The Discipline Of Gratitude

The Discipline Of Gratitude - "The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy." -Henri Nouwen

About three years ago, I was offered one of the most special gifts I've every received when I was asked to write down a few things I was grateful for every day. At the time I thought this was a silly and bizarre exercise to do (so my journal reminds me). Compliant me set out on what would become quite the journey to find things to be grateful for. At first, all I could think of being worth mentioning were big things, like world peace and freedom from slavery. It didn't take long and I ran out of big things so I reluctantly added smaller, more insignificant things to the list. I was grateful for people in my life, for privileges I enjoyed living in this society - like cell phones, the internet, and convenience stores. To my surprise, the smaller the things on my list got, the more I began noticing the efforts people made to be in relationship with each other, the beauty of nature and architecture all around me. I began to allow mundane, little things to count and affect me positively.

Suddenly I found myself being grateful for

... the smile from across the room,

... the warmth of a warm cup of tea on my cold hands,

... the beauty of the moon,

... an email,

... hearing someone laugh after they had been crying,

... having the privilege of being the first to know,

... hearing someone put into words what I had been struggling to say.

I was grateful and engaged with life and that was awesome. Gratitude made room within me to become aware of my connection to the greater world and a sense of belonging settled over me.

The ultimate gift of gratitude is to inspire hope, give strength and encouragement.

For the last three years I have somewhat regularly written out what I am grateful for. Lately though, the stresses of life have crept up on me and I find myself growing blind to the great gifts life has to offer every single day.

The quote by Henri Nouwen brought me back to the incredible gift the discipline of gratitude offers. So I am back to being intentional about noticing what I am grateful for. Taking the time to write it down is awesome because I can look back and see all the great things in my life during those moments when I feel too frustrated, overwhelmed, anxious, etc. by life to remember the abundance of good.