Reflections

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  1. Ose
    Ose
    6 months ago

    Feeling grateful to my understanding describes a kind of volatile thankful sensation in resonance to something outside, usually related to a gift received, while being grateful is an inner positition, which we can always decide for, including feeling grateful also, and which relates to and echoes a quality of our deep innermost formless, timeless and boundless source we all belong to. It is interconnective, heart-filling and all inclusive.

  2. t
    tazz0
    6 months ago

    Feeling grateful connotes to me at first something immediate in the moment or delayed reactions again in the moment(s) to come . Feeling.
    Being grateful seems now is a effect on one’s behavior of being such that the gift altered the person as an effect as where their perceptions, feelings, awareness was the result. As he seems very interested in things after meeting the curious person yesterday who turned him on to looking under rocks.

  3. barba
    barba
    6 months ago

    Feeling gratitude: it is an overwhelming feeling that floods me, my body. Connected with amazement, surprise, then joy: there is no “I” here, no ego. Being grateful: This is where the mind is involved. It sees the gifts to me.

  4. Joseph
    Joseph McCann
    6 months ago

    Reading everyone’s reflection on today’s question was enjoyable, thought provoking, philosophical, and educational!

    1. L
      Loc Tran
      6 months ago

      Joseph, I resignate with your response. There are many different directions to go with questions like this one. We had one like this a couple months ago on meanning and purpose.

  5. Robin Ann
    Robin Ann
    6 months ago

    My thought is being grateful is recognizing that something good has happened to you. Feeling is a reaction to something good that has happened.

  6. Antoinette88615
    Antoinette
    6 months ago

    It’s the same

    1. L
      Loc Tran
      6 months ago

      Very well put, Antoinette: simple, sweet, short, and straight to the point. Definitions are subjective. The question is designed to test whether we’re overthinking or not which is an easy trap to fall into in modern society that only puts a greater premium on being the biggest and baddest.

  7. Charlie T
    Charlie T
    6 months ago

    Feeling grateful is the result of being
    grateful. Being grateful is the positive
    action that might lead to feelings of
    contentment, joy, positivity, and having
    gratitude for what is.
    It should come with a warning label:
    Danger ⚠️ practicing gratitude, may lead
    to feelings of gratefulness. 😁

  8. Barb C
    Barb C
    6 months ago

    Like others I wrestled with this despite majoring in English and Linguistics and feeling as if this question should be right up my alley. If I substitute other mental attitudes for “grateful”–happy, sad, tired–I get to something like Loc’s discussion of “ser” and “estar” in Spanish and Joseph’s comparison to things like tiredness and hunger. Being is an internal state that may persist; feeling is more fleeting. With a practice that cultivates being grateful I’m more apt to feel grateful in the moment.

  9. pkr29022
    pkr
    6 months ago

    For me, being grateful is feeling grateful.
    I can’t have 1 without the other.
    They are 1 and the same. ✨🩷

  10. L
    Lauryn
    6 months ago

    I think of feeling grateful as more of a situational thing, whereas being grateful suggests an overall attitude towards one’s life…a mantra, way of living, a daily practice.

  11. L
    Loc Tran
    6 months ago

    I went to Champlin Park high school in Champlin, MN. They required 2 levels of language courses. The options were: Spanish, French, and German. I got a head start on Spanish in 8th grade, because it’s the closest to English, and the wife of my youngest uncle on my mom’s side is from Honduras. She’s a native Spanish speaker. I made it to 5 levels right before graduating in 2010.
    Fastforwarding 13 years later, I still remember the basics. Maintaining a conversation is challenging. With that being said, my explanation of the difference between feeling and being grateful comes down to the 2 spanish verbs of “ser” and “estar.” On the surface, both are translated as “to be.” There’s more than that. For starters, ser links to personality. Estar is used for feelings and location. Going deeper, the former points to anything that’s more perminant whereas the ladder points to anything that’s more temporary.

  12. Josie
    Josie
    6 months ago

    Articulating my response to this one is a challenge for me. After reading others’ responses left me without clarity still. So, best I can do is to try & express what I’m experiencing.
    Though I have chosen a daily intention to BE grateful, I don’t always FEEL grateful. I believe that a choice for gratitude is in the will and desire, even if I don’t always feel grateful. For me now, that is enough. Namaste,all.

  13. Mark Piper
    Mark Piper
    6 months ago

    Feeling grateful strikes me as a “being” reality whereas (confusing as I may be) being grateful strikes me as a “doing” reality. If I’m being grateful I am doing gratitude: acting/thanking/expressing gratefulness. If I’m feeling grateful I’m in a state or mindset of gratefulness which hopefully is a springboard for the doing of gratitude.

  14. Patti
    sunnypatti
    6 months ago

    Feeling grateful is that inner peace and satisfaction. Being grateful is putting it into practice with my outside world.

    1. D
      Deann
      6 months ago

      I like this simple distinction.

  15. Ngoc Nguyen
    Ngoc Nguyen
    6 months ago

    An explanation for the difference between feeling grateful and being grateful… Let’s see…! What a tricky English challenge for me. Based on the responses shared before mine, I believe that feeling grateful refers to my own personal sense of gratitude, while being grateful means becoming a source of gratitude for others. I look forward to learn from other responses as well.

    1. L
      Loc Tran
      6 months ago

      My Ngoc, I can resignate with that angle. Feelings are more personal. Being is putting it into action and extending it to others.

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