spirit intact...

My 15 year old daughter and i were having a conversation about spirits, ghosts  and things we cant see.  Here in Asia , we often hear stories about them. She was asking me what  "spirit guides"  were and I replied  ( like if I knew the answer...I never met a spirit guide before!) that spirit guides help their loved ones and solve problems for them. She replied " can I have a spirit guide to solve my math problems"  That made me laugh. She always did have a strange sense of humour .... like the time when she was 3 years old and I was teaching her how to thank god for her blessings and i said " what do you want to thank God for today and she replied ...for the wall ...and the TV controller ( remote)
But maybe she had a point, its the little things we take for granted that we have to be thankful for...things we assume will be there and working every time we need it. When we turn on the lights, we expect it to come on, or  the toaster. We take these things for granted because we are so focussed on wanting ...wanting more ! We get bombarded with ads and TV programs that constantly fuel this need to want more. If we are not wanting then we are trying to preserve what we have. This constant agitation and propagation  of "not enough" or not being good enough. It makes people live in regret, " if only I did this or didn't do this, I would be in a better place today" I know that feeling, I have been there before.
And yet, i also know today that if I didn't experience this, I would not be able completely savour the bliss I experience these days.
 To me this bliss state is the state of gratitude or thankfulness ...that feeling when your heart is full and yet light.  It doesn't need to be an earth shattering experience. It  could be the simple things like the smell of the morning, or hearing the birds outside my window or even feeling well enough to get up in the morning. I know points in my life when I have had to make a conscious effort to think about these things but these days I catch myself smiling for no reason! . A friend of mine in australia has a tattoo on her arm with the words " this too shall pass"  a quote she took from Eckhart Tolle's book.

Someone I know has had a serious operation, someone else has a young child who is very sick and when I think of these people, my heart goes out to them and these are times when I want to to send an army of spirit guides and angels out to task ...to heal them and support them through this time. I  hope they find their bliss by embracing the challenges they are faced with. That they are able to look back and still see what an incredible life this is. Maybe that's all we are supposed to do ... be able to go through life's ups and down and come out clean on the other side with our spirits intact and smiling again!