I am a fan of Dr. Brené Brown who speaks on vulnerability and shame.
She also talks about gratitude and other things that help us with life’s
problems. The following is an excerpt from one of her pages and in her words.
"There is a great quote by a Jesuit priest that says, “It’s not
joy that makes us grateful, it’s gratitude that makes us joyful.” Practicing gratitude invites joy into our lives.
Practice is the part
that really changed my life, that really changed my family and the way we live
every day. When I say practice gratitude, don’t mean
“the-attitude-of-gratitude” or feeling grateful, I mean practicing gratitude."
Dr. Brown goes on to say, "These
folks shared in common a tangible gratitude practice. Some
of them kept gratitude journals. Some of them did interesting things like at
1,2,3,4 or 12:34 every day they said something out loud that they were grateful
for in their lives."
One of the things Brown's family does is say grace at dinner. And so now, after learning about practicing
gratitude, after grace they go around and everyone says something that they are thankful for.
"What’s interesting," Dr. Brown says, "is when we first started, I thought my children were going to say, Oh, mom, are
you experimenting on us? There was a little bit of that. But after we had done
this for a couple weeks, even on those crazy, busy nights, when we were trying
to get to soccer, piano and homework, if Steve and I said a quick prayer and
start eating, my kids were like, Woah…what are you grateful for?”
….My son often says, I’m grateful for bugs. I’m
grateful for frogs. But sometimes he’ll say, I’m grateful that you picked me
up early. Or I’m grateful that I finally understand adjectives.”
End of excerpt.
When a friend of Brené Brown’s daughter lost her mother, the daughter said, “I’m grateful that my parents and family are healthy.” I am sure many young people feel that, but how often do they say it?
I love this idea of saying out loud what we are grateful for each day. I often think about gratitude when I awake each morning. Years ago I kept a gratitude journal and wrote down five things each day for which I was grateful, but I plan to say out loud what I am grateful for.
While life is hard now, I know we will one day see a brighter light. I am grateful for all the people in my life now that make every day better. I am a person who needs to be useful, and I am finding new ways to do that even when I am at home and physically isolating myself from the rest of the world.
I am grateful that I rescued a puppy who turned around and rescued me.
What are you most grateful for at this difficult time?
When a friend of Brené Brown’s daughter lost her mother, the daughter said, “I’m grateful that my parents and family are healthy.” I am sure many young people feel that, but how often do they say it?
I love this idea of saying out loud what we are grateful for each day. I often think about gratitude when I awake each morning. Years ago I kept a gratitude journal and wrote down five things each day for which I was grateful, but I plan to say out loud what I am grateful for.
While life is hard now, I know we will one day see a brighter light. I am grateful for all the people in my life now that make every day better. I am a person who needs to be useful, and I am finding new ways to do that even when I am at home and physically isolating myself from the rest of the world.
I am grateful that I rescued a puppy who turned around and rescued me.
 |
| My six pound rescued puppy, Lexie, is now twelve pounds and still leaps and jumps like a pup. |
What are you most grateful for at this difficult time?
Gratitude is a gift which keeps on giving isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for the beauty which surrounds me, for books which I turn to for education, for comfort, for escape. I am very grateful for my sense of humour (which can be on the dark side) and that the thing I laugh most often at is myself.
Gratitude lifts me up every day. Thank you so much for the reminder. :-)
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