Sharing Gratitude: Living Gratitude Series

Today marks the end of the ten-day Living Gratitude series.  I’m grateful to Laurel Regan, Vidya Sury, Bindu Manoj, Cat Graham, Dorothy Johnson, Talya Tate Boerner and Debbie The Doglady for their posts.  Each one unique and precious.  Thank you, dear friends.

Thank you, dear readers,  for reading and for commenting.

 

Today we’re sharing gratitude.

Being grateful takes a lifetime of practice and we constantly need to find resources to keep us on the path of gratitude. I’m sharing just a few of them that I’ve come across:

This inspirational video was presented at TED conferences. Created by filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg with music created and composed by Gary Malkin and narration written and spoken by Brother David Steindl-Rast.

 

Some books on Gratitude – click on the images for more information:

 

 

 

Some interesting websites/blogs and Facebook groups  that focus on Gratitude:

30 Day Gratitude Challenge by Toni Powell

Attitude of Gratitude Project 

Gratitude Today

Gratitude Radio

Today’s Gratitude list on Alphabet Salad

Smart Living

I will soon be creating a gratitude page here listing all the ‘gratitude resources’ I come across.

Here are some of your comments/messages you sent to be added to this post.

I am thankful for the freedom I enjoy. I might not do everything that I want to do because of relationship and time constraints. But those restrictions are never forced upon me. I have the freedom to chose. I think that is what I am most grateful for in this life. – Jyothi Nair

I’m grateful for: 1. Having parents who have supported me at times when I was too weak and defeated to carry on. 2. Every patient who makes it out of my operation theater without harm. 3. A chance to be published in paperback form… something I dreamed of as a kid but never thought would be possible.  ~ Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan

I am thankful for so many things, but three are: my husband, my home, my family. ~ Martha Orlando

I am grateful for a husband who stays positive and determined despite odds. I am thankful for all the ups and downs in my life… lots of smiles and lots of learnings from them. I am thankful for having some wonderful friends, their laughter, their friendship is like sunshine in our life. ~ Shilpa Garg

*A happy and loving family that includes parents, siblings, husband, kids and my dog! Add to that is a bunch of good friends who care about me.
*My own attitude to learn, adapt and change. *My health and my work that keeps me happy and motivated. ~ Rachna Parmar

The ability to smile and remain cheerful
My patience levels when it comes to my knee and its healing
My friends for keeping me company and always making sure I’m never lonely!
My family (K for always being there!) ~ Pixie

These are some of the things that I am grateful for (in no particular order), the smiles on my two yr old girl’s face, the smiles on my thirty yr old wife’s face, the smiles on my sixty plus yr old parents’ faces, I guess the smiles are probably the top most things in my life that I am most grateful for. ~ Jairam Mohan

1. For family from my parents to sis to husband to my in-laws.
2. For the love of books – ensures I don’t have many dull moments.
3. For friends – online-offline! ~ Meena Menon

I am grateful for –
– my dear husband who despite all my tantrums and drama still misses me if I go away for an hour or so.
– having been with my mother for whole of thirteen years so that now I know what kind of a person I wish to be.
– the sense to string words together, because honestly if it wasn’t for writing I wonder how I would have survived all these years. True story.
~ Richa Singh

I am grateful for having taken the shape/form of a human being (God’s favourtive creation) on this planet. In my next birth (?) , I do not know what form will I take.I am grateful to experience Pain to know what joy is. ~ Kalpana Solsi

I am grateful for a bonus daughter who does my hair and won’t let me pay her, for a husband who supports my writing dreams, for the stable family I grew up in. ~ Dorothy Johnson

I am grateful for :
1. A very dear daughter who makes me laugh when things go awry.
2. Challenges: what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger!
3. Just happy to see the sun shining and another day to explore. ~ Anyta

I am always grateful for my kids who are my strength and joy.
I am also grateful for a job I love
But today I am grateful for a sense of humour – needed that a lot at work today. ~ Suzy Que

I’m grateful for blogging, grateful to friends being there during difficult times and grateful for inspiring life lessons from friends who have shared their inspirational life stories with me lately. ~ Vishnu

The three things that come to my mind right off the bat are:
1. My mom coming and staying with me
2. Two beautiful, healthy kids and family
3. Though things don’t happen my way, I am blessed in thousand ways which I can’t count. ~ Latha

Three things I’m grateful for:
My wonderful online friends like you whom I can share with daily
My family, friends and pets
Being able to express and share my creativity daily whether by writing, photography, doing art work, playing flute and singing. I feel so grateful to do things I’m passionate about. ~ Cat Graham

Three things I am grateful for:
My husband of 40+ years
My (relatively) good health.
Living in a great country. ~ Debbie

I have attempted to add everyone’s thoughts, but if I’ve left someone out, do let me know and I’ll be happy to include your thoughts too.  Also, at the bottom of this post, you’ll find a linky, which I will keep open until the end of November. Please add any posts that you’ve written on the subject of gratitude.

To end this series, let me share with you a story, I read as told by Alan Cohen. A woman Zen master named Sono  taught one very simple method of enlightenment. She advised everyone who came to her to adopt an affirmation to be said many times a day, under all conditions. The affirmation was, “Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.”

According to the story, many people from all arenas of life came to Sono for healing. Some were in physical pain, others were emotionally distraught, others had financial troubles, some were seeking the liberation of their souls. No matter what their distress or what ques­tion they asked her, her response was always the same: “Thank you for every­thing. I have no complaint whatsoever.” Some people went away disappointed, others grew angry, others tried to argue with her. Yet some people took her sug­gestion to heart and began to practice it. Tradition tells us that everyone who practiced Sono’s mantra found peace and healing.

So let’s start today: Thank you for everything, I have no complaint whatsoever. 🙂