Reflections

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  1. Robin Ann
    Robin Ann
    8 months ago

    I love the word of the day today: It is a huge danger to pretend that awful things do not happen. But you need enough hope to keep going. I am trying to make hope. Flowers grow out of darkness. CORITA KENT

    For me practicing gratefulness helps me stay focused and balanced. My life became extremely unraveled in the past year and a half due to my daughter’s severe addiction which was extremely concerning.

    Thank you all for letting me share my story and be vulnerable in this space. This site & my faith have been a great source for helping me try to remain calm during a difficult time.

    Thankfully for now she is in a good space and I continue to have HOPE : )

    1. Joseph
      Joseph McCann
      8 months ago

      Love, compassion, kindness to you and your daughter Robin Ann.

  2. M
    Mirtha Noyola
    8 months ago

    Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. Karl Barth

  3. Dolores Kazanjian
    Dolores Kazanjian
    8 months ago

    I am like a a completely different person. I went from being a driven overachiever, task oriented, who sometimes was oblivious to other people’s feelings to someone who is mellow, much kinder and more peaceful. I am grateful for every breath, every thing, every person and four-legged in my life.

    1. Avril
      Avril
      8 months ago

      Amen

  4. Linda72766
    Linda
    8 months ago

    My husband recently had some medical difficulties. He is slowly recovering. It scares me to think of the time he will not be here.

    He is courageous and strong, which I deeply admire.

    I am deeply grateful for his presence in my life for over 35 years. He is older so will probably pass on before me. I just hope I can handle the situations that are coming.

    1. Yram
      Yram
      8 months ago

      I can so relate to your concern. My husband, too, is facing a disorder that is not reversible but the progress can be slowed. With the help of this site, I can more easily enjoy each day. Brother David’s advice to live each day as a last and a first also blosters me up.

    2. Avril
      Avril
      8 months ago

      This is a good place to be for support

  5. Charlie T
    Charlie T
    8 months ago

    Practicing gratitude has helped me
    see the world with more balance.
    Going down my list in the morning,
    helps center me for the day.
    I am definitely a work in progress, but
    I can feel the change.

  6. Maeve
    Maeve
    8 months ago

    It has slowly become a habit. So even if when I am lost in darkness for a while, I remember and name the little things: a sunny day, a crocus blooming, a friend who brought me chicken soup, a bird who visited my feeder.

  7. Nannette
    Nannette
    8 months ago

    Living gratefully is something I must be aware of each day. I see such chaos in the world, how we treat each other, how we treat animals, the terrible back biting in American Politics… but then I see the beautiful morning sky and the sun set in the evening….and a greeting during the day of a stranger with a smile…then I realize this world is bigger than I am. I am thankful to be here with such a gracious group of people. I learn from each one of you each day. Thank you is always a part of my day…and today I am thankful for a new day. I am here and I am Blessed to have this day.

    1. Joseph
      Joseph McCann
      8 months ago

      Nice to read your reflection Nannette. Thank you.

    2. Carol Ann Conner
      Carol
      8 months ago

      Hi Nannette, Hope your motor home travels are going well.

  8. Yram
    Yram
    8 months ago

    My life just seems so much fuller.

  9. Carol Ann Conner
    Carol
    8 months ago

    Living gratefully has nurtured a willingness in me to accept “what is” and to remember that everything hinges on relationship. How I meet and greet the world matters not just for me but for all of creation. Living gratefully has taught me the true meaning of responsibility (the ability to respond not react). It was through learning the importance of living gratefully that I wrote my poem, “The Buck Stops Here.”

    The Buck Stops Here
    (God is Being)
    by
    Carol Ann Conner

    God, You are not a Being.
    You are Being itself,
    ever faithful, ever present,
    in my joy and my sorrow.

    Your vulnerability
    humbles me beyond belief
    and at times,
    leaves me lonely and afraid.

    You see, I’ve come to know my choices matter.
    They either nurture or destroy the gift of life.
    Why? Because, You have made us all Creator
    and I don’t want that responsibility!

    Why don’t You change the game?
    Just fix everything?
    “It’s not possible,” You say.
    “I have to change. It’s called free will,” You say.

    “Become the peace I seek.”
    “Share it with all I meet.”
    “It’s an inside job,” You say.”
    “That begins and ends with me.”

    Powerful quotes in today’s meditation from Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation: https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-world-of-beauty/

    1. Avril
      Avril
      8 months ago

      Thank you Carol

    2. Dolores Kazanjian
      Dolores Kazanjian
      8 months ago

      Beautiful!

    3. S
      Ana Maria
      8 months ago

      BEautiful! And thank you for sharing the links to links Richard’s Rohr’s daily meditations. I always do this site and theirs to start my day. Lifechanging!!! I am grateful to you and all of the people that share on this site. What a blessing you all are.

  10. Pilgrim
    Pilgrim
    8 months ago

    I am grateful to have been on this Earth for a very long time. From the time I was a little girl, I was encouraged and or reminded to be grateful, to say thank you, and to pay attention to that. So this has never been a rote response. Now in my 70s, I continue to be grateful for Life Herself, for each new day, to hold onto my joy and my sense of humor (yesterday the squirrels were doing backward flips and jumps in the bushes not yet in bloom), and to simply notice and appreciate. Blessings on the day, Friends!

  11. Patti
    sunnypatti
    8 months ago

    It has helped me relax into life. I was always so stressed and worried, especially when I was still married to my ex. I started my gratitude practice while I was still with him, along with other spiritual practices that have all helped me live a better life. I handle stress a lot differently than I used to, that’s for sure. But I feel more connected to life and everything around me, even despite the challenging people I have dealt with during the time our bistro was open to the public.

  12. Ngoc Nguyen
    Ngoc Nguyen
    8 months ago

    Sign goodness on stone, sign badness on sand.

    1. Yram
      Yram
      8 months ago

      Great quote!

  13. A
    ActiveD5
    8 months ago

    By living gratefully, I no longer sweat the small stuff and I no longer am looking for an angle in other’s behavior. I just accept it, like it or not and move on with very little thought about it. Grateful for the good things, the simple things, the good times and just try my best to ignore the bad times when I am pretty much uninvolved. I also avoid things that I know may be upsetting to me. Always something fun and nice to do…no sense putting yourself in a situation where you may have feelings of discontent.

    1. Avril
      Avril
      8 months ago

      Yes–“no longer looking for an angle.” I call it “driving my own car.”

  14. Josie
    Josie
    8 months ago

    Having been nourished by this website for the past 12 years, I notice myself defaulting often to a spontaneous grateful word, emotion or sense as I move through my day. “Thank you” ~~these two words are frequently on my lips. Thanks to this question, I realize that the grace I asked for in 2011 has become grace received.

  15. Butterfly
    Butterfly
    8 months ago

    I appreciate all the small things, all the every-day things and I don’t get so stressed out about the things that inevitably go wrong from time to time.

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