World Gratitude Day 2014

Today is World Gratitude Day – something I learned about from Vidya Sury and am happy to celebrate it, seeing how much gratitude is a part of my life. Last December, I ran a series called the Living Gratitude Series here. Then thanks to the initiative of Laurel Regan, I now share a gratitude list every week and a link to my post on her Today’s  Gratitude List linkup.

My reflections on World Gratitude Day 2014

It’s easy to write about the virtues of practicing gratitude, much harder to practice it! But I do know that by constantly writing about it and sharing my gratitude list each week, I am becoming more conscious of walking the talk.

Why do I try to practice gratitude?

Years from now I don’t want to look back and regret that I allowed life to pass by without appreciating all I had. Gretchen Rubin, in her book. ‘The Happiness Project‘, quotes William Edward Hartpole Lecky as saying:

There are times in the lives of most of us when we would have given all the world to be as we were but yesterday, though that yesterday had passed over us unappreciated and unenjoyed.

Gratitude keeps me mindful of all I have – I appreciate life more and this leads to me being happier and more content.

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Gratitude Practices I have incorporated/ would like to include in my daily life:

Starting my day gratefully – I most often say ‘thank you for another day and welcome to whatever is to come in the day ahead.’

When we first wake up, our minds are very subtle and delicate. If we set a strong positive motivation at this time, there is a greater chance of it staying with us and influencing us throughout the day.  –Thubten Chodron, Tibetan Buddhist teacher

End the day with grateful thoughts and prayers – Now, this one is something I don’t do but must incorporate into my daily practices. Being grateful for all the experiences of the day, even the awful ones.

Gratitude before a meal – Saying a little prayer or the grace before meals is a good practice too. This is something I do most times. The fact that we have food on our table is a h-u-g-e thing to be grateful for. It keeps us mindful of those who don’t have food or have to struggle for every meal.

Have a gratitude circle – While I wrote about this idea, I didn’t actually get down to doing anything about it. Today I created a Pinterest Board called ‘Gratitude Circle‘ and if you’d like to pin your gratitude posts and quotes there, just ask me and I’ll invite you to the board.

I’m sure there are several other ways we can practice gratitude. I’d love hear of your ideas too. Let’s remember to be grateful today and every day.

If you’ve written a post on World Gratitude Day or would like to, you’re welcome to add the link to Vidya Sury’s post on Write Tribe.