Thank you a prayer all on its own

Commune even with the unpleasant

Meister Eckhart, a German Catholic theologian, philosopher and mystic is quoted as saying, “If the only prayer you say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”

As I walked my morning path the first day of practicing the prayer, I began with sort of a rapid-fire, “thank you, thank you, thank you,” realized what I was doing and slowed it down. “Thank you,” pause, “thank you,” pause, “thank you.”

Next, I began saying to myself, “thank you for the tree,” “thank you for the concrete,” “thank you for … the mailbox, the car, the person across the street, the dog, the sun,” and so on.

I was experiencing peace, yet also a sense of separation by saying thank you FOR this or that.

My prayer became, “thank you flower,” “thank you water,” “thank you bird,” “thank you sky,” “thank you computer,” and so on. With no word added to create that separation, I actually “saw” more and felt a richer sense of thank you.

The sensation went deeper into my body — from thinking, to my heart, to my gut, experiencing thank you throughout my body, my being, the spirit I am. The relationship was altered; I was in communion.

The initial focus was on objects, nature, people and animals. That’s all well and good. However, I realized I had missed something: those situations in our lives that aren’t so pleasant.

There are no qualifiers in Meister Eckhart’s missive.

“Thank you unpleasant circumstance,” “thank you argument with my child,” “thank you meeting that didn’t go so well,” “thank you back pain,” “thank you bill to pay.”

To embrace the offer of Eckhart, “thank you” isn’t a contemplation to be embraced in a discriminating way. It just is … always … no matter what my egoic, separate self or thinking might want to suggest.

Thank you fear, anger, frustration, anxiety. Thank you peace, imagination, beauty, intuition, love.

What I often find is that when I say thank you as I feel fear for example, the fear washes away.

Of course, saying thank you as we encounter situations or feelings we deem unpleasant can be challenging, extremely challenging. Especially for events that evoke intense grief or loss, say with the death of a loved one or tragic circumstances such as mass killings. After some time, we may be able to manage thank you, and it may require some time … quite some time.

Praying thank you (silently) can alter our experience of and relationship with everyone and everything. As a result, then, it is much easier to be present with love and wisdom in a challenging conversation or situation.

For me, thank you is an acknowledgment of the experience of living and being more fully human. Yes, I feel the sorrow. Yes, I love. Thank you.