Category Archives: motivation

Wearing a Mask

My sincere thanks to YOU for reading these posts. Today, let’s focus on a “gratitude zero” activity… wearing a mask. There is a lot of conversation these days about “masks”. People are tired of the pandemic, lock downs, separation from friends and families. It is sometimes difficult to remember to bring a mask. I have masks in my purse, my car, in shopping bags, and next to gloves when I put gas in the car. I have extra masks for my family and friends who forget their masks when running out the door to run an errand, or grab something to eat (take out).

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A Deep Gratitude Soak

In an earlier post (Your Choice: Gratitude Zero, Gratitude Lite, or Gratitude Ultra) I ended by suggesting we were going to take a “deep gratitude soak” into the depths of the spectrum of gratitude waters. So I went to dreamstime.com to search for open source photos of “soaking in water”. At that site I found beautiful photos of people soaking in pools, in tubs, in the ocean, lakes, and so forth. I also found animals soaking in the waters or the sun, as well as people soaking their hands or feet, and soaking vegetables before cooking, or putting Easter eggs in water to color the eggs. Some of the photos were so unique that I place them within this post for your review and enjoyment.

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What Money Can’t Buy

I like to think about gratitude as a “state of being”, but I am searching to learn how to keep myself in that “state” throughout the days and weeks. On tennessean.com I found an opinion piece by Bishop Joseph W. Walker III about gratitude. One particular point he made was:

Add up the things in your life that money cannot buy.

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In Memory of More Than 500,000 Deaths

Today is a day of remembrance of the more than 500,000 precious lives lost from the ongoing pandemic in the USA. Let us take a moment of silence to remember each of those individuals as well as their families and friends who have died.

My mother was a poet and one of my favorite of her poems was about death, because it is really not about dying but about life and a future. I share it with you now to give you comfort and peace for your loved ones.

This Is Not Goodbye My Dear

This is not goodbye, my dear,
That body of clay I’ve left it here.
To live in the celestial Heaven above,
Where all is peace and joy and love.

I’ll speak to you through the stars at night.
I’ll glitter and twinkle and you’ll know I’m alright.
I’ll speak to you through those drops of rain.
I’ll speak this way again and again.

I’ll speak to you through the falling snow
I’ll touch you gently and then you’ll know.
That love’s a bond that can’t be broken,
The snow flake, the rain drop, will be our token.

I’ll speak to you through the song of the bird,
In a song, a language like you’ve never heard.
I’ll speak to you through the stormy night,
Through the thunder roar and the streaks of light.

I’ll speak to you through the baby coo.
A message dear, just for you.
I’ll see in your eye that tiny tear,
Remember, my love, I’m really near.

God changed my body to another form,
His way is right have no alarm.
He changed my body from a house of clay,
To a glorified one where I’ll live fore aye.

In that rain, that snow, and those stars in the sky,
I take many forms, but I did not die.
For life’s dimension is unending,
This is not the end,
Just a grand beginning.

© Marian E. Blake

My mother was a minister too and wrote many comforting poems for members in her churches. For other poems to honor and remember your loved ones, please see her poetry below. Peace be with you on this day and always.

Huer, M.B. (2013) A House Inside of Me Poetry by Marian Elsie Blake. Huer LLC, pp. 104-105.

A House Inside of Me is available on Amazon.com

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

Personality Traits Along the Road to Gratitude

I just watched the movie Nomadland (2020), about a woman living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad, traveling through the American West after she loses everything in a recession. It was an interesting snapshot with persons I have met, especially during this pandemic. It seems that we are all managing our daily joys and problems, as best we can according to our personalities and temperaments.

I love water. I love the ocean, so when I came across an article on the Big Five personality traits from Wikipedia, known as the OCEAN model, I took a closer look. The model identifies five traits:

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Through Gratitude Expand

Last year I made a YouTube video titled “Through” on my YouTube Channel, Aspiring through healing to health and wellness, and learned the mighty power of one little word “THROUGH“. I had forgotten about that video until this morning when I came across an article titled, “9 Eye-Opening Ways to Expand Your Empathy and Gratitude” by Chris Holder. Hence, I am reminded of the power of words and when attached to images, change is amazingly possible. Through our words and images, especially on social media today, we motivate others to action.

Dr. Holder describes 9 actions we may each choose to keep us in a “State of Grace”. When I got to his number 4, I paused:

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Empathy and Gratitude – How?

Yesterday was a beautiful day, full of sunshine, so I went to the ocean. The sunset was lovely, families were on the beach, and all seemed well. When I returned home, I flipped on the TV and watched the terrible news about the freezing crisis in Texas, the power outages, the burst water pipes, and I felt awful watching those suffering families.

I wonder how can I feel two emotions, gratitude and empathy, in a matter of moments? Is it ok to feel blessed by the weather near my home while feeling horror watching the weather just a few States away? The suffering of the children in Texas is difficult to watch against the joy of the children on the beaches in California.

Najma Khorrami, in Psychology Today, described how empathy and gratitude are linked to each other through an explanation of neuroscience.

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Gratitude: Random or Purposeful?

People are so meaningful in our lives. It is interesting for me to listen to others’ impressions and expectations for these posts. Some of you love “the photos” in each post; others love “the written words”. You are building a community of “gratitude expressers”daily, and my sincere appreciation to each of you for your kindness. In response, my intention is to be a stimulus for our community. But, my questions for today, include:

Should we deliberately find an event, or act about which to express gratitude today? Or

Should we randomly go about the action of “everyday responsibilities” and wait to see if we see or feel gratitude?

Look at this bird, freely flying through the air. Do you think the bird flight is purposeful or random? Maybe the bird enjoys both. Maybe the bird doesn’t care where he is going; he is just hanging around.

My friend “Siri” tells us that to be purposeful is to be determined, intentional, or to have a useful resolve. She notes that random is made without “conscious decision”, unspecified, unfamiliar, having an equal chance to happen, unusual, unexpected, or unknown.

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What is Your Life’s Light?

As I examined the wooded setting of Airy the RV in the photo above, I found pleasure in the breaking of dawn through the trees, as well as in the lit underbelly of the coach. Both types of lighting touched my mind’s eye and I asked why? One light protected me near the the RV, while the other protected my early morning drive from deer leaping, or hikers walking.

One light is man-made and artificial; the other is God made and natural. Jill Harness noted on hunker.com that there are several differences between natural and artificial light, between firelight and candle light, and fluorescent bulbs, flashlights, or sunlight. There are a surprising number of differences between light sources found in nature versus electronic sources.

The intensity of light, the duration of light, and

the amount of light is only under your control with artificial lighting.

I made a note to myself to ask “Do I have control of my life’s light?”

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Airy’s Journey to Gratitude

Given the snow and ice across the country today, I thought I might select a contrasting photo for our discussion as, at least to me, this photo conveys peacefulness, calm, sunshine and beauty. But, remember the old adage, “You can’t tell a book by its cover”? This is Airy the Airstream, a new touring coach.

What you do NOT see in the photo are the zip ties holding the awning on so that it does not open out while driving on the freeways and injure someone, and you do NOT see all the duck tape on the side of the coach holding the panels and badging from flapping in the wind and maybe blowing off the frame to expose the metal chassis. You also would NEVER know that the radio was not properly connected so that there is no music to enhance the drive. The bed in the back does NOT go down but rather pulls the entire frame out and rips the mattress, and there is more that is wrong, currently with Airy.

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