“GRATITUDE is SO VERY therapeutic .The world changes around you…”
This month’s composer’s choice is called Gratitude.
Im just about to start a practise-led Masters of Philosophy at Notre Dame University Sydney. A practise led masters is based on, in my case, a 50% practical component which will culminate in an exhibition of works and/or a musical performance and recording.
Of course I have to come up with an idea/theme to pursue which will sustain a whole lot of investigation and nuts and bolts work. My mind has been racing : Will I investigate the negative space or the “void” in western and eastern art ? Or what about delving into the world of western and eastern mystics and how prayer and meditation have been explored ? What about cymatics, musical frequency and sacred geometry… Just a few topics out of many that are knocking on my brain door…
In our live broadcast a few weeks ago ( go here to listen to the precession chat ) I discussed a dream I had where there was a little black spot on my right eye which I could not remove. Being a big Jung fan I knew that my subconscious was sending a message. So that night, before going to sleep, I asked myself “ so what is this dream about? What is this tiny annoying blind spot I have?”
The next morning I awoke with a single word loud and clear in my head “gratitude”.
Nothing like a light and fluffy way to start the day ! So I IMMEDIATELY started to repeat a gentle mantra “thankyou”. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for my lovely poached eggs; and thank you for my dogs who love me; and thank you for this foggy rainy day ! just thank you, thank you, thank you.
Of course there is usually “brain blow-back” with nagging thoughts like : who the heck are you actually thanking ?
So what you do when this naggy voice comes up is say “ yeah thank you for the question but at this moment its irrelevant cause all I’m doing is saying Thank you, thank you, thank you ! ”
The black spot in my eye was elegant feedback letting me know that over the xmas period I had been so busy hosting and feeding people that I’d unwittingly become grumpy and a bit hard-hearted. It was simply exhaustion. But instead of collapsing into poor me dialogue I picked up the message from my dream that I simply needed to EXPAND with gratitude versus shrinking into resentment.
GRATITUDE is SO VERY therapeutic The world changes around you…and perhaps thats why gratitude practise forms the bedrock of most world religions and spiritual mastery.
Check out this great link which is rich with information and studies on the astonishing benefits of GRATITUDE mindfulness…so much so, I realise that now I might have to incorporate it somehow in to my masters and PHD studies. Yikes !
Stephen Fearnley is an award-winning filmmaker, artist and composer. He composes transformational soundscapes for the meditation journeys guided by Naomi Carling and facilitated by Naomi Janzen for One Mind Live – a unique worldwide online group meditation community. To sample One Mind Live, go HERE