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By coming to this site almost daily and practicing what I have learned along the way.
Will be more grateful for my life as I share what I have with others.
Richard, as the old saying goes “Sharing is caring.”
I think being grateful,
dear Richard,
kindles generosity within our hearts . . .
well said. ♥
Hmmm, good question.
My life is pretty steeped in gratefulness. I’m not saying there couldn’t be more. But I have made a commitment to being here in the mornings and I usually visit again in the evening to see what others have written. This is definitely a new thing for me and I really am grateful that I found this place.
And every now and then, I get to play the “give me three things you are grateful for” game with a friend that’s not doing well. And of course this is also a tool for me when I’m not doing well. It’s amazing how this simple thing can take me out of a stuck and negative place and open me up a bit to a fuller picture of reality. It goes to show, how much I can influence my situation by changing my perspective. It’s like climbing a little hill and having a better view of my surroundings
So, for now, like the word for the day, I’m going to celebrate how far I’ve come.
Being consciously grateful
works,
dear Charlie . . .
it works for me
and it is working for you. ♥
ps. I too,
am grateful to have found this place.
Living with gratitude has become more of my daily practice over the years. The what I’m grateful for changes, but the core mindset of knowing I have all I need is there. As I heal from root canal work I’m needing to be creative with little chewable food. Finely diced baby portabella mushrooms were a delight in scrambled ages. Grateful for the growers, field pickers,, and assemblers along the way. May others have a restful weekend! 🦋🌻☺️
sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes 🙂
Keep taking good care of yourself, Carla.
How could living gratefully become more of a daily practice in my life?
This is a good question. The busier I get, the more likely it is that I will forget about gratefulness.
I could schedule things so that I have some quiet time in between activities.
I can put post-it notes around to remind me to be present and grateful.
My intention for the day is to be present and grateful, (and to put up some reminders. 😊)
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/visio-divina-a-practice-of-sacred-seeing/
Today’s reading from Richard Rohr (above)is called “sacred seeing.” In many ways it is a reminder to me of the importance to ” see with new eyes”–to see everything through the lens of gratefulness. Or as Eckhart Tolle says, “Don’t turn a situation into a problem.” Non-resistance…acceptance…this too shall pass…what can I learn from this?…trudge until you can dance.
I share part of an essay I wrote years ago. And as much as I hesitate to reinforce a chauvinistic stereotype, I think the following story is a wonderful metaphor—a a good illustration of what a difference seeing through grateful eyes can make.
“It”s a story about a Texas businessman who loves to dance to country music. If you visit the Dallas/Fort Worth area, you will frequently find him two-stepping his way across the sawdust covered dance floors in and around Fort Worth.
He says that one night, when he eyed an attractive lady at one of these dance halls, he approached her and asked her to dance. They had taken no more than two or three steps when it was obvious to him that she was attempting to lead. He gently tried to corral her several times but it turned into a wrestling match. It was a stilted and awkward promenade.
He lowered his head to her ear and asked, “Who is running this show?”
Her off-the-cuff reply was, “I am.”
Then, He looked her in the eye and stated matter-of-factly, “No ma’am, I am.”
He says they had a standoff of eye contact that seemed to last for minutes but could not have been longer than two or three seconds. Then her body softened; she smiled, and uttered, “Okay.”
He swung her, he twirled her and their four feet made their way across the floor as if they had been dancing partners for years. They were—in sinc—tied by an invisible bond.”
In that instant the wrestling match turned into a dance that would have won any dance competition. So where am I going with this? It is my thought that the businessman’s question: “Who is running the show?” was not about control. It was about relationship.
It was not about power or rank; it was about cooperation. When he and his partner defined and agreed upon their roles, the dance floor ceased to be a battleground. It was a win-win situation. The dancers and the dance became one.
Psychology does a great job of teaching us about the fight or flight reflex. I think gratitude teaches us to “flow,” to pour our whole self in…to be a willing seed so we can be liberated by life…so we can become the dance.
How many times in life do we put our right foot in and take it out and run like hell? How many times do we flee?
When the woman chose to let go, to just be present, to desist, she experienced a dance she will never forget. When we let go, we lose control to our spirit; we bloom and we blossom.
Noted spiritual teacher and author Eckhart Tolle in his book, “A New Earth” says that “Being one with life is being one with now. You then realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer and you are the dance.”
Gratitude is always inviting us to see with new eyes. It’s always freeing us to be danced NOW. So many times the battle is in my head and I have to calm my bully(sorry guys but my bully is very patriarchal!) and take his hand and tell him “Life wants to dance us.” Let’s go play!
I don’t see it so much as a woman surrendering to a man,
dear Carol,
as I do
a person surrendering to Life. ♥
I agree, Sparrow. The couple is a symbolic expression of the need to let go and trust that I will be shown the way.
🙂
“Don’t turn a situation into a problem.” Eckhart Tolle
“Nonresistance… acceptance…this too shall pass…what can I learn from this?…trudge until you can dance.
Love this, Carol. Still chuckling at the “trudge until you can dance.”
That one is new to me and is a real keeper!😄💃
“Being one with life is being one with now. You then realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer and you are the dance.”
Well said,
dear Carol . . . ♥
Gratefulness became a daily practice when I started coming to this site most mornings. Sometimes something throws me off my routine, and I miss these quiet moments with all of you and with the thoughts the question might spark. Sometimes I come back at the end of the day to read comments posted after mine and to respond or click on the heart.
Starting my day with gratefulness increases my attention and awareness of moments in which to be grateful over the course of the day. I don’t have to name it gratefulness to be filled with that feeling, many times by the smallest things.
I agree that coming to this site each day is such an important way to begin my day with gratefulness.
This daily question helps me make grateful living more of a daily practice. Now that I have started hosting a local Grateful Gathering, I also focus on practicing with whatever the theme is of the month for the Grateful Gatherings. I think it will help me to have the local community in my Gathering to keep me motivated. I was also enrolled in the Stop Look Go Pathway from May but didn’t have time to look at it until now– I hope to slowly go through it and try the different practices since that is a foundational Grateful Living practice. I find it is a tricky balance for me– if I look at too many different Grateful Living practices at once I just become overwhelmed and shut down. But if I can take in new practices or questions at a slow enough pace, it keeps my Grateful Living practice fresh and keeps me motivated.
Br. David’s book “99 Blessings” comes to mind, in which he writes a blessing to one thing per page. Some of those things are daily human-made objects, like glass; others are more sweeping, like the stars. For me, more frequently practicing of praise or blessing would help expand grateful living.
I praise this Earl Gray tea in my cup, with its rich flavor, from a distant tea harvest, carefully plucked, stored, dried, packaged, and shipped by people I will likely never meet. I bless this cute puppy, with his boundless curiosity and enthusiasm, who finally f0und a home with us after a rough beginning, and who makes me laugh every day. Just writing these things brings warmth and gratefulness.
The word of the day says it all for me…. Find gratitude in my life story ……. I made it here from where I started.
I especially appreciated today’s word of the day too, Yram.
It congratulates me for my life. It reminds me that, despite setbacks, I have done well.
It does change your perspective,
doesn’t it,
dear Yram? ♥
Let go of agendas. Personal agendas has prevented me from receiving care from my root people on my end before in the past. Reducing that lowers irritability towards nurture protective care. Everything runs in cycles. God will help me align dots to meet my basic desire for autonomy.
Being fully aware of the people who I am “othering”, I try to set aside all the negative thoughts and feelings just long enough to find something about them, or something they’ve brought about, for which I can be grateful.
If I can find gratitude there, I can find it everywhere.
Ya know, age has it’s privileges, and this 78 year old wants so much to be a curmudgeon.
But… I am learning again and again the gratefulness that I am alive, not living on the street, and can walk on my own.
I live with a women who loves me, and I her.
And in my slowing (walking, jogging, thinking, remembering) I am grateful I can at least be slow and not inert.
Yes,
dear John . . .
age does have its privileges,
which are a good counter balance to its detriments,
and well worth the inconvenience.. 🙂
Beautifully said…I relate…thanks John
Slow and not inert–that’s a good phrase to remember, thank you John.
I have heard the phrase, don’t congeal.
I love this!
Another good one!
I believe committing to gratitude is a moment by moment practice. Hence the word, “practice,” because it is lost and found many times in one day. While I have a naturally joyful set point, I feel the seductive pull of negative emotions, too. Gratefulness is when I notice the sway from receptiveness to closeness. Gratefulness isn’t necessarily an amplified mood, I am often the most grateful when I am content. As I have noted many times before, one sure fire way to be more anchored in gratefulness during the day is to start my day here with you.
Yes, Avril. “We sittin’ here talkin’ ’bout practice” Allen Iverson. But anyways, on a serious note. Grattitude takes effort. It requires a great deal of nurturing.
“It is lost and found, many times in one day”.
Thank you for this, Avril. 🙏
I have let my meditation practice wither, but I carry with me every day, the basic theme of coming back again and again without judgment. This basic tenet of meditation has changed how I go about my life.
I like what you wrote. Gratitude often feels really far away from me. I want to believe it’s something I can practice, but a lot of the time, it just feels like another thing I’m failing at.
You say it’s something you lose and find again throughout the day
I often don’t start my day in gratitude. I usually start it feeling anxious or overwhelmed- gratitude feels distant -even irritating.
But reading your words has reminded me that the practice of gratefulness isn’t about forcing yourself to feel good.
It’s just trying to feel a little okay, even when everything else doesn’t — letting a small moment of peace exist inside the turmoil of anxiety and loneliness. So thank you for reminding me that I’m here, I’m breathing. My dog is nearby.
I’m not alone in this moment — even if it feels that way. And that’s enough for now.
Well said, Antonia.
Carol said something that might speak to you,
dear Antonia . . .
“…trudge until you can dance.”
I have had many days as described by you.
On those days
I would write 5 things in my gratitude journal
(a spiral notebook),
even when I couldn’t find five things,
I’d sit there until I did.
You have already found three things . . .
1. You are here
2. You are breathing
3. Your dog is nearby
More will arise during the day . . .
it’s the small things that count the most.
Bless you ,
dear Antonia . . .
you are me and I am you . . .
we are all connected. ♥
“you are me and I am you . . .
we are all connected”- Thank you- that means so much
Amen!
Ditto!
It is a practice that I’m grateful to have started, and I have a big heart that is always open to what life has to offer. I’m grateful when I wake up, and then when I journal after my meditation, I write a few – or a lot – of things that I’m grateful for at the end of my entry. I appreciate the beauty of where we live, being able to see the man-made mountains isn’t so bad, and they’re so pretty at night when they’re all lit up. I appreciate not having to drive more than a few minutes to get anything or anywhere I need. Being in a pretty affluent area, I apply my knowledge of the Sutras, and am happy for those passing me on the roads in their luxury vehicles rather than being jealous like the 22-year-old me probably would have! I’m grateful for my SUV, and we fit in just fine. As Michael Franti says in one of his songs, “All the freaky people make the beauty of the world.”
Also important, I thank my body each day for all that it does for me, on and off of my mat. I’m grateful for my good health, as I know others who are dealing with things I pray that I never have to. Don’t forget to thank your bodies today!
Life is good, and I believe my practice is as well. I drift towards the negative sometimes, but I’m only human. Happy Friday, friends 🙂
had to youtube that musician and song … jamming to it now 🙂
He has a lot of great songs! Good Day for a Good Day has become a recent favorite of mine along with “Say Hey” and lots of others!
I sure do like it when Michael Franti comes on the radio,
He is such a great musician. I’ve seen him a handful of times over the years, and it’s such a fun, energetic time!
What are the man-made mountains,
dear Sunnypatti?
The skyscrapers in the city 🙂
Yes, Patti. Thank the body…
Every day!
Thanking the body goes far! I recently found that thanking and praising my body during a long exercise session really helps me get through slumps. If I change my focus from feeling tired and “why am I doing this” to expressing gratitude to the major muscles in each leg, the lungs and heart, etc., the suffering becomes purposeful. And my body grows stronger without a sense of personal pain or overcoming.
I’ve had those “why am I doing this” thoughts when doing cardio or weight workouts and always try to change them to “I can do this” or “look how much stronger I am” – it for sure helps!!