Gratitude | Thankfulness

[David Hahn]

Recently it has been called to my attention by someone I love, a-hem, that I should be more grateful for what I have in my life. I thought I'd make some space to intentionally share some of my thoughts and most especially, for us to share with one another our thoughts too.

For what are you thankful and perhaps even more importantly, how do you demonstrate thankfulness?

I'd love to hear your thoughts from one who often struggles with both.

[Existentialist]

I'm thankful for spontaneity in interactions with people - brief, enjoyable, perhaps even meaningful connections that happen in the grocery store, at the office, perhaps even online.

I demonstrate my gratefulness by giving my full attention to that person at that time - and being friendly, warm, maybe humorous about it. Sure, some would call this flirting or sexless love, but I don't see it or feel it that way. It's a shared recognition and celebration of the human condition.

[Tamie]

I am thankful for:

A healthy body, and breath to fill my body with life and awareness. For rainy skies, the beauty and the bounty. I am thankful for friends' families, for conversations about nothing and everything, for the ability to risk, the ability to think clearly, for growth and change. I am thankful for my dad and for my mom and for my brother.

There are a thousand things. Later on my blog I think I'll try to list them.

How do I show my gratitude?

By trying to be present to that for which I'm thankful. I also show it by speaking it out loud; sometimes I take long walks and just list out what I'm thankful for. I do this fairly regularly, actually, and I highly recommend it. I even list off individual bones--the ability to walk! the ability to think! I'm thankful for my femur, my scapula! the great blessings of this life are just so many. I also try to tell people that I'm thankful for them, as often as possible. I suppose sometimes people get tired of this, but I'm so aware of the fragility of life, and I want everyone to know how much I loved them, in case I pass on (or they do) unexpectedly.

[Robbie Bergman]

I am thankful for having my 84 yo mom in my life, my partner thru good and bad, an unconditionally loving pooch, a job, my health - a big gift after 25 yrs of a life-challenging condition. I am most grateful for TIME....time today to STOP and reflect. Lack of time and too many distractions to consciously focus on what's good and right in my world is a real gift.
Oh yeah, I am also grateful for pumpkin pie....can't get 'enuf. Thanks for creating a "space" where I can take a moment to focus and reflect. Peace and Love, Robbie

[JoAnn Gronskei]

My gratitude is for many things ... my faith, family, friends, and for a 12 step program that taught and is teaching me how to appreciate all the blessings I have, that I certainly don't "deserve."
I show my gratitude by trying my best to share with others the path i was shown. I try most days to be a more positive and outgoing person that I by nature simply am not ...
Some days I am better at that than others, but the willingness is there to keep trying and learning. There are some days I am a positive example and other days that I hope no one was watching. I just keep trying.

[Marta]

I am thankful for...the fabulous ingenuity of God and all the ways there are to recognize and interact with that. I am thankful I got to be with my family this weekend, and have my mom, gram, and stepdad get to know Patrick better; I am terrifically thankful to live in a city with clean air; I am thankful to have a growing and healthy marriage, to have a job, and to have a warm, comfortable place to sleep and food to eat. I am thankful it is beautiful in Flagstaff, I am thankful for my sister and my friends...it's an endless list.

As mentioned in other posts, the first thing that comes to mind about how I show thankfulness is by verbally expressing it to people and things that provoke it.

I can tell you that I have, like you, had to cultivate thankfulness. Two things in particular have been really useful, if you are looking for some shoe leather. I worked once in a job I loved with people I disliked and who disliked me. Many nights I would come home full of spite and judgement, etc. (oh so totally Christian and mature of me, right?) and, before bed, I would write down 10 things I was thankful for. It would be a rusty start, but by the end I would be really feeling better, and more importantly, would have a clearer perspective on them, situations, etc., and would be able to pray and bless each of them, our relationships and work, etc., with a clean heart.

Second, I happened upon giving thanks in reverse. this is SO useful to me still! It goes like this - "Even though the waitress spilled my drink, brought the food late and burned, and forgot half my order, I am thankful to have the money to eat out," etc. I can be so aware of the negatives, lacks, or imperfections around me, to the point where it makes it difficult to even see what ther might be to be thankful for, but somehow, this exercise works. Maybe it's because all the negativity or whatever gets recognized, and then put in perspective. It is in Habakkuk, I just realized this! - "Even if the fig tree doesn't blossom and no fruit is on the vine, even if the olive tree fails to produce and the fields yield no food at all, even if the sheep vanish from the sheep pen and there are no cows in the stalls, still, I will rejoice in the LORD, I will take joy in the God of my salvation." 3:17-19

[David Hahn]

i am thankful for those who love me unconditionally and will always make space for me no matter how i may alienate, judge or dismiss. the greater capacity of another to make room even for me seems to widen me, a slow work in progress to be sure...for that i am thankful. I am thankful for patience, not just our dog, but the opportunities to practice it. I am thankful that i am able to learn a life of freedom in God through this community known as the flagstaff abbey. i am thankful for a God who doesn't need anything from me to love me and yet needs everything from me to help Her to be more present in the world.

demonstrations of thankfulness happen most deeply in and quietly through my heart. my attempt to be present is a hit and miss attempt unfortunately, although i too, like many of you, share this to be the ultimate expression showing how one is truly thankful. this after all, is what the abbey seeks to continue to cultivate, the very space to learn to be present through one another to God and God through one another.

today, right now, this second...i am thankful.

[Jill Evans]

I am thankful to be living in this time, and as a woman, in this country. I am thankful for my heart and eyes which are able to see and appreciate beauty, especially the beauty of nature, and for my ability to listen to music which feeds my soul. I am thankful for having work that is rewarding AND pays the bills! I am thankful for knowing Jesus, and even more than that, for knowing that God knows ME and still loves me. I am grateful for parents and pets who showed me God's unconditional love, and a husband and friends who almost do :). I try to demonstrate this thankfulness in acts of kindness and grace toward those who may not have as much to be thankful for.....