think war is bad, it’s because your brain holds definitions about war that create your perception around it. 

Your brain may condemn violence and death, physical destruction of things, fighting… these are the perceptions, or definitions, or judgements, your own thinking mind offers you about war.

But why? Why do you think these things? It’s not  because it’s the “right thing to do”. That’s just another perception being offered up by your brain.

It’s  because they are the definitions about war you were taught. And in seeing how your brain defines war you can be grateful for the enlightenment about why war disturbs you so.

And let me offer this caveat: it’s not a bad thing to be disturbed by war. It’s not a good thing either. It’s just a condition of being human. Our thinking minds mold perceptions. This is how human culture has ebbed and flowed and evolved over thousands of years. 

Recognizing that it is your thinking brain that is creating your perceptions and definitions about your life is the key to stepping outside of suffering. It is also the key to appreciating yourself and the perceptions your brain creates that you whole heartedly agree with.

I highly encourage you to explore The Work of Byron Katie. I’ve done this work myself and would be happy to help you understand it.

If you need some help with it, regardless of whether we’ve ever coached together before or not, I’m happy to give you a free session to help you dig into this life changing work. Click here to get started.

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