One of the greatest yogi lamas I have ever met, the one I would come closest to describing as my root Guru, once said that when we really practice we start to feel a sense of gratitude all the time. At the time I said this I sort of knew what he meant and he was saying it in response to something I'd said.

Last week when I was in retreat, I had this sense of gratitude in an almost overwhelming way. I sat down to eat my morning porridge cooked on a camping stove. As I was chanting the short offering verse and taking the first spoonful, I was reminded of how many people have been kind and generous for me to be in this position. As the first spoonful went down, I felt an immense sense of being loved, but in a non-referential way. May all beings suffering from low self-esteem or feeling unloved have this same sensation and may it grow stable until they are strong enough to care for others more effectively.