Cultivating a Sense of Gratefulness………Even When it’s a Struggle

As we head into November and the cool autumn wind sends the leaves swirling about on the ground, I’m grateful for all of the gifts I’ve been given on this day.  I am spending the day with my husband and our 23 year old daughter. I always cherish the opportunity to spend time with just one of our children at a time (we have four of them!) What a treat to have the time and space to just be together, to have a lazy day where we share deeply from our hearts. Our daughter is in her last year of college and she is in the midst of writing her senior thesis. I am especially grateful today to be close to her process of writing. As she reads the introduction of her thesis to us,  I can feel her excitement and deep connection to her work.

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​One of the greatest and simplest things we can do for ourselves each day is to be grateful.  Each and every day in our lives. 
When we’re grateful for the many gifts that we’re given each day, we experience joy and meaning in our lives.  

​“It is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes          us happy.”   

by Brother David Steindl-Rast
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Sometimes it’s a struggle to feel gratitude.  Especially when the challenges in our lives and in the world weigh us down.  We might see only darkness and despair. 
 
When you struggle in finding a feeling of gratefulness in your heart, I encourage you to read these incredible and touching words by Brother David Steindl-Rast on gratefulness. They are inspiring and uplifting!  
 
May we all take one moment to stop and be grateful for this one special day that we have been given as a gift.  
 
“You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day.
It’s the one day that is given to you.
 
Today.
 
It’s a gift.
 
It’s the only gift that you have right now.  And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.  
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​If you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.  

​Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open. That incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us…    for pure enjoyment.  
 
Look at the sky.  We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. 
 
Open your eyes. Look at that. 
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​​Look at the faces of people whom you meet.  Each one has an incredible story behind their face. Not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. All that life from generations and from so many places all over the world…. flows together and meets you here. Like life-giving water if you only open your heart and drink.  

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​Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold water. And drinkable water!  
 
A gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience.

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So, I wish you that you would open your heart to all of these blessings and let them flow through you. That everyone whom you will meet on this day will be blessed by you. Just by your presence.  
 
Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you.
 
Then, it will really be a good day! "
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Watch a video with the above words spoken by Brother David Steindl-Rast here.  
 
I invite you to take a quiet moment right now.  Pause, look around, and identify 5 things that you can be grateful for right now in your life. Hold that feeling of gratitude for the great gifts that you’ve been given.  Then step back into your day carrying with you that deep feeling of gratefulness.  
 
Try this at least one time each day. A pause for a moment of gratefulness.  And see what happens!  
 
 
Interested in more?  I invite you to become of member of my Free Healing Library and gain access to many audio recordings and guidance for how you can be empowered to manifest your best self in your life today.  Click here to become a member.