I was driving my kids and a friend of theirs back from the pool after it had just been closed due to an approaching electrical storm. As we drove along, we were all looking up and marveling at the huge plumes of puffy dark clouds overhead. That’s when we noticed that, in the middle of the storm clouds, there was a small opening of blue sky where sun was peeking out. My daughter said, “oh look, that’s where the angels hang out!” Now, I don’t know where she heard this, I certainly never told her this. But it was so sweet the way she said it so matter-of-factly. Well, it was as if the whole car lit up. We talked about how fun it would be to fly a plane right through the opening and up above the clouds where the sun always shines…and maybe even hang out with the angels. Suddenly the disappointment of having to leave a fun swim day disappeared, and we were on to what fun thing we would do next.
It occurred to me later that noticing that little opening in the midst of temporary storm clouds, and contemplating the sun shining on the other side, was a lot like our practice of proactive gratitude. Our lives can be full of stormy relationships, financial and employment turmoil or health concerns, but our willingness to look for that little patch of blue sky and celebrate it when we find it, can turn our whole experience around. Relationship, financial and health difficulties are temporary experiences. The changeless infinite good always exists on the other side of these experiences. We can’t always see this, for the infinite good is often obscured by the clouds of human experience.
So, what can help us get to the other side where “the angels hang out?” You guessed it…gratitude. Proactive gratitude helps us focus our attention on that one spot of bright light and, if we are willing to embrace that, and continue to give our focus to that, it begins to grow. Temporary storm clouds then begin to move off and changeless good shines brighter and brighter into more and more areas of our life.
The next time you see storm clouds in the sky, let it remind you to look for the spot of clear sky…the area you can honestly be grateful for…and give it your full attention. Then watch as stormy conditions in your life begin to blow away.
Daily Gratitude list:
1) I am grateful for my recovery, because with it comes everything else good in my life…
2)I am so grateful for my beautiful new nephew, he is a shining star on a dark dark night..
3)Thank you for my beautiful family – so courageous they have had to be
4)Thank you for my amazing friends – to have stuck by me through thick and thin.
5)Thank you for my shelter, food and security
6)Thank you for my mental, physical and spiritual well being – I will never take for granted how lucky I am to have good health.
For anyone that struggles with gratitude.. if you have a roof over you’re head and food in your belly you are better off than 70% of the planet.
Remember that it is in the darkest nights that the stars shine brightly.
Pingback: Tweets that mention “Where the Angels Hang Out” - The Gratitude Experiment -- Topsy.com
1. I am sooo grateful for my life.
2. I am grateful to have a higher power.
3. I am grateful for my family and we know what unconditional love is.
4. I am grateful for my amazing boyfriend.
5. I am super grateful I found this site so my life keeps getting better, more clear, and simple as I start my list of things I am grateful for!! Xo
Loved this story…thanks for the gratitude reminder : )
That is so cool to have one of your daughters point such a “bright spot” among the clouds. That’s an image that I can relate to… Thanks!
1) I am so grateful for tommy, my special number one man. that he lit up my life, and taught me the meaning of unconditional love and enlightenment. even though he has left this world now i still feel his light around me. even knowing him for a short time changed my life for the better. i am so eternally grateful to have had the chance to hug and hold him, if only for a couple of years.
2) I am grateful for all the people who love me and put up with me! and who accept me the way i am, no matter how strange or difficult that may be!
3) I am grateful that everyday i feel Gods love in my heart
4) I am grateful for the inner strength i have been blessed with, and the peace I am always able to find in myself
5) I am grateful that my soul is ‘seen’ every day by people who love and accept me the way that I am
1) I am so grateful for tommy, my special number one man. that he lit up my life, and taught me the meaning of unconditional love and enlightenment. even though he has left this world now i still feel his light around me. even knowing him for a short time changed my life for the better. i am so eternally grateful to have had the chance to hug and hold him, if only for a couple of years. 2) I am grateful for all the people who love me and put up with me! and who accept me the way i am, no matter how strange or difficult that may be! 3) I am grateful that everyday i feel Gods love in my heart 4) I am grateful for the inner strength i have been blessed with, and the peace I am always able to find in myself 5) I am grateful that my soul is ‘seen’ every day by people who love and accept me the way that I am