Gratitude is the key to happiness 3

In order to be grateful, we have to have time to reflect ourselves everyday. We are taught how to do this. This is Shinsokan (meditation to vizualize God). We also have place to practice our gratitude. That is our spiritual training seminars (STS). I just participated in the 50th International Spiritual Training Seminar in Seattle between August 13 and 15, 2010. The following week we had the 156th Japanese STS in Southern California.

There are different ceremonies and parctices during the seminar. When I presided the Shinsokan for Mutual Prayer at the September 2006 seminar in San Jose, one of the members, Keiko, wanted to receive divine blessings and requested divine healing. She was in a very bad accident and fractured her neck 7 months earlier of this seminar. That was February 2006. When I visited her in the hospital in February, she said she was very grateful that she had not needed to amputate anything nor had she suffered damage to her internal organs. While hearing her words of gratitude, I really thought she would be healed soon. It was because she realized how lucky she was consdering how serious the accident itself had been. To heal her neck, the doctors put in two iron rings around her head and neck which circled her head. These iron rings were connected with 4 vertical metal rods. The top iron rign also had 4 metal rods extended horizontally into her skull. In th beginning, I didn't realize that this equipment was attached directly to her skull. These precautions ensured that she couldn't move her neck. Any neck movement could cause her fractured spinal cord to touch her sensitive nerves and result in paralysis of her arms and legs. This was a serious injury. However, her positive attitude helped improve her situation, and in three months she was able to remove these iron rings and rods.

However, when Keiko came to the STS on Saturday, her face was tired and wan because she still felt pain and was not able to move her neck freely. In addition, she seemed frustrated about her job situation. She had returned to work afer spending several months home recuperating, but it was very difficult for her to catch up with her work, plus her physical condition had not returned to its state before her accident situation. Therefore, she requested divine healing during Shinsokan for Mutual Prayer. She also requested for grand harmony in her job. Before starting the prayer, Keiko spoke up again and said, "Forget about my request for divine healing of my neck injury and harmony of my workplace. Instead, I really want you to pray for my co-worker'shusband. He recently was in a hit-and-run accident. His spinal cord was fractured, an he is still in the hospital. Please pray for his healing." I was moved by her thoughts for her co-worker and her husband. When we finished prayer and finished for the day, Keiko, other members and I moved into the prayer room. While I prayed for Keiko again, other members softly massaged her neck and shoulder. The next morning, Keiko's face was more cheerful.

At noon on Sunday we closed our seminar, and everybody joined hands and sang the Holy Missioner's March. Suddenly at the end of the song, Keiko screamed and ran over to other participants. Then, the people surrounding them began to jump up and down and were crying. I immediately approached them to find out what had happened. Keiko exclaimed to everyone, "I can move my neck, and it doesn't hurt!" When she had first arrived on Saturday, she couldn't move her neck, and instead she had to move her entire body to look in other directions. If she didn't move her shoulder and chest when she moved her head, she felt extreme pain. However, without thinking she had joined her hands together with everyone and sang the song loudly while looking at everyone and smiling to the people on her righ and left. Her overwhelming joy for two days during the seminar healed her. Actually, in the world of her mind she had already been healed the night before when she declared that she only wanted to be granted the healing for her co-worker's husband. In other words, she could have positive attitude in the midst of the negative situation.

Then, why did her healing take time to appear? It was because granting healing in her mind is only the cause. She needed the chance to manifest that cause into this phenomenal world. For example, when the negative cause is combined with negative chance, misfortune, sickness, and disasters appear. However, sickness can be eliminated by eliminating either the cause or chance. In the same vein, even if we create a good cause in the world of the mind, we still need the chance to make it appear in this world. And the best chances to make the cause appear to this world are positive thoughts such as gratitude and joy. Keiko's extreme joy and gratitude made her healing manifest right away. The Divine Message of Grand Harmony states: "Be grateful to the blessings from your country. Be grateful to your parents. Be grateful to your husband or wife. Be grateful to your children. Be grateful to those who serve you. Be grateful to all people. Be grateful to everything in the universe. Within those toughts of gratitude you will find me (God) and receive my salvation." Let us be grateful unconditionally. Thank you very much.