Category Archives: origins

With Gratitude For The Grotto Of Lourdes, Bernadette, and Our Lady Mary, 11th February 1858 to 2022 On

During the weekend of August 23, 2019, I had the opportunity to visit the Sanctuary of Lourdes in Lourdes France, where pilgrims and visitors, and the most vulnerable persons in our communities regularly have visited for 164 years, celebrating the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to the young girl, Bernadette (See the movie, The Song of Bernadette to learn the story). Today we celebrate this World Day of the Sick, as in 1993 Pope John Paul II established this Day at the Grotto where so many people find comfort and peace.

Please join me as we celebrate this Day each year on 11th February, with Gratitude.

Today Celebrate The World Day of the Sick, with Gratitude

#gratitudeultra

Walking The Pathway to Gratitude

I have been posting for eleven (11) months now, 160 posts to date, as I walk and discover my own pathway to gratitude so I want to pause and reflect upon the meanings beneath my messages to you. First, living in a State of Gratitude is not always easy and takes being in a State of Mindfulness I would say.

I prefer to be mindful when I blog about gratitude. Intellectually, it feels the best!

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I Am Grateful For My Spiritual Journey To Health And Wellness

I am nearing four and one-half years of health after multiple cancers and surgeries in 2017. I am grateful that I am still healthy, but never do I take my present health for granted. The source stimulating these postings is my joy with life, and my sincere appreciation and happiness to have time to “pay it forward” to others while here.

As many people do, I read and ask questions, and share with others to learn about healing and health and wellness. I can tell you from experience that there is a lot to learn and practice to maintain health. Sometimes I stray from my devotion to a healthier lifestyle, better eating, mindful practices with toxins and GMOs in our world, and Western and Eastern medical beliefs. But, when my CT scans and labs remind me that my body chemistry is changing, I jump back into better practices and pray.

People ask me what am I doing to stay so healthy? I tell them what I am learning, but many people do the same things I do, and much more, and, sadly, many people continue to die around me which makes me so sad, and gives me a feeling of survivor’s guilt. I want to do more to help others so I keep posting happy ideas, and peaceful thoughts. Also, I post joyful events like playing with your pets, and enjoyable moments with family and friends or beautiful trips deep into nature.

This month I am pulling all of my postings, videos, blogs, tweets, and Instagrams into more of a common “digital media” composite so that I may share what I believe and what I have learned thus far. If this is helpful to you, please let me know. If you would like more from me, please let me know.

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I’m Grateful I Learned About The #SpiritofPlace After a Visit to the #Pontdel’AlmaTunnel in Paris, France

Have you ever visited a special place where you experienced a memory or learned about a historical event? As I grow older, I am discovering many “special places” in my life: my mother’s gardens, an outdoor wedding spot, a fun family reunion memory from childhood, a loved one’s grave, a walkway where great men/women passed…. my little doggie playing in the bushes… What places are special or sacred to you?

Recently, I learned about the concept of #SpiritofPlace when I was reading about #water. Many religious practices recognize locations as significant and it is through that context that I am learning. Due to an illness I had an opportunity to go to Lourdes, France and on the way there, I passed through Paris, France and asked my driver to take me to the tunnel where Princess Diana died – the #Pontdel’AlmaTunnel. I was so moved to see the exact spot where her car crashed, and she lost her life.

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Grateful For Hope

In four days, Gratitudesquared.com will be 9 months old.

(from 02/05/2021 to 11/05/2021).

So today is like the birth of my baby! I have posted 143 thoughts in posts, had 4036 views, and 1418 different visitors.

I am not trending and my musings are not popular but I am alive and that is enough.

Earlier, I started a YOUTUBE Channel (A.K.A. Aspiring Through Cancer (ATC))

01/11/2019 to 02/18/2019

Gradually I stopped focusing only on Cancer and started to focus on Health and Wellness so my Channel name changed to “Aspiring Through Healing to Health and Wellness (ATH) which lasted during 12/22/2019 to 04/25/2020.

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Gratitude Is An Emotion Causing One To Give

Currently I have so many people around me who are seriously ill: a dear friend with blood cancer, and large masses throughout all the organs in her chest; a relative about to have a permanent peg feeding tube (never to eat or drink by mouth again); a friend about to have a double mastectomy; a relative needing to repair a cleft palate again so he may eat normally; and so it goes with so many various and differing health problems. My reaction to each of these individuals is “what might I do to help you?” “What might I say to provide support and encouragement to you?” Personally, I am not sure that I have the proper background and knowledge to offer help, yet they contact me regularly so perhaps my “listening” to their fears and anxieties is of some assistance.

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Gratitude, The Brain, Morality, Group Behavior

Those of you following my posts will note that I love to study gratitude in addition to feeling it and watching others practice and talk about being grateful. The study of gratitude will take years to fully understand all the dimensions, traits, and states. My purpose is to excite you, influence your thinking, invite you to reflect, and please you with various examples of joyful gratitude. Once in a while I will take you a bit deeper into an understanding of what it means to be grateful. Today is such a posting, which is why I label this particular blog as #gratitudeultra.

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Practice Gratitude During Stressful Times

I spend most of my time listening to people complain these days. No doubt there is more uncertainty than I ever remember in my life. People can not easily vacation, or travel, or plan to see other family members and friends. Some people are wearing masks again, others refuse to do so. The news is uncertain about the Covid viruses. School may or may not return to normal this year. People have lost their jobs. Other people do not want to work because they need to stay home with their children or they prefer to receive support from the government. The weather is hot and humid and the wild fires are starting again. Some people would say “life sucks”. So why would I expect anyone to practice gratitude?

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Acknowledge When A Portal Opens In Your Life

My dear friends recently were married in Portugal at the Quinta de Sant’ Ana in Gradil. With the Covid in all of our lives during the past 15 months or so, it seemed that their wedding would be postponed. In fact, it was cancelled in May 2021. But, then some dates in July 2021 opened and they quickly planned the wedding again. Their family and close friends were able to attend, but just as the three day event ended, the country of Portugal changed the rating for the virus to the highest level again, just as the twenty or so people were testing negative and beginning to leave the country. They were all able to leave the country just in time to return to the USA as the world began to shut down again.

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Staying in a State of Gratitude Is Not Easy: So How Do I Do It?

Recently, I wanted to go out to lunch with a friend. We tried four different restaurants and each one was crowded with a long wait. Plus, we had to mask up so we wanted to social distance. We had even gone at an early hour to avoid the crowds. I guess everyone else had the same idea. However, when we got to restaurant number five, it was empty. The food was better than the other places we had visited and the lunch was actually more enjoyable.

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