Gratitude is the state of mind of thankfulness. As it is cultivated, we experience an increase in our "sympathetic joy," our happiness at another's happiness. Just as in the cultivation of compassion, we may feel the pain of others, so we may begin to feel their joy as well. And it doesn't stop there.
Stephen LevineUnderstanding is the ultimate seduction of the mind. Go to the truth beyond the mind.
Stephen LevineMuch thought has at its root a dissatisfaction with what is. Wanting is the urge for the next moment to contain what this moment does not. When there is wanting in the mind, that moment feels incomplete. Wanting is seeing elsewhere. Completeness is being right here.
Stephen LevineQuoting son, Noah Levine: Once you see what the heart really needs, it doesnโt matter if youโre going to live or die, the work is always the same. (25)
Stephen LevineYou have to remember one life, one deathโthis one! To enter fully the day, the hour, the moment whether it appears as life or death, whether we catch it on the inbreath or outbreath, requires only a moment, this moment. And along with it all the mindfulness we can muster, and each stage of our ongoing birth, and the confident joy of our inherent luminosity. (24)
Stephen Levine