I think it’s become more inclusive that a lot of gratitude is perceptual. Younger me thought that there were a definite list of things a person could be grateful for and older me is like a lot is how someone perceives the situation — people can be grateful for such a diversity of reasons that extend outside what young me thought the list of things to be grateful for could ever be. It’s become much more open and expansive.
I was raised to be thankful. For me it just truly helped me a great deal to focus when Life became very dark for me. Now I am so glad I stumbled across this website! Tonight while walking the dog I saw this lone white flower out back, it caught my eye and it may not have if I didn’t practice gratefulness like I do now. I sent a picture to my son and he said “wow a diamond in the rough” and it truly is!
Gratefulness arises every morning when opening the windows, looking outside onto the flowering garden, the joy of beautiful nature offered to everyone, silently and verbally giving thanks to the kind neighbor who lovingly cares for it all. Still, it is difficult to be grateful when all seems to be in darkness, extremely painful, all efforts to change it do not fruit and perspective, faith and hope flew out of the window. Grateful to have evolved to ask for help and to speak with kindred hearts then and allow change onto imprinted assumptions and perspectives. Grateful for these friends existing and being in my life. Grateful for you all here also. Grateful for having found way to connect and having been heloed very much to come out of repeated fixed imprints of disruption and frozen hurts and deepseated fears. Gratefulness transformed and still transforms the unberable into something bearable, resistance into resilience and besides many other aspects, opened to serve His Love again. Thank you dearly you all.
I used to be grateful to receive things,
given permission to do things . . .
now I am grateful to wake up in the morning,
grateful for the little,
everyday things,
for life,
for love,
for wellness,
for music and books,
for the gifts of this life that I did not earn,
and the glory and majesty of the world;
to be able to reach out and connect with others,
to put something good into the world,
to help where I can,
be of value to someone else . . . .
How my interpretation changed through the years wasn’t much but that i can open up to my family more than i can with my therapist which is good but not really but i still have trouble with it because its hard to open up because i don’t wanna cry infront of people and my gratitude i mean i am thankful for everything that i am given or people slowed in my life I always nice its just i let my emotions take over to much and i start to change and become rude or i ruin something in my life that i cant fix and i start to go in a dark hole of saddness for a long time
Niarah, your response resignates with me. As a 2nd generation Vietnamese American even with a mild case of autism and bipolar mania, I’ve had to learn to be tough. There are many incompatibilities to navigate. Being married to such a sweet affectionate woman in Ngoc certainly helps. That and effort to open up makes a difference, but struggles will always be there to a varying degree. Rudeness isn’t something to be proud of, but I’d much rather choose that over letting my vulnerabilities show up in the wrong setting and be steered in an undesirable direction even out of goodwill. Conflict of interests and barking up the wrong tree are a couple of the last things we need.
I am 73, and was raised to be grateful from as far back as I can remember. Not so much an interpretation of gratitude as a deepening of gratefulness throughout these many years. It is a privilege and a gift to continue on this earth, to have a wonderful family, friends, teachers, and pretty good health. For me now, perhaps the most difficult aspect is the solitude that has taken over after our family moved a year and a half ago. It is something I’m working on, or trying to adjust to. When it is difficult, weather permitting, I walk the local beach, breathe deeply, and the gift of life herself responds.
For me gratefulness has become more of a natural process to letting go. Because I have the method and means to let go. Before was lost literally believing most all of my thoughts and the meditation method has taught me HOW to clean up and throw away these thoughts. Thoughts are our life lived experiences and we hold onto them- this is also known as karma .
Letting go is cleaning up the human mind which is false and not the True Nature.
Now gratefulness comes more often than ever because I’m not caught up in my own self l- centred mind world .
I’m still not completely free of course, but each day I take steps to Truth I’m so grateful.
Gratitude and gratefulness has evolved over the years and it’s hard to define the differences. Cultivating a grateful heart has unfolded and happened by Grace, the gentle presence of Sophia (Holy Spirit) in my life and knowing in the filament of my bones that there is Providence providing me with care and protection-all is a gift, given by the Divine to me daily.
Recently my attitude regarding gratefulness really changed and enlightened me. As many of you know in June I had a very serious heart attack..At one point I had CPR for 90 seconds. Since being home..I realize more and more how grateful I am for the small things in my life. I am happy and grateful for a new day. I am grateful for when I sleep well…for the food I can make and for the housecleaning I can manage. Before..I could run around..and never- ever think of what a gift that was. I could run up and down my stairs without a thought- now I have to stop and take a breath half way…or sit after I get up the stairs. But I am grateful that I am here and I still can do it. I am grateful for each new day and all that it brings, sunshine, rain, wind…flowers, birds. My husband and I are going away tomorrow for 7 weeks…in our motorhome with our animals, Clancy, Finn and Nora. I am so grateful that I get to do this…I thought those days were over for sure. Lastly- but by no means least- I am so grateful for all of you and for this site. My eyes, ears, and heart are opened daily with all of your thoughts. Thank you and God Bless each and every one of you.
A memory that comes to mind was after my 2nd car accident back in 2022. I was staying at my parents for a few days after my incident then came back to my place. I was washing my dishes and playing “Here in the Kitchen” by Dan Reeder. I looked out my window by my living room and began to cry. I thought about how I wouldn’t be in my own home, doing the dishes, had the car accident had been much worse. Now, I feel like I have a better understanding of what it means to be grateful and truly alive. It means being truly present with what you are doing and with those around you, because we never really know what tomorrow will bring. For me, I recognize that when I am able to do this, I feel a softening in my body and in my heart. Often some tears are shed as well because I can’t help but appreciate my life. Though so many ups and downs with many scrapes and bruises, I am still standing. I am still smiling.
I love this question so much because it brings me back to the moment when I first found this website for daily gratitude practice. It has been less than a year since then, but reading posts from all of you, seeing how you are all grateful for the small things that come into your lives and how you spread joy in others’ happiness has helped me redefine gratitude. Previously, my gratitude was about enjoying my own blessings. Now, my gratitude is about rejoicing in others’ blessings. How beautiful that this question also connects to today’s gospel about the parable of the vineyard, where the landowner paid the one-hour workers the same wage as the early-morning workers. Life is not simply about fairness but also about generosity and gratitude. I am grateful for you, grateful for me, and grateful for everything, whether it is a gift or a lesson given to us.
I understand now gratefulness and gratitude are different concepts. In my life, not merely intellectually, I understand gratefulness (like mindfulness) to be a moment to moment choice. It is a promise I am making to myself, others, and the world, to be aware of the infinite gifts around me. Gratitude is wonderful, too. But, I relate it to being an emotion. Living a grateful life I feel more gratitude. But, I am endeavoring to transcend choice into mastery where, like breathing, it is just who I am.
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crazy how this has changed, always thought big things were important, but how small things like just waking up in the morning is of equal importance…
I think it’s become more inclusive that a lot of gratitude is perceptual. Younger me thought that there were a definite list of things a person could be grateful for and older me is like a lot is how someone perceives the situation — people can be grateful for such a diversity of reasons that extend outside what young me thought the list of things to be grateful for could ever be. It’s become much more open and expansive.
Today it is less concrete, related to something or someone. For me, gratitude today means a deep feeling of happiness at being alive.
I was raised to be thankful. For me it just truly helped me a great deal to focus when Life became very dark for me. Now I am so glad I stumbled across this website! Tonight while walking the dog I saw this lone white flower out back, it caught my eye and it may not have if I didn’t practice gratefulness like I do now. I sent a picture to my son and he said “wow a diamond in the rough” and it truly is!
Gratefulness arises every morning when opening the windows, looking outside onto the flowering garden, the joy of beautiful nature offered to everyone, silently and verbally giving thanks to the kind neighbor who lovingly cares for it all. Still, it is difficult to be grateful when all seems to be in darkness, extremely painful, all efforts to change it do not fruit and perspective, faith and hope flew out of the window. Grateful to have evolved to ask for help and to speak with kindred hearts then and allow change onto imprinted assumptions and perspectives. Grateful for these friends existing and being in my life. Grateful for you all here also. Grateful for having found way to connect and having been heloed very much to come out of repeated fixed imprints of disruption and frozen hurts and deepseated fears. Gratefulness transformed and still transforms the unberable into something bearable, resistance into resilience and besides many other aspects, opened to serve His Love again. Thank you dearly you all.
I used to be grateful to receive things,
given permission to do things . . .
now I am grateful to wake up in the morning,
grateful for the little,
everyday things,
for life,
for love,
for wellness,
for music and books,
for the gifts of this life that I did not earn,
and the glory and majesty of the world;
to be able to reach out and connect with others,
to put something good into the world,
to help where I can,
be of value to someone else . . . .
Yes! Being, recognizing, living, not getting and grasping.
How my interpretation changed through the years wasn’t much but that i can open up to my family more than i can with my therapist which is good but not really but i still have trouble with it because its hard to open up because i don’t wanna cry infront of people and my gratitude i mean i am thankful for everything that i am given or people slowed in my life I always nice its just i let my emotions take over to much and i start to change and become rude or i ruin something in my life that i cant fix and i start to go in a dark hole of saddness for a long time
Niarah, your response resignates with me. As a 2nd generation Vietnamese American even with a mild case of autism and bipolar mania, I’ve had to learn to be tough. There are many incompatibilities to navigate. Being married to such a sweet affectionate woman in Ngoc certainly helps. That and effort to open up makes a difference, but struggles will always be there to a varying degree. Rudeness isn’t something to be proud of, but I’d much rather choose that over letting my vulnerabilities show up in the wrong setting and be steered in an undesirable direction even out of goodwill. Conflict of interests and barking up the wrong tree are a couple of the last things we need.
I am 73, and was raised to be grateful from as far back as I can remember. Not so much an interpretation of gratitude as a deepening of gratefulness throughout these many years. It is a privilege and a gift to continue on this earth, to have a wonderful family, friends, teachers, and pretty good health. For me now, perhaps the most difficult aspect is the solitude that has taken over after our family moved a year and a half ago. It is something I’m working on, or trying to adjust to. When it is difficult, weather permitting, I walk the local beach, breathe deeply, and the gift of life herself responds.
For me gratefulness has become more of a natural process to letting go. Because I have the method and means to let go. Before was lost literally believing most all of my thoughts and the meditation method has taught me HOW to clean up and throw away these thoughts. Thoughts are our life lived experiences and we hold onto them- this is also known as karma .
Letting go is cleaning up the human mind which is false and not the True Nature.
Now gratefulness comes more often than ever because I’m not caught up in my own self l- centred mind world .
I’m still not completely free of course, but each day I take steps to Truth I’m so grateful.
Gratitude and gratefulness has evolved over the years and it’s hard to define the differences. Cultivating a grateful heart has unfolded and happened by Grace, the gentle presence of Sophia (Holy Spirit) in my life and knowing in the filament of my bones that there is Providence providing me with care and protection-all is a gift, given by the Divine to me daily.
Gratitude has become more dimensional.
More faceted. And it has opened the
door to new ways of thinking about things.
Recently my attitude regarding gratefulness really changed and enlightened me. As many of you know in June I had a very serious heart attack..At one point I had CPR for 90 seconds. Since being home..I realize more and more how grateful I am for the small things in my life. I am happy and grateful for a new day. I am grateful for when I sleep well…for the food I can make and for the housecleaning I can manage. Before..I could run around..and never- ever think of what a gift that was. I could run up and down my stairs without a thought- now I have to stop and take a breath half way…or sit after I get up the stairs. But I am grateful that I am here and I still can do it. I am grateful for each new day and all that it brings, sunshine, rain, wind…flowers, birds. My husband and I are going away tomorrow for 7 weeks…in our motorhome with our animals, Clancy, Finn and Nora. I am so grateful that I get to do this…I thought those days were over for sure. Lastly- but by no means least- I am so grateful for all of you and for this site. My eyes, ears, and heart are opened daily with all of your thoughts. Thank you and God Bless each and every one of you.
Your adventure sounds like a celebration of your progress, Nanette. Soak it up!
Thank you for the beautiful reminder to appreciate all the things you mentioned right now. Blessings on your journey.
Wishing you safe travels on your trip Nannette.
Have a wonderful & safe adventure Nannette, hope to hear all about it if you check in with us : )
May you have a wonderful and fun journey-truly a get away! Enjoy Nature’s abundant beauties each day.
A memory that comes to mind was after my 2nd car accident back in 2022. I was staying at my parents for a few days after my incident then came back to my place. I was washing my dishes and playing “Here in the Kitchen” by Dan Reeder. I looked out my window by my living room and began to cry. I thought about how I wouldn’t be in my own home, doing the dishes, had the car accident had been much worse. Now, I feel like I have a better understanding of what it means to be grateful and truly alive. It means being truly present with what you are doing and with those around you, because we never really know what tomorrow will bring. For me, I recognize that when I am able to do this, I feel a softening in my body and in my heart. Often some tears are shed as well because I can’t help but appreciate my life. Though so many ups and downs with many scrapes and bruises, I am still standing. I am still smiling.
I love this question so much because it brings me back to the moment when I first found this website for daily gratitude practice. It has been less than a year since then, but reading posts from all of you, seeing how you are all grateful for the small things that come into your lives and how you spread joy in others’ happiness has helped me redefine gratitude. Previously, my gratitude was about enjoying my own blessings. Now, my gratitude is about rejoicing in others’ blessings. How beautiful that this question also connects to today’s gospel about the parable of the vineyard, where the landowner paid the one-hour workers the same wage as the early-morning workers. Life is not simply about fairness but also about generosity and gratitude. I am grateful for you, grateful for me, and grateful for everything, whether it is a gift or a lesson given to us.
This is beautiful, Ngoc. I’m glad you’re here.
I understand now gratefulness and gratitude are different concepts. In my life, not merely intellectually, I understand gratefulness (like mindfulness) to be a moment to moment choice. It is a promise I am making to myself, others, and the world, to be aware of the infinite gifts around me. Gratitude is wonderful, too. But, I relate it to being an emotion. Living a grateful life I feel more gratitude. But, I am endeavoring to transcend choice into mastery where, like breathing, it is just who I am.