Tonight!! I now get home when it is still light out (Yes North East!) and I took Stanley our family dog for a walk out back
and we saw an owl close up and he stuck around for a few minute and flew to a different branch. It was so cool. I have only seen a snowy owl once
at a nature preserve but quite a distance away besides in a zoo setting. Was definitely an awe moment for me!!
Feeling grateful for me is a peaceful, calm to my core feeling. I feel content. I feel joy. It is often those “aha” moments, when I am with Mother Nature & awed by her beauty, that I am overcome with these feelings of gratefulness.
Sometimes her beauty is so overwhelming I feel like I could cry.
When is the last time I felt this? Yesterday, as I walked amongst the Redwoods on the “1st not raining day”, (in a week), here in No. California.
Today I am overwhelmed with gratefulness for it shoots through me like fireworks. I feel grateful mainly because i’m here today through all of the trauma and heartbreak i’ve experienced I’m back on my feet, yesterday I competed for orchestra and I strived to get the highest score which I did.
When I’m feeling grateful, I feel it in my entire body. A weight lifts and I feel lighter. I don’t even realise how heavy I am until pure gratitude radiates through me. I smile without trying, I laugh without being prompted, I feel excitement for no reason. It’s quite euphoric. I don’t remember when I felt that level of gratitude.
Having gone through a challenging year in 2022, the stress I endured has manifested into physical distress. My body is not the same as it once was 5 years ago. Even though I wasn’t taking care of myself all those years, I remind myself that I am still here now and I have the choice to change that. Despite everything that has happened, I am still able to get up in the morning, with a decent bit of health. Not the best, but decent enough to do some light yoga, make myself a small breakfast, to take my daily supplements, etc. Though not in tip-top shape, I am grateful I am taking the small but necessary steps to change my health.
Change in the body is possible, keep going! I went out for dinner this week with a friend who has been struggling with her physical and mental health for years, she runs her own business alone, she also runs six rental units and a community group space, all of it alone. This year the crunch came, her adult son had ceased contact with her and refused to tell her why, she raised him alone when the father left when he was just weeks old. She was devastated by his silence and refusal to say why he’s cutting himself off from her, then through family she found out he was marrying and she was not invited to the wedding but her parents and siblings were. She hit absolute rock bottom, she was suicidal going out of her mind in torment over her son, her only child. Then after a few weeks she decided that she would start running on her (unused for years) treadmill as a way of trying to release all her pent up feelings in a physical way. She started slowly for very short sessions, but she did it every single day, little by little increasing her speed and duration. Now 8 months on she has shed some much needed weight, is healthy, happy and glowing. She has let go of her son, she said to continue to hold on and torture herself with the “why” would destroy her and she has chosen life, her life. She has a new boyfriend too, and her business is flourishing, changing her physical health and her mindset and it’s really paying off, I’ve known her for 7 years and I’ve never seen her happier, healthier and more content and she’s inspired me to take my own health back too. I won’t be running but I will be walking everyday out in the countryside around my home. Onwards and upwards Jenifer you can do this, and it’s not a race, it’s in your own time, little by little, and it will have surprising effects on all aspects of your life, I promise! x
I’ve realized over the years that thoughts and feelings are hard to separate. One often triggers the other.When someone asks me what I am feeling, I may respond with what I am thinking. I find today’s question confusing. I will say that when I can accept my physical and/or emotional pain, I experience a feeling of relief. When I am struggling in any way and I choose to acknowledge that “What is Is,” I find myself being grateful for my many blessings. Even when I can’t relax, I often find myself able to smile because I am aware that every thing and everyone is my teacher. For this awareness I am most grateful because it generates an image of my monkey mind taking residence in my heart. That imagery helps my mind and body walk hand-in-hand.
Often I thank my bodily systems for all the work they do for me without my control but only the care I give them. This makes me feel calm. Off to the heart doctor to make sure there are no surprises!
As others have mentioned, it’s a sense of calm, peace, joy… a quiet focus on the now. I, too, feel it as I type these words while listening to a beautiful song from a bird somewhere outside my window.
I don’t think that I experience physical feelings of gratefullness….but I do experience mindful experiences of gratefullness. Gratefullness is often a conversation with myself…expressing how grateful I am for so many things. Also when I see or hear something in nature ….the feeling of joy comes to me and that is my gratefullness.
As my husband and I continue our winter travel…I get somewhat tired of it. I do appreciate and I am grateful for the chance to travel and the experience…but so many of us have become selfish and just unfriendly and unkind. We stay mostly in State Campgrounds – as they are in a natural setting and not full of “amenities”…more relaxed and simple. The campground we are staying in at present is in La. – a beautiful place. But campers think this is their own place and they can do as they please…people let their dogs run free….when the rules are clearly to have them leashed. My dog is leashed…but then other dogs come upon our site and he is tied and cannot run about. Many folks are “full time” campers now…and a current camp site looks like the Beverly Hillbillies has moved in….This site belongs to the camp host…three large tents covered by a tarp…various lawn furniture all about….a motorized camper, a dog running about, plants and lawn art…the woman has made this site her home. So in all this “stuff” in the middle of the forest; I find anger arising in me …instead of gratefullness. I then remind myself to stop and look and go. I stop and realize that I do not want to be that woman…I don’t want my belongings strewn on a campsite…I have food, I have a safe place to be and I have a home that I can go to. I stop and pray for this woman…and whatever her situation is….and then I pray that I remember to be compassionate…and not the spoiled individual I seem to be. This State Park does not belong to me….and perhaps just for awhile it does belong to this woman. I traded the feeling of anger for the mindful feeling of gratefullness and compassion. I don’t think I entirely answered todays question…but it was what I needed to say. Blessings and Peace
I appreciate your honesty. Seeing that would make me angry too but I liked how you switched and thought to pray for her too – your compassion is admirable.
I guess we need to pray for these folks as you say this may be their permanent homes for whatever reason now. However it isn’t relaxing and understand it is not what you expected. Safe travels.
It feels like an all pervading sense of relaxation, joy and blessedness throughout my body, like I’m so full I might burst.
The last time I felt like that was a week ago. Gratitude just came over me with a cup of tea, a good book and beautiful music.
Moments like that are hard to describe. They make me feel doubly blessed because not only do I experience the gratitude of that moment with its specific gift but also gratefulness for having been given the gift at all.
I feel a wave of relaxation and joy throughtout my body. I am feeling it right now as I type this. Coming here every day keeps my grateful feelings topped up.
A calming wave of peace and serenity. My physical aches and pains ebb to the background for the moment. The chatter of a busy mind subsides. As my daily practices grow so do the times in a day when gratitude fills me.
When weather permits here in the Michigan winter, I put on all the warm outerwear, head to the beach a couple of miles down the road and walk. I notice a kind of relaxing, a lot of joy for being there and just being outside, deep breathing, and much gratitude for being in this place and this beach that I had wanted to live near for so very many years. I am hearing/seeing a few birds coming back to the bare trees and singing, and enjoying seeing a few dogs with their people. And yesterday, my first cardinal of the season just outside in my backyard. Joy!
Thanks Pilgrim. I am in Southwest Michigan, about an hour from Lake Michigan. We have cardinals all winter. Interesting that you don’t. Will ask my bird friend about it. Her sister lives near the lake.
That sounds like heaven, I’d love to be closer to the coast, I’m about an hour away from the closest bit and it’s not particularly wild, very kiss me quick British seaside with amusement arcades and chip shops etc.
I’m on my fourth day of waking and starting my day in good time, I have a very strong sense of momentum right now and the black fog that had enveloped me for so long has dissipated, my health is starting to improve and I have greater energy levels and for all of those things I am so very grateful. I’m trying to pinpoint where I am experiencing the feeling of gratefulness, it’s quite difficult to do. Sitting with it awhile, I think it is in the whole body awareness of feeling more comfortable and at ease and feeling relief and joy that I am seeing the clouds parting and a feeling of bathing in inner sunlight and warmth.
Give yourself the gift of free bi-monthly inspiration including uplifting articles, diverse stories, supportive practices, videos, and more, delivered with heart to your inbox.
Tonight!! I now get home when it is still light out (Yes North East!) and I took Stanley our family dog for a walk out back
and we saw an owl close up and he stuck around for a few minute and flew to a different branch. It was so cool. I have only seen a snowy owl once
at a nature preserve but quite a distance away besides in a zoo setting. Was definitely an awe moment for me!!
Chug more cough syrup?! Not sure how else to feel better right now awful cold yes I will take the dosage of morphine derivative as I see fit doctor!
Hope you feel better soon
Feeling grateful for me is a peaceful, calm to my core feeling. I feel content. I feel joy. It is often those “aha” moments, when I am with Mother Nature & awed by her beauty, that I am overcome with these feelings of gratefulness.
Sometimes her beauty is so overwhelming I feel like I could cry.
When is the last time I felt this? Yesterday, as I walked amongst the Redwoods on the “1st not raining day”, (in a week), here in No. California.
Jealous!
Today I am overwhelmed with gratefulness for it shoots through me like fireworks. I feel grateful mainly because i’m here today through all of the trauma and heartbreak i’ve experienced I’m back on my feet, yesterday I competed for orchestra and I strived to get the highest score which I did.
Congratulations, Rico! and don’t stop….Best wishes for continued success. Blessings
This is awesome. What instrument do you play? Congrats!
When I’m feeling grateful, I feel it in my entire body. A weight lifts and I feel lighter. I don’t even realise how heavy I am until pure gratitude radiates through me. I smile without trying, I laugh without being prompted, I feel excitement for no reason. It’s quite euphoric. I don’t remember when I felt that level of gratitude.
Having gone through a challenging year in 2022, the stress I endured has manifested into physical distress. My body is not the same as it once was 5 years ago. Even though I wasn’t taking care of myself all those years, I remind myself that I am still here now and I have the choice to change that. Despite everything that has happened, I am still able to get up in the morning, with a decent bit of health. Not the best, but decent enough to do some light yoga, make myself a small breakfast, to take my daily supplements, etc. Though not in tip-top shape, I am grateful I am taking the small but necessary steps to change my health.
Change in the body is possible, keep going! I went out for dinner this week with a friend who has been struggling with her physical and mental health for years, she runs her own business alone, she also runs six rental units and a community group space, all of it alone. This year the crunch came, her adult son had ceased contact with her and refused to tell her why, she raised him alone when the father left when he was just weeks old. She was devastated by his silence and refusal to say why he’s cutting himself off from her, then through family she found out he was marrying and she was not invited to the wedding but her parents and siblings were. She hit absolute rock bottom, she was suicidal going out of her mind in torment over her son, her only child. Then after a few weeks she decided that she would start running on her (unused for years) treadmill as a way of trying to release all her pent up feelings in a physical way. She started slowly for very short sessions, but she did it every single day, little by little increasing her speed and duration. Now 8 months on she has shed some much needed weight, is healthy, happy and glowing. She has let go of her son, she said to continue to hold on and torture herself with the “why” would destroy her and she has chosen life, her life. She has a new boyfriend too, and her business is flourishing, changing her physical health and her mindset and it’s really paying off, I’ve known her for 7 years and I’ve never seen her happier, healthier and more content and she’s inspired me to take my own health back too. I won’t be running but I will be walking everyday out in the countryside around my home. Onwards and upwards Jenifer you can do this, and it’s not a race, it’s in your own time, little by little, and it will have surprising effects on all aspects of your life, I promise! x
I’ve realized over the years that thoughts and feelings are hard to separate. One often triggers the other.When someone asks me what I am feeling, I may respond with what I am thinking. I find today’s question confusing. I will say that when I can accept my physical and/or emotional pain, I experience a feeling of relief. When I am struggling in any way and I choose to acknowledge that “What is Is,” I find myself being grateful for my many blessings. Even when I can’t relax, I often find myself able to smile because I am aware that every thing and everyone is my teacher. For this awareness I am most grateful because it generates an image of my monkey mind taking residence in my heart. That imagery helps my mind and body walk hand-in-hand.
Often I thank my bodily systems for all the work they do for me without my control but only the care I give them. This makes me feel calm. Off to the heart doctor to make sure there are no surprises!
As others have mentioned, it’s a sense of calm, peace, joy… a quiet focus on the now. I, too, feel it as I type these words while listening to a beautiful song from a bird somewhere outside my window.
I don’t think that I experience physical feelings of gratefullness….but I do experience mindful experiences of gratefullness. Gratefullness is often a conversation with myself…expressing how grateful I am for so many things. Also when I see or hear something in nature ….the feeling of joy comes to me and that is my gratefullness.
As my husband and I continue our winter travel…I get somewhat tired of it. I do appreciate and I am grateful for the chance to travel and the experience…but so many of us have become selfish and just unfriendly and unkind. We stay mostly in State Campgrounds – as they are in a natural setting and not full of “amenities”…more relaxed and simple. The campground we are staying in at present is in La. – a beautiful place. But campers think this is their own place and they can do as they please…people let their dogs run free….when the rules are clearly to have them leashed. My dog is leashed…but then other dogs come upon our site and he is tied and cannot run about. Many folks are “full time” campers now…and a current camp site looks like the Beverly Hillbillies has moved in….This site belongs to the camp host…three large tents covered by a tarp…various lawn furniture all about….a motorized camper, a dog running about, plants and lawn art…the woman has made this site her home. So in all this “stuff” in the middle of the forest; I find anger arising in me …instead of gratefullness. I then remind myself to stop and look and go. I stop and realize that I do not want to be that woman…I don’t want my belongings strewn on a campsite…I have food, I have a safe place to be and I have a home that I can go to. I stop and pray for this woman…and whatever her situation is….and then I pray that I remember to be compassionate…and not the spoiled individual I seem to be. This State Park does not belong to me….and perhaps just for awhile it does belong to this woman. I traded the feeling of anger for the mindful feeling of gratefullness and compassion. I don’t think I entirely answered todays question…but it was what I needed to say. Blessings and Peace
I appreciate your honesty. Seeing that would make me angry too but I liked how you switched and thought to pray for her too – your compassion is admirable.
I guess we need to pray for these folks as you say this may be their permanent homes for whatever reason now. However it isn’t relaxing and understand it is not what you expected. Safe travels.
No judgment but I do not like what your described in the middle of a forest either Nannette. You handled your emotions well.
Nannette, I think you answered the question and your answer is quite helpful to me. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing. I have camped only once many years ago and remember the beauty. Where is LA? Your feelings are very legitimate.
It feels like an all pervading sense of relaxation, joy and blessedness throughout my body, like I’m so full I might burst.
The last time I felt like that was a week ago. Gratitude just came over me with a cup of tea, a good book and beautiful music.
Moments like that are hard to describe. They make me feel doubly blessed because not only do I experience the gratitude of that moment with its specific gift but also gratefulness for having been given the gift at all.
Beautiful, Laura! Thank you.
I feel a wave of relaxation and joy throughtout my body. I am feeling it right now as I type this. Coming here every day keeps my grateful feelings topped up.
A calming wave of peace and serenity. My physical aches and pains ebb to the background for the moment. The chatter of a busy mind subsides. As my daily practices grow so do the times in a day when gratitude fills me.
Thanks, Joseph…your answer is very helpful to me today.
When weather permits here in the Michigan winter, I put on all the warm outerwear, head to the beach a couple of miles down the road and walk. I notice a kind of relaxing, a lot of joy for being there and just being outside, deep breathing, and much gratitude for being in this place and this beach that I had wanted to live near for so very many years. I am hearing/seeing a few birds coming back to the bare trees and singing, and enjoying seeing a few dogs with their people. And yesterday, my first cardinal of the season just outside in my backyard. Joy!
Thanks Pilgrim. I am in Southwest Michigan, about an hour from Lake Michigan. We have cardinals all winter. Interesting that you don’t. Will ask my bird friend about it. Her sister lives near the lake.
Thank you. There are tons of woods around here, so I may just not be seeing them.
That sounds like heaven, I’d love to be closer to the coast, I’m about an hour away from the closest bit and it’s not particularly wild, very kiss me quick British seaside with amusement arcades and chip shops etc.
I’m on my fourth day of waking and starting my day in good time, I have a very strong sense of momentum right now and the black fog that had enveloped me for so long has dissipated, my health is starting to improve and I have greater energy levels and for all of those things I am so very grateful. I’m trying to pinpoint where I am experiencing the feeling of gratefulness, it’s quite difficult to do. Sitting with it awhile, I think it is in the whole body awareness of feeling more comfortable and at ease and feeling relief and joy that I am seeing the clouds parting and a feeling of bathing in inner sunlight and warmth.
IAMME, Joy is such a wonderful feeling. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Peace and kindness to you IAMME.
Thank you, you too.