As I walked past these tables and chairs recently, I waited to be seated. I waited a long time because I am a rule follower. No one ever showed up. Finally I left!

This morning I read the update by Brett and Kate McKay “The Spiritual Disciplines: Gratitude within https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/spiritual-disciplines-gratitude/#

I recommend you take a look. It is a serious piece, but important lessons are within. For example, did you know that gratitude is the most scientifically studied? As a scientist, by my Ph.D. training, I like that fact. They also noted that gratitude is a “seasonal interest”. I think that is so sad! Further, gratitude, although familiar…. it is not mysterious as in what happens within solitude, nor is it an “inner adventure-evoking” experience as in fasting. I disagree. I believe I will find mystery and adventure during my journey through gratitude. Stay tuned.

The McKays also asked “if gratitude has been cheapened into something commonplace” as in “gratitude lite”, or is gratitude a moral virtue versus a “mood enhancer”? Further,

“What if it was made not of the soft sentimentality of greeting cards, but the sterner stuff of Stoicism, the rawness of marrow sucking, the severity of even death itself?”

I will summarize more of their article, or, even better, I suggest you take a look at the full piece, but I would like for you to consider all the wealth of thought that comes before us as we move through our own journeys through gratitude. I don’t know about you, but I am not yet ready for the “rawness of marrow sucking…” I think that today, I’ll stick to sentimentality of greeting cards….. Enjoy your day!

This is #gratitudeultra. See post on February 28, 2021 for definitions of categories of gratitude.