Gratefulness Happens Before Thinking

Below is my reflection after reading the excerpt of Brother David Steindl Rast:
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As I understand from my heartfelt experience of gratefulness, it arises from my heart, not from my head. When a moment of gratefulness arrives, it surprises me and it makes my heart filled with awe and joy. And the beauty of this wonderful arrival of the gratefulness is that it comes without formal invitation and without looking for it. It is spontaneous. I love one of Rabindranath Tagore's short poem. He was looking for beauty in the colorful clouds on the Himalayas, and in the flowing water of Mother Ganga, the Ganges. A blooming flower in his front yard looks at the poet and says. " O Great poet, you're looking for beauty far away though it is so close to you smilingly looking at you!" These are moments of gratefulness. I experience gratefulness in small things such as dust of snow falling on my head, sparrows looking for seeds and feeding their little baby birds, a child in a grocery store smiling and waving his hand, and someone taking care of me as I am getting old and weak. They are Divine blessings and my heart is filled with joyful gratitude. Keeping my heart open to receive gifts of gratitude and without seeking gratitude helps me grow in gratefulness. I am blessed to having handful of gracious people in my life and I am vey grateful to them.

Namaste!