Gratefullness Helps me be somone Im not and realize I’m stuck in the past. It helps me grow and realize how much god has gave to me and I only have one life to do so much.
Perhaps just realizing there are no wrong turns just unexpected paths in this journey called life. Hopefully practicing gratefulness will help me focus on what is good and beautiful all around me, Our community of like minds will also help us feel supported when the unexpected path happens.
How does it work, you mean? Honestly, I have no idea. Early on recovery they tell you to make gratitude lists, but I gave up on that early on. Too much like assembly-line spirituality, which I think is a crock. But … the thing is you have to develop some muscle memory, which takes practice, so I know that thing – doing it over and over whether you feel it or not – has its place. I think you just can’t lean on it too heavily and you can’t let it be a substitute for the genuine article. I have a friend, whom I love dearly, who ALWAYS responds to: “How are you?” with, “I’m grateful and blessed.” I think he wants to mean it but I’m not sold. Pat, repetitive answers like that suggest something else to me. Like a ton of armor. But I could be wrong. So I try to assume it’s the best he can do and put my judgy self to sleep.
The “stop” part of Br. David’s advice makes the most sense to me. I can’t just shoot off a pat answer or make a nifty list for gratefulness to do its work. I have to really stop and ask myself to gaze at what’s in front of me. If I’m feeling anything but grateful, I make it a point to look up. Just look up. The sky is always there and it goes so much further than my teeny tiny perspective can reach. Or I reach out to the person in front of me and look in their eyes, tell my busy brain to sit in the corner quietly for a minute so I can really hear what the other person is really saying, and then zip it. Just keep listening. Almost every time there’s something there that makes my heart sing just a little bit.
I am finding it difficult to feel gratitude given what is happening in our country. But I do feel grateful for my friends and family and all those like-minded folks who walk this path with me.
Gratefulness inspires me because it changes my perspective. It helps me to understand that I can have joy in times of sorrow. It helps me accept “what is.” It reminds me of the importance of seeing Creation as ONE. I am One with Nature. When I am grateful, It’s a WE not a ME that inspires my response to life. I think being grateful helps me place my mind in my heart.
I share a prayer written by Cartoonist, artist, and author Michael Leunig who describes the heart and mind as “a fragile ecology.”
To this end he prays: Dear God, We give thanks for places of simplicity and peace. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of nature’s truth and freedom, of joy, inspiration and renewal, places where all creatures may find acceptance and belonging. Let us search for these places: in the world, in ourselves and in others. Let us restore them. Let us strengthen and protect them and let us create them. May we mend this outer world according to the truth of our inner life and may our souls be shaped and nourished by nature’s eternal wisdom. Amen.
(From ‘When I talk to you – a Cartoonist talks to God’)
Gratefulness helps to ground me in the present moment and to focus more on what I have, rather than what is lacking.
I’m inspired reading all of your responses on here. There is so much shared wisdom in this community and I love that I can learn from all of you each day. Thank you 🙏
Gratefulness inspires me to keep on looking for blessings all around me. The more grateful I am the more I notice & acknowledge the blessings everywhere, even in mundane situations.
When I am mindful of being grateful my “gifts” multiply. ✨🙏🏻✨
When I am grateful, I feel content in the moment,
I drop the comparisons.
Really I drop the fear, which is so often, my unpleasant companion.
When I’m not stuck in fear, I can see possibilities
I love that word- possibilities.
Fear has often kept me from seeing them.
Now that I am retired, there are so many possibilities
that I have either been too fearful to look at or too distracted
I will reflect on this today.
Thank you for this question.
Wishing much joy and peace to all!
The creation of this community built around gratefulness inspires me by giving me hope. The kind comments from several of you yesterday when I posted about my husband’s kidney stone emergency tell me we can come to care about each other simply through being in some shared space with a common value. Could we spread the intentional awareness that comes with a practice of gratefulness to more people, including ones we fundamentally disagree with on core issues? Could some of “the other” be open to this possibility? What might shift?
That is possible.
I have many family members, who boggle my mind,1st
by being for the one who has been elected president of the US.😢
The females among them would be open to this site, the men, not so much.
In many ways, this feels like such a safe place,
which I really don’t want to share with those
who tolerate or especially endorse a person
who is so openly full of hate and anger.
The people who endorse his brand of hatefulness, or are filled with braggadocio,
almost by definition would not be interested in this site.
(Although who knows, in quieter moments, when feeling their own pain,
they could possibly be very drawn to the joy of gratefulness.)
And those who dislike the anger, but have other reasons to support the former president
may be very open to gratefulness.
I will reflect on inviting friends and family to join this site.
Hmmm. If I do this, I will start with friends who have similar values to my own.
And then I will see how I feel about this.
Thank you to those still reading, while I unpack Barb’s idea.
Thanks, Barb, for thinking big!♥️
I share your care for keeping this one of the good places. Maybe it isn’t necessarily this exact space. Maybe in any space where people can come together around something they share we can plant seeds.
It helps to bring me into the present moment and energizes me when I try to practice gratefulness in my own life. When I read about others practicing gratefulness in difficult circumstances, I feel inspired by the resilience of the human spirit.
Gratefulness insprires me to notice the finer details of everything around me from the petal of a flower to the wonder and convenience of how a microwave oven works to warm up my soup!
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.
Gratefullness Helps me be somone Im not and realize I’m stuck in the past. It helps me grow and realize how much god has gave to me and I only have one life to do so much.
Perhaps just realizing there are no wrong turns just unexpected paths in this journey called life. Hopefully practicing gratefulness will help me focus on what is good and beautiful all around me, Our community of like minds will also help us feel supported when the unexpected path happens.
Gratefulness inspires me,
because it seems to grow . . .
the more grateful I am,
the more I have to be grateful for. ♥
How does it work, you mean? Honestly, I have no idea. Early on recovery they tell you to make gratitude lists, but I gave up on that early on. Too much like assembly-line spirituality, which I think is a crock. But … the thing is you have to develop some muscle memory, which takes practice, so I know that thing – doing it over and over whether you feel it or not – has its place. I think you just can’t lean on it too heavily and you can’t let it be a substitute for the genuine article. I have a friend, whom I love dearly, who ALWAYS responds to: “How are you?” with, “I’m grateful and blessed.” I think he wants to mean it but I’m not sold. Pat, repetitive answers like that suggest something else to me. Like a ton of armor. But I could be wrong. So I try to assume it’s the best he can do and put my judgy self to sleep.
The “stop” part of Br. David’s advice makes the most sense to me. I can’t just shoot off a pat answer or make a nifty list for gratefulness to do its work. I have to really stop and ask myself to gaze at what’s in front of me. If I’m feeling anything but grateful, I make it a point to look up. Just look up. The sky is always there and it goes so much further than my teeny tiny perspective can reach. Or I reach out to the person in front of me and look in their eyes, tell my busy brain to sit in the corner quietly for a minute so I can really hear what the other person is really saying, and then zip it. Just keep listening. Almost every time there’s something there that makes my heart sing just a little bit.
I am finding it difficult to feel gratitude given what is happening in our country. But I do feel grateful for my friends and family and all those like-minded folks who walk this path with me.
Gratefulness inspires me because it changes my perspective. It helps me to understand that I can have joy in times of sorrow. It helps me accept “what is.” It reminds me of the importance of seeing Creation as ONE. I am One with Nature. When I am grateful, It’s a WE not a ME that inspires my response to life. I think being grateful helps me place my mind in my heart.
I share a prayer written by Cartoonist, artist, and author Michael Leunig who describes the heart and mind as “a fragile ecology.”
To this end he prays: Dear God, We give thanks for places of simplicity and peace. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of refuge and beauty. Let us find such a place within ourselves. We give thanks for places of nature’s truth and freedom, of joy, inspiration and renewal, places where all creatures may find acceptance and belonging. Let us search for these places: in the world, in ourselves and in others. Let us restore them. Let us strengthen and protect them and let us create them. May we mend this outer world according to the truth of our inner life and may our souls be shaped and nourished by nature’s eternal wisdom. Amen.
(From ‘When I talk to you – a Cartoonist talks to God’)
Love 🧡
Gratefulness helps to ground me in the present moment and to focus more on what I have, rather than what is lacking.
I’m inspired reading all of your responses on here. There is so much shared wisdom in this community and I love that I can learn from all of you each day. Thank you 🙏
Gratefulness inspires me to keep on looking for blessings all around me. The more grateful I am the more I notice & acknowledge the blessings everywhere, even in mundane situations.
When I am mindful of being grateful my “gifts” multiply. ✨🙏🏻✨
My thought,
exactly,
dear PKR . . .♥
When I am grateful, I feel content in the moment,
I drop the comparisons.
Really I drop the fear, which is so often, my unpleasant companion.
When I’m not stuck in fear, I can see possibilities
I love that word- possibilities.
Fear has often kept me from seeing them.
Now that I am retired, there are so many possibilities
that I have either been too fearful to look at or too distracted
I will reflect on this today.
Thank you for this question.
Wishing much joy and peace to all!
Yes, fear robs us of many possibilities.
It really does, Carol, and I’m trying to tame mine.
Thank you. ♥️
The creation of this community built around gratefulness inspires me by giving me hope. The kind comments from several of you yesterday when I posted about my husband’s kidney stone emergency tell me we can come to care about each other simply through being in some shared space with a common value. Could we spread the intentional awareness that comes with a practice of gratefulness to more people, including ones we fundamentally disagree with on core issues? Could some of “the other” be open to this possibility? What might shift?
I hope your husband feels better!
Hope your hubby feels better soon!
Also I tend to agree with what Mary wrote.
That is possible.
I have many family members, who boggle my mind,1st
by being for the one who has been elected president of the US.😢
The females among them would be open to this site, the men, not so much.
In many ways, this feels like such a safe place,
which I really don’t want to share with those
who tolerate or especially endorse a person
who is so openly full of hate and anger.
The people who endorse his brand of hatefulness, or are filled with braggadocio,
almost by definition would not be interested in this site.
(Although who knows, in quieter moments, when feeling their own pain,
they could possibly be very drawn to the joy of gratefulness.)
And those who dislike the anger, but have other reasons to support the former president
may be very open to gratefulness.
I will reflect on inviting friends and family to join this site.
Hmmm. If I do this, I will start with friends who have similar values to my own.
And then I will see how I feel about this.
Thank you to those still reading, while I unpack Barb’s idea.
Thanks, Barb, for thinking big!♥️
I share your care for keeping this one of the good places. Maybe it isn’t necessarily this exact space. Maybe in any space where people can come together around something they share we can plant seeds.
yes for sure!
I know that I am inspired, by those of you that contribute here.
Charlie, Thank you for being here and sharing with all of us.
It inspires me to find more beauty in my world.
It helps to bring me into the present moment and energizes me when I try to practice gratefulness in my own life. When I read about others practicing gratefulness in difficult circumstances, I feel inspired by the resilience of the human spirit.
Gratefulness inspires me to stop and breathe. It inspires me to focus on the good in my life.
Gratefulness insprires me to notice the finer details of everything around me from the petal of a flower to the wonder and convenience of how a microwave oven works to warm up my soup!
Good to see you here, Butterfly.