A few years ago, as I watered the rose bushes in my backyard in Hawthorne, CA one overcast morning, I got a ‘DING!’ in my spirit quite out of the blue. I had been praying quietly and singing – minding my own business – when suddenly I heard it:

“I’m turning the tap on and I’m not turning it off. The only thing that can turn it off is ingratitude because ingratitude makes you forgetful. When you forget to remember to be thankful, you forget the tight spots you just came through – that I brought you through – and you think you did it yourself. Ingratitude leads to forgetfulness and forgetfulness will turn your tap off.”

BOOM! I don’t know how much water the flowers got after that or much else for the rest of the day because that little nugget shook me! Everything about the words was simple except for the way they pinballed through my being with lightning force and sting.

Gratitude is more than just saying ‘thank you’ and moving on. It’s more than hitting ❤️ and scrolling down for the next thing to love. It’s holding the essence of that thank you in your heart long after the moment, day, month, year passes. It’s where loyalty is first conceived and alignment is fully birthed.

True gratitude over something requires you to stop and really allow the power and meaning and origin of the thing you’re thankful for (nooo…not the store you got it from) to press past the noise all around and within and find it’s forever home in the treasure box of your soul.

From thankfulness to family and friends for loving and sacrificing time and other precious commodities for our benefit, to clothing we give away that no longer sparks joy in our hearts (@mariekondo we LOVE that!!) to recognizing and thanking God for life and opportunity to BECOME…the list is endless. Only we can limit it and there’s only one way to do that. Forgetting.

Sometimes it can get crowded in there. I get it. So much is going on all the time, who can remember to not forget to be grateful 24/7?!? Relax. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that when those moments arise when something GREAT happens, take a few moments before the day is over – maybe just before you lay your head on your pillow – and let the power, meaning and origin of that thing breathe in your conscious…and say thank you. Let it seep into your soul and bless you and remain there.

Visit it every so often and water it with remembering how that moment or gift or expression of love made you feel or what it meant to you and say ‘thank you’ again. This is a golden key to keeping a tidy ‘house’ and for keeping the tap locked on. When we do this, we should expect the flow that is released in our lives as a result to position and cement us in position for MORE. That’s the deal. That’s the promise.