Behold a Grateful Heart

Gratitude.

It’s not an easy word to live by. 

For many folks living in the material world, living in gratitude in their every action is a challenge. 

Especially when you are in traffic. Or at your in-laws house for the holidays. 

But as we are reminded daily by our sheer mortality, every breathe is a moment of gratitude for the life that God breathes into each one of us.

My friend and teacher, the late Dr. Masaru Emoto said, ” Happiness is living in constant love and gratitude.”

Although I understood what those words meant when he said them, I really didn’t get the message until life threw some twists and turns my way. This is, after all, how most humans really learn. 

The recent California fire storms were a terrific reminder to all of us, especially those like myself who were in the center of this great disaster, to remain in the state of gratitude that Dr. Emoto reminded me of daily.

It’s easy to be grateful when everything is going your way. The real test is when shit hits the fan.

Coming home to your domicile while the world is burning around you will gift you great lessons in gratitude.

I was one of the lucky ones who got to keep their home, but most importantly, my life.

Thousands of folks don’t have a roof over their head this holiday season. Can you imagine how that must feel? To not know where you will lay your head down next?

I was married to a storm chaser for years.  I have seen and been in every kind of natural disaster you can imagine. As a California native, this has been my seventh serious fire. The first one is how I met my late husband. He was a victim of the Oakland fire. Everything he had once owned was purely ash when I had met him. Humble is not the word to describe how one feels after losing all your material belongings. I remember quit vividly how he felt: alone, displaced, empty, and honestly freaked out. But the one thing he exuded the most was gratitude.

From that day onward, my life would change for the ultimate better.

Tornados, lightening storms, fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis would become lessons of gratitude throughout my entire life. Even though many of  these “natural” disasters are supposedly just that, the deeper down the rabbit hole I went, the more I learned about how much of our weather is controlled by the cabal. 

Our weather is completely manipulated by humans for all the wrong reasons. 

The one thing that people don’t seem to get over and over again is that the one and only power in charge is ultimately our Heavenly Father who created this existence and all of the ying and yang that comes with it. 

The good that has come out of this horrific event is the gratitude and unity of community that you can see daily amidst the ash-laden roads and once golden hills of this golden state which are now a wasteland of blackness.

Any first responder will tell you what it feels like to be face to face with the possibility of death any moment; Something we forget until we are reminded, usually the hard way.

I didn’t break down into tears until I went to the fire department to thank the firefighters who saved our home. 

There I was, waiting for someone to come out,  at the door of the fire house with a small token of anonymous appreciation in hand. I rang the doorbell at the entry on the side of the firehouse. The Chief answered and I handed him my gift, thinking that would be it. I would thank him politely and anonymously and be on my way. No need to overstay my welcome. But then, the big fire truck doors opened, and there they all were: a row of selfless heroes  all standing there, the very reason I was still alive, looking at me with eyes filled with only greatness and humility.

I couldn’t get my words out. When I saw the humility and selflessness in their eyes and hearts,  I almost fell to the ground, overwhelmed by what these men had done for others they have not, and most likely will never meet.  

That’s integrity, honor, dedication.

They have families too. They have homes too. In fact, their firehouse almost burned down, but that didn’t stop them from coming to our neighborhood, while their building was almost on fire, and instead, focusing on saving others. 

That moment will never, ever leave my soul.

Don’t wait until you have to be reminded of the gratitude that lives within your heart. Practice it now. In the famous words of one of my favorite presidents:

Copyright 2018 Dilara Esengil, All Rights Reserved

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