At the Hineini Chavurah led by my friend and colleague and mentor Daniel Sheff, we maintain a Stance of Gratitude. And I love that image - it sounds active. It sounds intentional. It sounds powerful. And in reality Gratitude is a powerful stance indeed.
Modeh/modah ani lefanecha - Grateful am I before you.
Ani lefanecha - I am before you
Whether chanted or sung or spoken - repeated over and over or only stated one time - these words ought to evoke a sense of gratitude. Yet to do that the speaker/chanter needs to come to these words in an intentional stance of Gratitude, with a vision or a thought of what they are grateful for...family, friends, health, life itself perhaps, the sunshine, spring, children, parents...so many things deserving of gratitude.
Yet visioning it, knowing it, is not enough. In our Stance of Gratitude we must hold the object the thought in our mind's eye while we chant/sing/recite. To some this sounds easy, to others it will prove quite difficult. In that though is the true nature of our Stance...To sing or chant or recite it while holding onto the object of our Gratitude; To bring it to life in our mind to see it vividly as if it were dancing around us. Gratitude, like so many nouns, (according to Rabbi Marcia Prager) are just verbs moving slowly...
There is something quite quantum physical about this elusive thing called Gratitude. When we sing or chant or talk about it, it is quite clear to us what Gratitude is. Yet, once we identify the specific object or subject of our Gratitude it is as difficult to hold onto while we chant as the water of a stream or the breeze blowing by us.
It was not until I really grasped this Stance of Gratitude that I finally understood what Zen masters have talked about - that the Tao is not able to be described in words - that words cannot fully capture what the Tao is - one needs to understand it rather than explain it. So too, the Stance of Gratitude is one that is better understood through doing rather than understood through action.
With that said, I hope I have helped to create a container in which you can feel safe enough to find your Gratitude, hold your Gratitude, and live in the world in a Stance of Gratitude...
Namaste! Amen! B'shalom...
