Category Archives: origins

Our Gratitude Stream (Audio)

On February 7, 2021 I first posted a narrative on the source of my own gratitude stream based on my Mother’s teachings and parenting of me. This is a topic that is #gratitudeultra according to the categories I described in my posting on February 28, 2021 titled, “Your Choice: Gratitude Zero, Gratitude Lite, or Gratitude Ultra.

I read the posting to several individuals who did not read because of various disabling conditions and they seemed to value the messages for #gratitude from this audio version. Please enjoy listening to how gratitude is derived from your #moralvirtue, based on the teachings of values, beliefs, and ideals molding your own character as you move toward adulthood. Some of these values are taken directly from my mother’s poetry which was published in a book, A House Inside of Me Poetry by Marian Elsie Blake by Mary Blake Huer, available on Amazon.com.

Organizational Model for Gratitudesquared.com Site

So many of you are responsive to my posts, so I want to pause to express my sincere appreciation to each of you. In just 4 weeks, there have been well over 1200 views, hundreds of different visitors, and many regular followers. As a teacher, I want to provide some structure to this site.

Some of my postings are just for fun to lift your spirits for a moment.

Other posts are inspirational or aspirational to assist you along your own pathways.

There is literature on gratitude that I am tapping into for the serious scholar and disciple of gratitude.

Today let me provide an “Index” for your use. The Index lists each title, the date of posting, a tag to indicate that the post is “gratitude zero”, “gratitude lite”, or “gratitude ultra”, and several of the “topics” within each post. In the future, for those of you that love “family and people posts” you will be able to easily sort and find such; if you love “pets”, or “nature”, the same. If you want to read and reflect on gratitude, you may. The following is my first attempt at organizing this site:

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Be Mindful: Gratitudes are Cultural Phenomena

Note: If you are new to my site, I want to say this is a “deeper” posting and you may want to visit one of my earlier posts, more playful posts first. This topic offers an academic post versus a fun post.

During my career, I had the opportunity to participate in writing the “Human Rights Convention for Persons with Disabilities” at the United Nations. Also, I served as President of a NGO (nongovernmental organization) for ISAAC (the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication), representing approximately 60 countries. The photo is with my colleague Sudha Kaul who served as President of ISAAC before my term in 2009-2010.

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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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Your Choice: Gratitude Zero, Gratitude Lite, or Gratitude Ultra

This is my 32nd post on gratitude, and we have learned so much. To the extent to which you want to practice gratitude, I invite you to consider the various pathways from which you may select your “state of gratitude”. I borrow labels for your choices from current soft drinks, political strategists, podcasts, and traditional print literatures.

Gratitude may be expressed at any point along a continuum. In my post “What Money Can’t Buy”, I discussed intentional acts from sporadically grateful to always grateful. Thus, imagine a horizontal line from left to right with little markings (like on a ruler) to indicate your “extent of gratitude”.

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Nature Gives Us Joy and Renews

This morning I woke to bright sunshine. It surprised me so early in the morning as typically the sun begins to shine around 10 a.m. As my morning routine began with a glance at my computer, I found something perfect for today!

Nature Deficit Disorder

What made this phrase so perfect is because I suspect that many of you in Texas, on the East coast, and Canada are experiencing this disorder just about this time of year (February) with the tough winter you have had. The dark, gloomy, cold, chilling winter has given you all a “nature deficit disorder”.

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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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