I start my day by Thanking the Lord for this new day.
Write in my 5 minute journal, what I am grateful for.
Stop, look & go as my day moves forward…I have an awful lot to be thankful for. I am richly blessed.🙏🏻❤️
For me it’s a little things like having water when so many millions of people in the world don’t even have clean water I turn on the faucet and out comes the water having a house to live in having heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer Fresh produce from the garden in the summer. Seems Like trivial things Things we all take for granted by a few about it how many millions of people don’t have a home to live in don’t have clean water Can’t pay their bills Don’t have a garden don’t have a job So when you think about it like that You are so So great full for what you have And you stop thinking about the things you don’t have And feel blessed for the thing you do have
I am very new to this site so i am still learning. I do try to put a positive spin on something that is negative. I love nature so I am always grateful for nature and spending time outside. I love the changes of seasons and living back in New England after living in the midwest for 4 years. I absolutely love the ocean and need it in my life : ). By nature I am kind and try to help people. In the past year I have learned how important it is to take care of yourself as well. Friends and family I am eternally grateful for as I get older. Lately I am struggling to deal with a family member who is struggling with addiction so I am on this site to help bring more peace to me. Practicing gratitude I hope will help do this.
I have spontaneous outbursts of gratitude. In the morning it might pop into my mind that I have warm water to shower (heck, I have water!), somebody made sure I can drink tea, eat cereal….it goes on and on. I have a job I love. I can go for a walk and see all the beauty of nature. While I often just take all this for granted, I also get this upwelling of deep gratitude in the moment. And that’s how I practice gratitude (and, of course, thanking those who do the big and little things for me).
When I was a kid, whenever we were given a gift we were told always to write a thank- you card or letter.
I think when we acknowledge to God or to ourselves what we have been given, we become aware of the need to give back, and to look out for ways to help.
I try to, anyway!
Like many others, this website is one of the ways I connect to the energy of gratefulness. I’ve been fairly consistent in answering the question for the day which helps me contemplate that follow. Additionally, I’m a committed journaler. I cut and paste the question and my answer from here into my journal. I have several other mindfulness reflections in there as well. Everyday I try to list at least three moments that inspire awe or gratefulness. For me they’re really one and the same thing. Or I attach a picture to my journal. That’s the beauty of using an online platform, I can just snap a photograph of something that I think is amazing that day. These aren’t to share on social media. Today is the beautiful latte that the barista offered me with a leaf folded into the foam. Gratefulness is the antithesis for apathy.
By visiting this site and taking time to ponder. By adding gratitude to my meditation practice. By catching myself when I’m in the past or future and coming back to the present and reminding myself of what I’m grateful for.
I write a Morning Med (Meditation/Medication) each day and always do my best to maintain an attitude of gratitude. I also take a walk each morning and give thanks that I can still do so. I posted a inspiring meditation on becoming an elder from the Center for Action and Contemplation in the gratitude lounge this morning. Hope you all have time to read it. It is powerful!
As for now I am very dependent on others good will, kindness and generosity for my care, I find my self expressing appreciation by saying thank you, sometimes 3-4 times in an hour. How good I feel after a shower, having food, swept floor, groceries, etc is directly due to someone’s kindness and care and value system. This left me wondering if I am finding it’s more about my state of mind and body, if relaxed gratitude may flood in more readily. Not so much a practice.: being mindful of it existing in every moment. Of late it’s been an experience of the benefit of having eyes, ears, mouth, nose, biochemistry and physiology and connectedness and satisfaction and safety needs being met that allows for this sense of gratitude. So it’s conditional. Unconditional gratitude– maybe an aspect of the sense of oneness.
I was going to comment that last night, I took a moment with my daughter to give thanks for summer and remember all that we had done this season. This morning, we went outside, and she noticed the cool air, so we talked more about the change of the season. I sang a little too, which is something that I really like to do with her.
Claudia, As I walked this morning, I gave thanks for Autumn’s arrival. We have a welcome cold front arriving late today which hopefully will bring much needed rain and cooler temps. I’m ready!
By noticing, and by thanking if it’s something that another person somehow provided or made possible or did. Every day I make a particular point of looking at the sky and noticing. What’s it like today? Will it be sunny or cloudy or rainy? How beautiful it always is no matter what it’s doing up there.
I have two glass jars in our house: in the basement, one on the main floor. I have pens and paper underneath them. The sign on both says
“What good or great thing happened today?” or something like that .
I start it always on January 1st, and do my best to write down at the end of the day something good or great that has happened in the last 24 hours. I have been known to not wait until the nighttime, and just write it down right after the “good or great” has happened! Sometimes they are small things, sometimes quite big.
I always date them at the top of the page.
So here is the thing….by August, sometimes even July, I start to falter. I hate heat and my attitude reflects that…..There are usually not many entries in July and August until I do one very important thing: I take a few random papers out and read them.
This simple practice reenergizes me to see the good again. Because of some physical challenges this year, it has been harder, but simply looking back at my year really does the trick to change my attitude. And I begin seeing the good or great once more.
The last week of the year I open them all up and read every one of them, and I go into the New Year with much gratefulness and a happy heart filled with gratitude.
Mary Pat, If your schedule permits, go to the Gratitude Lounge and read my post. It’s the daily meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation. I think you would enjoy it and identify with it. Thanks for your post today. For that matter, your posts everyday!
Thank you, Carol – I opened the center’s link a couple days ago, emailed your quote to a friend who needs it and finally have time and energy to actually visit the website 🙂
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I sometimes give thanks as my head hits the pillow. I take a daily video.
I start my day by Thanking the Lord for this new day.
Write in my 5 minute journal, what I am grateful for.
Stop, look & go as my day moves forward…I have an awful lot to be thankful for. I am richly blessed.🙏🏻❤️
For me it’s a little things like having water when so many millions of people in the world don’t even have clean water I turn on the faucet and out comes the water having a house to live in having heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer Fresh produce from the garden in the summer. Seems Like trivial things Things we all take for granted by a few about it how many millions of people don’t have a home to live in don’t have clean water Can’t pay their bills Don’t have a garden don’t have a job So when you think about it like that You are so So great full for what you have And you stop thinking about the things you don’t have And feel blessed for the thing you do have
I am very new to this site so i am still learning. I do try to put a positive spin on something that is negative. I love nature so I am always grateful for nature and spending time outside. I love the changes of seasons and living back in New England after living in the midwest for 4 years. I absolutely love the ocean and need it in my life : ). By nature I am kind and try to help people. In the past year I have learned how important it is to take care of yourself as well. Friends and family I am eternally grateful for as I get older. Lately I am struggling to deal with a family member who is struggling with addiction so I am on this site to help bring more peace to me. Practicing gratitude I hope will help do this.
I have spontaneous outbursts of gratitude. In the morning it might pop into my mind that I have warm water to shower (heck, I have water!), somebody made sure I can drink tea, eat cereal….it goes on and on. I have a job I love. I can go for a walk and see all the beauty of nature. While I often just take all this for granted, I also get this upwelling of deep gratitude in the moment. And that’s how I practice gratitude (and, of course, thanking those who do the big and little things for me).
Prayer at the start of the day, pausing to notice throughout the day, and sharing whenever possible.
When I was a kid, whenever we were given a gift we were told always to write a thank- you card or letter.
I think when we acknowledge to God or to ourselves what we have been given, we become aware of the need to give back, and to look out for ways to help.
I try to, anyway!
Yes! Whatever happened to thank you cards and letters??
Like many others, this website is one of the ways I connect to the energy of gratefulness. I’ve been fairly consistent in answering the question for the day which helps me contemplate that follow. Additionally, I’m a committed journaler. I cut and paste the question and my answer from here into my journal. I have several other mindfulness reflections in there as well. Everyday I try to list at least three moments that inspire awe or gratefulness. For me they’re really one and the same thing. Or I attach a picture to my journal. That’s the beauty of using an online platform, I can just snap a photograph of something that I think is amazing that day. These aren’t to share on social media. Today is the beautiful latte that the barista offered me with a leaf folded into the foam. Gratefulness is the antithesis for apathy.
By visiting this site and taking time to ponder. By adding gratitude to my meditation practice. By catching myself when I’m in the past or future and coming back to the present and reminding myself of what I’m grateful for.
So true and makes me think of the song, “You’ve Got a Friend”
I write a Morning Med (Meditation/Medication) each day and always do my best to maintain an attitude of gratitude. I also take a walk each morning and give thanks that I can still do so. I posted a inspiring meditation on becoming an elder from the Center for Action and Contemplation in the gratitude lounge this morning. Hope you all have time to read it. It is powerful!
Yes it is! I highly recommend the book CAC excerpted – “The Grace in Aging” by Kathleen Dowling Singh.
I just read it and loved it! Thank you for the inspiration!
As for now I am very dependent on others good will, kindness and generosity for my care, I find my self expressing appreciation by saying thank you, sometimes 3-4 times in an hour. How good I feel after a shower, having food, swept floor, groceries, etc is directly due to someone’s kindness and care and value system. This left me wondering if I am finding it’s more about my state of mind and body, if relaxed gratitude may flood in more readily. Not so much a practice.: being mindful of it existing in every moment. Of late it’s been an experience of the benefit of having eyes, ears, mouth, nose, biochemistry and physiology and connectedness and satisfaction and safety needs being met that allows for this sense of gratitude. So it’s conditional. Unconditional gratitude– maybe an aspect of the sense of oneness.
Today is autumn “first” day…how wonderful it is to notice everchanging events!!
I was going to comment that last night, I took a moment with my daughter to give thanks for summer and remember all that we had done this season. This morning, we went outside, and she noticed the cool air, so we talked more about the change of the season. I sang a little too, which is something that I really like to do with her.
Claudia, As I walked this morning, I gave thanks for Autumn’s arrival. We have a welcome cold front arriving late today which hopefully will bring much needed rain and cooler temps. I’m ready!
By noticing, and by thanking if it’s something that another person somehow provided or made possible or did. Every day I make a particular point of looking at the sky and noticing. What’s it like today? Will it be sunny or cloudy or rainy? How beautiful it always is no matter what it’s doing up there.
Me too
I have two glass jars in our house: in the basement, one on the main floor. I have pens and paper underneath them. The sign on both says
“What good or great thing happened today?” or something like that .
I start it always on January 1st, and do my best to write down at the end of the day something good or great that has happened in the last 24 hours. I have been known to not wait until the nighttime, and just write it down right after the “good or great” has happened! Sometimes they are small things, sometimes quite big.
I always date them at the top of the page.
So here is the thing….by August, sometimes even July, I start to falter. I hate heat and my attitude reflects that…..There are usually not many entries in July and August until I do one very important thing: I take a few random papers out and read them.
This simple practice reenergizes me to see the good again. Because of some physical challenges this year, it has been harder, but simply looking back at my year really does the trick to change my attitude. And I begin seeing the good or great once more.
The last week of the year I open them all up and read every one of them, and I go into the New Year with much gratefulness and a happy heart filled with gratitude.
Mary Pat, If your schedule permits, go to the Gratitude Lounge and read my post. It’s the daily meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation. I think you would enjoy it and identify with it. Thanks for your post today. For that matter, your posts everyday!
Thank you, Carol – I opened the center’s link a couple days ago, emailed your quote to a friend who needs it and finally have time and energy to actually visit the website 🙂
Oh, I love this!
Very nice, Mary Pat! 🙂