I had an interesting experience a month or so back, which taught me an interesting lesson and helped me learn to receive with gratitude. I was out running along Gran Via in Barcelona. At one point, I stopped and changed direction, as I decided I felt I didn’t have the energy to do the route I had planned. As I was walking for a brief moment, psyching myself up to start running again… I noticed a 5 cent coin on the ground. Walking over it, I couldn’t even be bothered to bend over and pick it up!
For some reason, it didn’t feel right. Lately, while I’ve been out walking or running, I’ve been practicing naming things I was grateful for in my life. I wanted to learn to receive with gratitude what life gave me. Somehow, walking over this little gift of 5c didn’t seem congruent with that practice. I think all of this more or less occurred unconsciously at the time, but basically I thought to myself, that I would be pick it up.
I remember saying to myself, “I gratefully receive everything you give me!”
Putting it in my pocket I started to run, following my alternate route up Montjuic, the hill in the middle of Barcelona.
Show me the Gratitude, and I’ll show you the Money!
Following the same route back home, I was back on Gran Via again, a lot sweatier by this time. It was quite quiet for this time in the morning, as I ran, just before me, I noticed a 50€ note. I looked around but there was no one around who had obviously just dropped it. It seemed like it had just magically appeared before me. Hardly slowing down, I bent down to pick it up and continued running in one movement, with a smile on my face and barely able to stop myself laughing! I guess I was more gratefully receiving what I had been given… a thousand times the 5c earlier.
I reflected as I got home…
Net profit from the run, 50.05€
It felt like my gratitude to receive was multiplied a thousand-fold! That’s a pretty good interest rate!
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
