Prayer, quiet, connection, generosity are a few we have named and explored.
Today we knock on another...gratitude.
Gratitude has long been known to have positive effects on our lives. Being thankful not only improves our mood, it actually improves our brain functioning. Grateful people are happier people.
Ironically, when things are going well and gratitude should come easily, we tend not to make it a habit. We absorb blessings barely aware of the life-giving nourishment they provide. It's often when hardship comes that we recognize our need. In our darkness, we look for light.
By seeking, we find awareness that life, in its many ups and downs, is a gift in itself. We come to discover that gifts are present within our struggles and pain.
How can we make gratitude a way of life?
Gratitude is action. It's naming blessings and saying thank you.
Gratitude is awareness. It's noticing gifts and feeling grateful.
Gratitude is being. It's living with intention and experiencing God's abundant generosity.
Gratitude is expectation. It's believing that even those people, places, and things which once blocked our path have purpose and meaning for our journey.
Fear and anxiety never totally leave us. But slowly they lose their domination as a deeper and more central experience begins to present itself. It is the experience of gratitude...Thus gratitude becomes a quality of our hearts that allows us to live joyfully and peacefully even though our struggles continue. ~Henri Nouwen
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