Oracle of Consciousness
Journeys of the Soul
Gratitude
One morning in Northern India, Angelique and Jake were taking an early morning stroll through the dusty streets and upon turning a corner, came across an entire family living on the pavement under a dirty, flimsy cloth, hopelessly inadequate for keeping out the cold morning chill or giving just a modicum of privacy.
The three children, rubbing the sleepy dust out of there bleary eyes, were startled by Jake and Angelique’s presence, as they were not expecting any visitors at that hour, or at any time for that matter.
Mum was doing her best to quickly tidy herself, while dad, unshaven, attempted to put straight the renegade strands of greying hair that fell upon his face.
All parties were embarrassed and felt uncomfortable
Angelique with her unique flavour of acceptance, immediately took control and asked, “Can we get you anything?” to the surprised mother.
Although her English was far from fluent, the mum pointed to her children and gestured with her fingers into her mouth, the universal sign for food, which was a scarcity for them and a hard-earned one at that!
Jake responded with another universal thumbs up sign and flashed them a huge smile, to which they all reciprocated.
Jake and Angelique hurried off to a nearby roadside stall and put in a big order, pointing to one tasty morsel after another, which was dutifully bound up and handed over.
On their return, the family had packed up their meagre belongings, tidied up and sat optimistically waiting for the young people to arrive back.
“Dhanyavaad!” “Dhanyavaad!” “Dhanyavaad!” they all shouted out in unison as they reached for the nourishment, and Jake and Angelique knew enough Hindi to know this meant “Thank you”
Their good deed done, the young pair found a old wooden bench in a tree lined park and sat to ponder what they had just experienced.
“I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to live like that, day after day.” Jake directed at Angelique, who had tears in her eyes.
“And to be so grateful for the small thing we did for them.” she whispered through her sobbing.
“You know Jake, there is a powerful lesson in here for us; we have food in our bellies, warm clothes to wear, a safe place to stay each night and access and the means to travel in any manner we choose.”
“Yes,” said Jake, “We have a lot to be grateful and appreciative about in our lives.”
“Please remind me of this when next I grumble and complain about some trivia, and use a baseball bat on me if you need to!”
“You are right Jake, let’s make a point of being appreciative and grateful for everything we have and do this every day, after all both those qualities emanate from our hearts.”
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