Gratitude for Thyself

Recently, I attended a chakra healing sound bath for the third eye chakra. I had been doing a series of sound baths where each week we focused on a different chakra beginning with the Earth Star Chakra (below the feet), and ending with the Soul Star Chakra (above the head).

As I lay there on my yoga mat taking in the healing sounds and vibrations of the crystal bowls and gongs, I had the thought to call on the Ascended Master Quan Yin (aka Kuan Yin) to release karmic debt from all times, places, spaces, and dimensions. Quan Yin is said to be part of the karmic board, and I had been working with her more than usual at that time. Afterwards, I had a very nice validation when the host of the sound bath informed us a lot of releasing of karmic debt had occurred during the sound bath, and Quan Yin was present for the clearing.

After the sound bath ended, of the many thoughts, images, concepts, and so forth that I had experienced during the sound bath, one image still lingered in my mind. I could tell by the way it remained at the forefront of my mind that there was something important about it. It was a cartoonish scene (I often experience images in cartoon vs. realistic looking form) of a covered wagon, grass, animals, and cattle down by a stream on a summer day. At first I felt it was around northern California, but then I got it was Oregon. I then began recalling dreams I’d had where I was in wilderness areas in Oregon. I shared this information with the host of the sound bath who is very in tune with her guides and she informed me Quan Yin brought it up, and it was a lesson I needed to look at. She also told me it related to my throat chakra, and I could call on Quan Yin for assistance with it.

A few days after the sound bath, when I woke up in the morning, I began thinking how grateful I was for myself. The gratitude I began feeling for myself felt so good, and divine. I realized I don’t normally think of myself in that way, and it is important, or rather, essential, to do so. It is similar to the concept of self-love, and the two concepts go hand in hand, connected like puzzle pieces. The feeling, sensation, and vibration of self-gratitude kept coming to me that morning, and when it did, I would see the covered wagon image from the sound bath in my mind’s eye, which let me know the image of the covered wagon and the feelings I was experiencing of self-gratitude were connected. I had been praying and asking for what I needed to learn and know about the scene I’d seen with the covered wagon to be revealed to me, and it was! However, there was more to the story…

Later that same day, I attended a class on the heart chakra (part of a weekly series of online classes I was taking that went through the chakras one by one. Not to be confused with the sound bath chakra series I was also doing). During the heart chakra class the instructor read a list of statements related to our well-being. Two of the wellness statements did not entirely resonate with me that week, the first relating to forgiveness, and the second relating to my inner child, and I knew I needed to explore those concepts further. A few days after that class, I did a forgiveness meditation, and during the meditation I began thinking of jumping on the bed as a child, and how much fun I had doing that. It was a free and playful feeling. The image was not something I normally think of, and I knew there was inner child healing occurring, and that it somehow related to forgiveness. Later that day, I also went exploring, and dug for unique and interesting looking rocks. Again, a playful activity I had not done in a long time.

My journey to receive the healing I needed is an example of the interconnectedness of life experiences. What I tend to find is that usually the answers that we seek do not come to us all at once. They often come in phases, in steps, (in the right timing) that build upon each other to create a whole and complete picture. In the beginning we only see one concept, one perspective, one piece of the whole. Through our experiences we acquire more information, and a greater perspective. It is truly magical to see the interconnectedness of life, and to watch our individual experiences come together in a meaningful way to create something richer and greater than we could have ever anticipated.