Words below from Diana Butler Bass for World Gratitude Day today:
Gratitude is resilience of sorts, the defiance of kindness in the face of anger, of connection in the face of division, and of hope in the face of fear. . . Gratitude empowers us. It makes joy and love possible. It rearranges the way we see and experience what is all around us. Gratitude makes all things new. It transforms how we understand what is broken and gives us the ability to act more joyfully and with hope. That is why gratitude is central to all the world’s religions. As a practice, it embodies the wisdom of humanity’s greatest spiritual teachers: the love of neighbor. Gratitude takes us from abstract belief to living compassion in the world. Gratitude is strongest, clearest, most robust, and radical when things are really hard. Really hard. All-is-lost hard.
Gratefulness isn’t easy and isn’t all hearts-and-flowers. It can be tough in tough times. But a dogged commitment to the giftedness of life can deepen our spiritual capacity to make it through circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us.
Being grateful didn’t end the pandemic; it wasn’t an escape hatch. Rather, it lowered my fear - and has enabled me to get through it, especially on the worst days.
You may need to be reminded of that today. Someone you know might benefit from a kind word of appreciation or the encouragement of “thank you.” And so, take time to count your blessings, thank someone, and pay it forward on this World Gratitude Day....
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