My interpretation of gratitude has changed through the years as I practice gratitude, take classes, and read or listen to books articles-and podcast I have moved from a list of positive outcomes and material gains of simple things I can see occasionally or an obligation to a broader meaningful gratitude that include all my senses positive and negative experiences including all beings on my daily practice of living and my way of being to stop, look, and go in all situation. “Gratitude practice isn’t about pacifying our painful or challenging times—it’s about recognizing them and finding self-compassion as we do the work.” Alex Elle
From the time I was young my mom taught me that I was very lucky and that not everyone was so fortunate. This created a commitment to public service and to community, and maybe some gratitude although I don’t know that I thought of it in those terms. I thought of gratitude more as a thank-you for something transactional, not as what I now understand it to be: an awareness of and appreciation for everything in the world, everything in my life that moves me forward into who I’m becoming every day.
For me gratitude now travels hand in hand with mindfulness. To be aware is to know that this moment won’t come again, this moment in which I just noticed for the first time that my husband hung the blooming basket we got last week so I can see it when I look out our kitchen window, to feel gratitude for the beauty of the flowers and the many ways he does little things to take care of me and our home.
A lot. In the sense that before consciously having developed deep seated gratefulness and realized through Br. David´s mentioning that to be grateful is an inner decision and inner positition towards life as well as towards the most of situations which I meet or have to meet, small an big ones, including both the beautiful gifts as well as the difficult experiences. Before I was familiar with gratitude when having received a gift, which was a dependent reaction related to the joy about it, while gratefulness is independent and unconditional and is established to quite some extent when walking through my days. Starting the day with gratefulness when opening my window blinds and no matter which weather shows itself outside as well as internally, gratefulness by now is never far away, I am able to choose for it, and it brings back hope, trust and joy. Deeply grateful for this crucial change to you all and other dear ones concerned who support this.
My understanding of gratitude has certainly expanded. Even most of the difficult experiences in my life, I can now see them with gratitude, which hasn’t always been the case.
I think I started out just reminding myself that I had a lot to be grateful for, that it was not necessary that I control everything. I moved to the understanding that I did not have to please everyone. I learned there is no need to be perfect to be loved and lovable. I learned that we are all prone to be tribal. I was so thankful when I learned that my feelings matter. What a blessing it was when I realized that Life is trustworthy and so am I. (It took several years!) I think being able to trust Life to show me a way is one of the biggest gifts gratefulness has given me.
Being thankful was, and maybe is, about something specific. Gratitude, for me, is about life in general – all of it. It is, as they say, an attitude, that leads and guides me, a lens through which I look at life.
Gratitude is more than just “thank you for holding the door for me” or the like. It is a big appreciation for all of life – the good, not-so-good, and everything in between.
Gratitude is “the practice of recognizing and appreciating the positive things in life.” My interpretation has not changed, adapting to being more positive is a daily choice. Despite having bad days, there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. 🙂
I agree, Michele. I may not be able to pull off the flu game mode but have a strong support system. I’d much rather prefer the ladder than the former. The former leads to going alone which leads to burnout. We’re not built to go alone. Seeing how the flu game magic from last year waring off has made me realize that the road without Ngoc isn’t easy as I thought. I had to fire my GM, the competitive ego, and accept that Paw Mu, from long ago, and my elders were right all along.
Acceptance of the collective madness of humankind. Acceptance of drought. Acceptance of my addiction to alcohol and a desire to put that addiction at bay. Acceptance of my age of diminishment. Acceptance with a grateful heart and essence for this gift of one more day to witness “it”. Gratefulness evolves as I do, with loving kindness for all life. Peace, Love & Light.
Yes,
dear Joseph . . .
my sense of gratefulness now
always includes acceptance
as its side car . . .
we travel rather nicely together now,
in my ‘age of diminishment’,
always
with loving kindness
and patience for what I cannot change. 🙂
Gratitude practice isn’t about pacifying our painful or challenging times—it’s about recognizing them and finding self-compassion as we do the work.
This quote today says a lot for me in this current situation and all of life. Finding self compassion is something completely new to me and I still struggle to do this so I appreciate today’s wisdom.
Thank you . 🙏 I have come a long way from a basic list of trying to be grateful to a deeper sense of wonder and gratitude. I’m still a work in progress and I’m very humbled.
Antoinette, I identify with Alex Elle’s quote, too. It kind of sums it all up, doesn’t it!
“Gratitude practice isn’t about pacifying our painful or challenging times—it’s about recognizing them and finding self-compassion as we do the work.”
If we aren’t willing to own those challenging times, they own us!
As Carla said my gratefulness started more as giving thanks. In the last few years I have learned giving thanks and being thankful is more an action and a feeling. Being grateful for me is more a state of consciousness that even though I lose awareness of it in the hustle of life, it never leaves me and is now part of who I am and how I exist in this world. Dont get me wrong I lose awareness of it way too often but throughout the day I try to stop and breath become aware and move on.
My interpretation of gratitude started off very simply as mumbled sentences at a Thanksgiving dinner…”thankful for sweet potatoes without marshmallows and green and black olives.” Today, with adulthood, maturation in faith and spirituality, Gratitude is the awe of being given a new day to live, seeing dew on spring grass and the scent of lilac trees mixed with near by lily of the valley in my front yard. Knowing in my heart and down to my bones, that All of this and so much more is Gift from the Divine, because I am Beloved! Restful weekend to all🌷🫶🏽☮️
Carla, After reading your post, I thought you might enjoy reading an meditation by James Finley.
The Sea of God’s Love
In the sixth season of Turning to the Mystics, James Finley explores the teachings of Julian of Norwich. This passage is from chapter ten of Julian’s Divine Revelations, translated by Mirabai Starr.
At some point, my mind was plunged into the depths of the sea. I saw green hills and valleys, which seemed to be covered in tiny pebbles, strewn with seaweed and moss. What I realized was that even if a man or a woman were brought down to the bottom of the ocean each could still see God. This is because there is nowhere where God is not. Not only is God everywhere, but he keeps us safe and protected from harm wherever we are. When we see God, we have more strength and comfort than we can possibly describe with the language of this world. We believe that we hardly see God at all, but what he desires is for us to believe that we see him continuously…. He wishes to be seen and to be sought. He wants us to yearn for him and to trust in him. [1]
Finley reflects:
We know that the wind blows across the surface of the water and the waves rise and fall. We live our daily lives on the surface of the water, the fluctuating patterns of our conditioned states of consciousness, and the constantly shifting patterns of our day-to-day conditions, whatever they might be. As we get into living an interior or contemplative life, we dive beneath the surface of the water. We come to calmer places in the interiority of ourselves where God is with us in the midst of life. Our life of service still goes on. What happens, happens, but we learn to be grounded in a depth of divine presence that sustains us and is one with us in all that’s happening.
Julian is saying that it is possible, if we could drop down to the very bottom of the sea (an image of paradise), we would see that we’re already infinitely safe. We’re already the beloved, and as the beloved, we’re already beyond being compromised or threatened by anything because of God’s infinite love for us. We are bonded unconditionally in this love. The mystical realization is the realization of that. [2]
I love how Julian
speaks of both the surface of the sea
and the depths,
dear Carol Ann . . .
it gives me a wonderful sense of imagery
of the peaceful place
just below the roiling surface.
I will carry this picture with me into my daily Life.
Thank you . . . ♥
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My interpretation of gratitude has changed through the years as I practice gratitude, take classes, and read or listen to books articles-and podcast I have moved from a list of positive outcomes and material gains of simple things I can see occasionally or an obligation to a broader meaningful gratitude that include all my senses positive and negative experiences including all beings on my daily practice of living and my way of being to stop, look, and go in all situation. “Gratitude practice isn’t about pacifying our painful or challenging times—it’s about recognizing them and finding self-compassion as we do the work.” Alex Elle
From the time I was young my mom taught me that I was very lucky and that not everyone was so fortunate. This created a commitment to public service and to community, and maybe some gratitude although I don’t know that I thought of it in those terms. I thought of gratitude more as a thank-you for something transactional, not as what I now understand it to be: an awareness of and appreciation for everything in the world, everything in my life that moves me forward into who I’m becoming every day.
For me gratitude now travels hand in hand with mindfulness. To be aware is to know that this moment won’t come again, this moment in which I just noticed for the first time that my husband hung the blooming basket we got last week so I can see it when I look out our kitchen window, to feel gratitude for the beauty of the flowers and the many ways he does little things to take care of me and our home.
A lot. In the sense that before consciously having developed deep seated gratefulness and realized through Br. David´s mentioning that to be grateful is an inner decision and inner positition towards life as well as towards the most of situations which I meet or have to meet, small an big ones, including both the beautiful gifts as well as the difficult experiences. Before I was familiar with gratitude when having received a gift, which was a dependent reaction related to the joy about it, while gratefulness is independent and unconditional and is established to quite some extent when walking through my days. Starting the day with gratefulness when opening my window blinds and no matter which weather shows itself outside as well as internally, gratefulness by now is never far away, I am able to choose for it, and it brings back hope, trust and joy. Deeply grateful for this crucial change to you all and other dear ones concerned who support this.
My understanding of gratitude has certainly expanded. Even most of the difficult experiences in my life, I can now see them with gratitude, which hasn’t always been the case.
I think I started out just reminding myself that I had a lot to be grateful for, that it was not necessary that I control everything. I moved to the understanding that I did not have to please everyone. I learned there is no need to be perfect to be loved and lovable. I learned that we are all prone to be tribal. I was so thankful when I learned that my feelings matter. What a blessing it was when I realized that Life is trustworthy and so am I. (It took several years!) I think being able to trust Life to show me a way is one of the biggest gifts gratefulness has given me.
Link to Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem of the day: https://ahundredfallingveils.com/
I almost posted Rosemerry’s poem as well,
dear Carol Ann,
so close it was to my heart.
I’m still working
on trusting the Universe completely,
so I take comfort
and am grateful
for the ‘little’ things. ♥
Being thankful was, and maybe is, about something specific. Gratitude, for me, is about life in general – all of it. It is, as they say, an attitude, that leads and guides me, a lens through which I look at life.
It is way beyond a “thank you”. It is ,for me, a deep appreciation of what I am saying thank you for.
Gratitude is more than just “thank you for holding the door for me” or the like. It is a big appreciation for all of life – the good, not-so-good, and everything in between.
My foundation of adapting to circumstances hasn’t changed.
Gratitude is “the practice of recognizing and appreciating the positive things in life.” My interpretation has not changed, adapting to being more positive is a daily choice. Despite having bad days, there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. 🙂
https://nationaltoday.com/today/
I agree, Michele. I may not be able to pull off the flu game mode but have a strong support system. I’d much rather prefer the ladder than the former. The former leads to going alone which leads to burnout. We’re not built to go alone. Seeing how the flu game magic from last year waring off has made me realize that the road without Ngoc isn’t easy as I thought. I had to fire my GM, the competitive ego, and accept that Paw Mu, from long ago, and my elders were right all along.
Acceptance of the collective madness of humankind. Acceptance of drought. Acceptance of my addiction to alcohol and a desire to put that addiction at bay. Acceptance of my age of diminishment. Acceptance with a grateful heart and essence for this gift of one more day to witness “it”. Gratefulness evolves as I do, with loving kindness for all life. Peace, Love & Light.
Yes,
dear Joseph . . .
my sense of gratefulness now
always includes acceptance
as its side car . . .
we travel rather nicely together now,
in my ‘age of diminishment’,
always
with loving kindness
and patience for what I cannot change. 🙂
Speaking of accepting the collective mindset, Joseph, I’m sure you’re familiar with a line from Phil Jackson saying “Pass the ball, MJ!”
Loving kindness to you too Joseph.
Gratitude practice isn’t about pacifying our painful or challenging times—it’s about recognizing them and finding self-compassion as we do the work.
This quote today says a lot for me in this current situation and all of life. Finding self compassion is something completely new to me and I still struggle to do this so I appreciate today’s wisdom.
Thank you . 🙏 I have come a long way from a basic list of trying to be grateful to a deeper sense of wonder and gratitude. I’m still a work in progress and I’m very humbled.
Me too,
dear Antoinette . . .
my response comes with a sigh of contentment,
knowing we are all in this soup together.
Thank you,
my fellow being. ♥
Antoinette, I identify with Alex Elle’s quote, too. It kind of sums it all up, doesn’t it!
“Gratitude practice isn’t about pacifying our painful or challenging times—it’s about recognizing them and finding self-compassion as we do the work.”
If we aren’t willing to own those challenging times, they own us!
As Carla said my gratefulness started more as giving thanks. In the last few years I have learned giving thanks and being thankful is more an action and a feeling. Being grateful for me is more a state of consciousness that even though I lose awareness of it in the hustle of life, it never leaves me and is now part of who I am and how I exist in this world. Dont get me wrong I lose awareness of it way too often but throughout the day I try to stop and breath become aware and move on.
My interpretation of gratitude started off very simply as mumbled sentences at a Thanksgiving dinner…”thankful for sweet potatoes without marshmallows and green and black olives.” Today, with adulthood, maturation in faith and spirituality, Gratitude is the awe of being given a new day to live, seeing dew on spring grass and the scent of lilac trees mixed with near by lily of the valley in my front yard. Knowing in my heart and down to my bones, that All of this and so much more is Gift from the Divine, because I am Beloved! Restful weekend to all🌷🫶🏽☮️
You’re right,
dear Carla . . .
gratitude
is so much more
than sweet potatoes w/o marshmallows
and green and black olives. 🙂
Carla, After reading your post, I thought you might enjoy reading an meditation by James Finley.
The Sea of God’s Love
In the sixth season of Turning to the Mystics, James Finley explores the teachings of Julian of Norwich. This passage is from chapter ten of Julian’s Divine Revelations, translated by Mirabai Starr.
At some point, my mind was plunged into the depths of the sea. I saw green hills and valleys, which seemed to be covered in tiny pebbles, strewn with seaweed and moss. What I realized was that even if a man or a woman were brought down to the bottom of the ocean each could still see God. This is because there is nowhere where God is not. Not only is God everywhere, but he keeps us safe and protected from harm wherever we are. When we see God, we have more strength and comfort than we can possibly describe with the language of this world. We believe that we hardly see God at all, but what he desires is for us to believe that we see him continuously…. He wishes to be seen and to be sought. He wants us to yearn for him and to trust in him. [1]
Finley reflects:
We know that the wind blows across the surface of the water and the waves rise and fall. We live our daily lives on the surface of the water, the fluctuating patterns of our conditioned states of consciousness, and the constantly shifting patterns of our day-to-day conditions, whatever they might be. As we get into living an interior or contemplative life, we dive beneath the surface of the water. We come to calmer places in the interiority of ourselves where God is with us in the midst of life. Our life of service still goes on. What happens, happens, but we learn to be grounded in a depth of divine presence that sustains us and is one with us in all that’s happening.
Julian is saying that it is possible, if we could drop down to the very bottom of the sea (an image of paradise), we would see that we’re already infinitely safe. We’re already the beloved, and as the beloved, we’re already beyond being compromised or threatened by anything because of God’s infinite love for us. We are bonded unconditionally in this love. The mystical realization is the realization of that. [2]
I love how Julian
speaks of both the surface of the sea
and the depths,
dear Carol Ann . . .
it gives me a wonderful sense of imagery
of the peaceful place
just below the roiling surface.
I will carry this picture with me into my daily Life.
Thank you . . . ♥
I agree completely – even about the sweet potatoes w/o marshmallows AND the green and black olives!
Thanks Carla . You too .
My interpretation of gratitude over the years has evolved into a simpler life with a greater joy in every moment and more freedom from the past.
“more freedom from the past” – thank you for this reminder EJP 🙂
Michele, I relate to that, too!
Yes. Past tripping is just as exhausting as future tripping for me. Best to stay in the time being!