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Gratitude Matters

1/7/2019

 
​Grateful living is important in the world because in our constant pursuit of more and better we can easily lose sight of the riches that lay right in front of us and within us. ~ Guri Mehta
A final New Year reflection - I've chosen Gratitude as my #OneWord2019. (Last year's was Courage) As defined by Wikipedia, "Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness, from the Latin word gratus ‘pleasing, thankful’, is a feeling of appreciation felt by and/or similar positive response shown by the recipient of kindness, gifts, help, favors, or other types of generosity"
Robert Emmons, a leading researcher on gratitude, argues that gratitude has two key components:
  1. "It’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”
  2. "We recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”
While there is certainly a 'feeling' component to gratitude, it is important to note that one can choose to be grateful (or not). One of the best known illustrations of this comes from The Hiding Place, where Corrie Ten Boom describes choosing to be grateful for the fleas in her concentration camp dormitory because they kept the guards away.
Research indicates there are a number of benefits to developing an attitude of gratitude, some of which are described in the following video.
I live a life of abundance - family, material blessings, work that matters, co-workers who inspire, health, and too many opportunities to count; I choose to be grateful.
Celaina Huckeba link
1/9/2019 03:35:44 pm

Great post! It is so important to be mindful of how we look at things as our views and attitude make a huge difference! While I did not choose gratitude as my word (I chose delight), it is something I need to work on! With delight and gratitude, if you are not mindful, if you don't stop to think about how you are viewing life, it can lead to patterns of unhappiness. I wish you luck in choosing gratitude all year!

Craig link
1/10/2019 09:47:30 am

Celaina,
Thank you for your comment - I find that even when I remain mindful of my attitude, it is still difficult at times to not get dragged down by circumstances; if I'm not mindful it is nearly iimpossible...

Angela
1/12/2019 01:33:37 pm

Gratitude ...love it! I often struggle when I want to express how much I appreciate all that I have. I choose not to use "blessed," even though that is how I feel, because I feel that it has been so overused and tossed around so much that it has lost its energy as a word to me. I know it sounds silly but it feels almost cliche to say you feel "blessed" today. Thank you for the idea of Gratitude - I definitely do not take my health and my amazing family and this time we have together for granted and do feel a great deal of Gratitude to everyone and everything who has had a hand in making my life fabulous.


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