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The Gratitude Thread
OneLifeForm
Veteran
I've been meaning to create this as I felt it would be a great exercise for all of us to just share something(s) we are grateful for...
So long as it is not Thanksgiving
I'll start,
I am grateful to be alive today, to be aware, to be clean in body, mind, and spirit.
To be in this process of growth and learning. To be able to laugh at myself.
Having this precious human life, to have come into contact with the Dharma at a young age after having so many life experiences in such a short time that have all pushed me right into the beauty of Buddhism.
I am grateful to have the opportunities that I have, I am able bodied and just started a new job, it is kind of my first real job and I've been extremely neurotic as far as employment goes, a lot of fear dealing with that but I am doing it and enjoying it.
It is a stepping stone as is every moment.
Ok, I'm done for now.
What are you grateful for?
So long as it is not Thanksgiving
I'll start,
I am grateful to be alive today, to be aware, to be clean in body, mind, and spirit.
To be in this process of growth and learning. To be able to laugh at myself.
Having this precious human life, to have come into contact with the Dharma at a young age after having so many life experiences in such a short time that have all pushed me right into the beauty of Buddhism.
I am grateful to have the opportunities that I have, I am able bodied and just started a new job, it is kind of my first real job and I've been extremely neurotic as far as employment goes, a lot of fear dealing with that but I am doing it and enjoying it.
It is a stepping stone as is every moment.
Ok, I'm done for now.
What are you grateful for?
3
Comments
For this person on his laptop next to me.
For my old school parents: loving and dysfunctional. Not so Norman Rockwell. So glad they taught me that I don't need to be Norman Rockwell or even normal to have a happy family, and a good-enough life...that maybe we're better off if we're a little bit "off".
I'm thankful for the insulin that keeps my son alive (he'll be 4 tomorrow, yay birthdays!)
I'm thankful that my oldest son, whom we had so many concerns about when he was little is growing up to be not just a "normal" teenager, but an upstanding young man and citizen, and I couldn't be prouder of the person he is.
I'm thankful that my 10 year old still likes to cuddle with me on the couch and watch tv in the morning.
I'm thankful for my husband who allows me to be who I am, and my children to be who they are, without judgement.
And I'm thankful Ratatoulie is on tv because I it's a great movie.
Oh, and for the fun and curiosity our pet ferrets bring into our lives. Play time for Oy and Slinky!
i love my fiance who is always there for me when i need her
i am extremely thankful for the food on my table that is readily available when i feel hingry
I am thankful for buddhism which at the momment seems to be doing a good job giving me a spiritual detox.
I am thankful for the clothes on my back that keep me warm at night
and last but not least i am grateful to all those whom i meet and interact with on a daily basis.
Ps loving the thread
I am grateful for my family - my husband, who loves me and is such a wonderful person, who I was so lucky to meet, my aunt, who is always honest and supportive no matter what, and my husband's family, who have welcomed me into their lives several years ago without hesitation, and my mother, who survived two brain injuries many years ago.
I am grateful for the animals that share our home and bring me so much joy and entertainment.
I am grateful for having a comfortable home and being able to rent it from family, since two students wouldn't be able to have a backyard easily.
I am grateful for having my basic physical needs met so I can work on the spiritual/mental/academic ones, like Buddhism and being a full-time student.
I make sure to remember 2 be grateful as many times as I can throughout the day ...
to the ancestors who strove for my freedoms.
To the poor who toil to feed and clothe me.
To the creatures who die to sustain me.
To the ignorant who suffer to teach me.
To the terrible debt which swallowed me,
unmade me, recast me and spined me.
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Art-Compassion-Discovering-Psychology/dp/0060750529
http://www.amazon.com/When-Things-Fall-Apart-Difficult/dp/1570623449
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/8052.Pema_Ch_dr_n
Have a good one!
O butterfly, fluttering insect of grace and beauty, teacher of wisdom, pollinator of flowers, sign of summer, and master of movement... please do not retreat! For the summer has gone, but my heart is still afire! Leave me not to dream of you, but to see you in action! O butterfly. I will wait patiently for the spring, lest you hasten your return with glory. O butterfly. You are everything. And everything is you.
http://www.quotegarden.com/gratitude.html
http://www.livinglifefully.com/meditations/mednov28.htm
http://thinkexist.com/quotations/gratitude/
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/60-things-to-be-grateful-for-in-life/
http://www.lexiyoga.com/gratitude-quotes
The correct prayer is never a prayer of supplication, but a prayer of gratitude -
http://tinyurl.com/9eyj6um
http://www.happylifeu.com/Gratitude-Quotes.html
There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude -
http://tinyurl.com/9m7y8h5
http://www.gardendigest.com/cheer.htm
Enjoy!
I am grateful for new technologies without which I would have no way of telling most of you about my gratitude
I am grateful to be living in 2012.
He and his band were on a pilgrimage and it happened that for three days they passed through villages where they were refused shelter, food or water.
After three hard days, exhausted, hungry, thirsty and utterly frustrated, the disciples could not believe that their master continued his gratitude unabated, proclaiming "you are great and compassionate!" - perhaps before their misfortune they could understand the gratitude that seemed to flow following prayer.
On the third evening when Junnaid had finished his prayer, his disciples said, “Now it is time for an explanation. For three days we have been hungry, we have not had water, we are thirsty; we have not slept, we have been insulted continually, no place has been given to us, no shelter. At least today you should not say, `You are great, you are compassionate.’ For what you are showing your gratitude?”
Junnaid laughed in reply, “My trust in existence is unconditional. It is not that I am grateful because existence provides this and that and that. I am — that’s enough. Existence accepts me — that’s enough. And I don’t deserve to be, I have not earned it. Moreover, these three days have been of tremendous beauty because I had an opportunity to watch whether anger would arise in me, and it didn’t arise; whether I would start to feel that God had forsaken me, and the idea did not arise.
There has been no difference in my attitude towards existence. My gratitude has not changed, and it has filled me with more gratitude than ever. It was a fire test, and I have come out of it unburned. What more do you want? I will trust existence in my life and I will trust existence in my death. It is my love affair.
i am grateful that my wife is so cool
she lets me be me with no question
and im grateful for the next breath i take
I am grateful that after 30 years of dealing with the United States Veterans' Administration, my husband FINALLY got word, a week ago, that his disability rating was raised to 100%.
This makes a huge difference in his quality of health care and his peace of mind- now that he feels fairly compensated for his service and sacrifices. He has limited use of one arm/shoulder, heart disease from exposure to Agent Orange, and moderate-severe PTSD. All three have distinctively affected his day to day life and the people who love him for all these years. He's a great guy and he deserved this. I am very grateful and happy for him.
This thread is really nice to read through.
IMO gratitude is proper perspective, and skimming through this thread is a reminder of such.
Ancient poets and sages have called the earth the mother of all things. They could hardly have chosen a more attractive name, or one that was more appropriate. From her lap springs everything that possesses life and motion, everything that flourishes, fades, and has its fated day, and she tirelessly provides material for the countless varied bodies that are created --- and then abandoned --- by the life force in its unending, hidden progress through nature.
Author: Jónas Hallgrímsson