Tag Archives: gratitude

Gratitude Energizes

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This gratitude blog apparently is energizing, giving vitality, and generating enthusiasm for all of us as we continue to share and exchange stories of our own gratitudes. I love these frequent experiences with you!

On May 3, 2021, I received several different texts, comments, messengers, and phone calls from you expressing your own gratitude stories, particular to your life. Please know that I sincerely appreciate your positivity and your time to follow along this pathway to gratitude. That evening, I reflected on what triggered your desires to share your own stories. What might have been your motivations? Why are these postings meaningful to you? While I can not explain what prompts you to read my thoughts, or stimulates you to reflect upon your own personal experiences, I would like to share my initial conclusions to see if you agree.

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Gratitude: May Be A Complex Blend Of Sorrow And Joy

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Somehow I always associated gratitude with joy, happiness, and thankfulness. Yet recently, I begin to realize that one can have profound gratefulness with deep sorrow. For example, during the pandemic we honor our front line workers for their service in hospitals, but, at times, we are forced to thank them through the tears of memorial services for our loved ones we have lost. When I learned I was ill and probably would die; I was deeply grateful for the good life I had had.

Lately, I am moved by so many people helping each other and cheering when they receive the vaccine, but I feel sad for the priority established for administration of the vaccine, and for all those stories of great human beings who died before their time…

So, our message today is on this day… it will past too soon, and we do not know what tomorrow will bring. I am grateful for today, and for the humanity I see all around me!

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

Precious Memories: Gratitude Is Free

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My dad was a minister of a fundamentalist church so he was against dancing. He was against dancing because, during his generation, he felt it would lead to “problems” when dating, although before he became a paster he won dance contests (Charleston etc.) and was a wild guy. This photo captures the love between my parents during their twilight years in privacy. I am so happy I have this photo.

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Wearing a Mask

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

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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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Empathy and Gratitude – How?

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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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What is Your Life’s Light?

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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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When Life Feels Like a Maze

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The winter weather is terrible today for some parts of the country…deep snowfall, freezing temperatures, ice, power is out, and travel is difficult. Interesting evolution with this site on gratitude… people are beginning to look around and share with me stories of their own gratitude. This is exactly what I hope will happen through gratitude squared… pay it forward folks!

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How Did I Get to Gratitude? My Journey

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On April 21, 2017 my life changed when I learned I would probably die. During these past nearly four years, I took a journey through healing, searching for wellness alternatives, multiple surgeries, modifying my diet, changing my lifestyle, and learning about health and wellness practices around the globe. During that journey, I focused on aspirational and inspirational messages for others who also had serious illnesses. As an educator, I hoped to share what I was learning along the way. Toward the goal of healing for myself as well as others, to date I have created 25 videos and put them on YouTube for others to view. You may view those videos if you wish to learn the particulars of my healing. The Hero’s Journey in Aspiring Through Healing to Health and Wellness.

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Welcome to Guide to Gratitude!

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Welcome to Guide to Gratitude. These are clearly amazing times with the Covid-19 virus, people unemployed, food insecurity, political disagreements, and fear of Covid, conflict over wearing masks, children out of school and on and on. During my lifetime, I have experienced many variations of life from serious health issues, loss of employment, early death of family members, and more of what so many worry about these days. Sometimes we feel helpless to know what to do or say. In response to events of these times, I want to blog with all of you about Gratitude, i.e., finding gratitude in daily life. I hope you will take this journey with me as we search together for life’s little miracles all around us. Gratitude for good health, gratitude for a job, gratitude for a rainbow, gratitude for love, gratitude for a beautiful national park, gratitude for God and spirituality in life, gratitude for the smile of a young child, or the playfulness of your pet… This blog includes travel to discover and uncover the riches in which gratitude is found and becomes meaningful to you. I hope you will come along and share your own experiences during which you felt grateful. Let’s begin…

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