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Shall We Gather Online?
Do you want to keep receiving these emails? Practicing Gratitude in Solitude I am seeking your input on the future of ourgratitudecollective. I created this website five years ago for the purpose of having a place for like-minded people to gather and share gratitude in community. It has been a beautiful endeavor. That has been…
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Spells
Every word we speak is a spell A Week of Gratitude Out Loud Day 1: Write your gratitude as normal. When you are done read it out loud feeling your gratitude vibrate through your chest and mouth. Day 2: Call a friend and tell them what you appreciate about them. Day 3: Tell a service worker…
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A Recipe for Feeling Alive
Acceptance and Appreciation Throughout What Makes You Feel Alive? It is such an individual thing. What makes you feel alive and what makes me feel alive are probably vastly different. But as I hold my animal companion through her last days I have been thinking a lot about how often it is the simplest things…
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Holding Boundaries with Gratitude
Sometimes I say, “it’s ok” and sometimes I say, “thank you”. How Do You Respond To, “I’m Sorry”? Previously I have written about saying, “thank you” instead of “I’m sorry” but today I want to focus on how we respond to an apology and the role that gratitude can play. This was inspired by two…
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Grateful to Notice
Let’s put down our phones and pay attention. Appreciating and Honoring Through Our Attention Last week one of our members shared a post to our FB group about gratitude as a result of paying attention. (Thank you, Forest!) And as you all know I am all about the three part gratitude process: Notice, Appreciate, Share. That…
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Without Their Validation
I accept myself in this moment. Using Gratitude to Stop Caring What Others Think In the scenario from last week I talked about how expectations can get in the way of positive emotion. Another way to see that scenario is from the lens of validation, which really is just another way of saying acceptance. External…
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Without Expectation of Thanks
How dare they not thank me? When My Expectations Get in the Way Earlier this week my classmates were complaining about their low grades on the midterm exam, frustrated that the professor was not open to offering extra credit or any other accommodations. I asked about one particular question on the exam that I got…
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Your Closet Full of Clothes
Boots and sweaters and scarves As Fall Approaches The weather has turned cold. The leaves are changing and the mountains even got snow! I love fall clothes, so warm and cozy. Socks and boots and knitwear. Thinking of this reminded me of how grateful I am to have a closet full of clothing. Always enough…
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World Gratitude Day is Friday
Ripples of Gratitude A Day to Spread Gratitude Throughout the World Friday is World Gratitude Day, a day to spread gratitude throughout the world. Do you feel alone in your gratitude practice? Do you believe in gratitude? Do you envision a world united by gratitude? Are there others that you know would benefit from practicing…
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Gratitude Makes Charitable Giving Feel Better
Science! It’s been awhile since I shared some gratitude research. Charitable Giving and Gratitude Throughout the years I've shared many benefits of practicing gratitude from personal experiences as well as those proven through research studies. I discovered a new study with an unexpected benefit of practicing gratitude that can be seen in brain scans. First…
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Belonging
“Don’t walk through the world looking for evidence that you don’t belong.” Finding Belonging Brené Brown gives this powerful advice that emerged from her research on belonging. She says that we shouldn't walk through the world looking for evidence that we don't belong because we will find what we are looking for. She instead says…
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Pssst Pass It On
Passing good feelings around wide and far. A Smile. Kind Words. A Wish. How much time and energy does it take to share a few personalized kind words? To share a smile? To share a hug? Not too much. Let's make a point to share positive vibes with the humans in our world. Because the…
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Don’t Be a Gratitude Pusher
Gratitude is something you feel. Not something you tell others to feel. Feel It or Don't. It's up to You Alone. Today I saw this quote from Paul Ryan: This is one of those moments where we just need to step back and count our blessings. We need to think less about taking sides and…
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The Flow of All Things
The shape of everything is flow. ~Richard Rohr Choose to See the Flow What possibilities open up for you when you choose to see the flow in all of life? In nature. In seasons. In relationships. In thoughts. In emotions. In love. I went to a talk last night and everything kept coming back to…
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Heart of Gratitude in Service
How can I be of service to you? How can you be of service to others? Being of Service in a Transactional World This Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr Day and more specifically it was the Martin Luther King, Jr Day of Service. But what if we use our gratitude practice to inspire us…
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Not Saying Anything Negative About Anybody for Three Days
I caught myself about to talk shit about someone. If You Can't Say Anything Nice I started typing out a text that was being empathetic to the person I was texting but it was really judgmental and negative about our mutual friend. Luckily I paused before hitting send and reread it. I realized that this…
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Gratitude Can Help Uphold Your Boundaries
How do you respond to an apology? Teaching People How To Treat You Setting personal boundaries is really tough. On some level all of us know how we want to be treated by others. But knowing it is only the foundation. We also have to communicate these boundaries and then honor them. I have been…
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Today We Are Full of Thanks
Some gratitude questions to share around the table today. There’s Nothing Like Authentic Gratitude Sharing I hope your Thanksgiving is full of people you love sharing each other’s presence and love. As you enjoy each other I hope you also share from the heart about what you are grateful for. Here are some gratitude questions…
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In Outrage and in Gratitude
Don’t cover your eyes to it. Don’t ignore it. Take care of yourself too. Being Grateful When The World is So Fucked Up Gratitude ≠ Happiness Darkness is not a lack of gratitude. Authentic gratitude comes from looking at the world with eyes wide open. It is not protected behind blinders – ignoring the horrors…
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What Do You Stand For?
We stood for peace. We stood for equity. Then we had dinner together. Start In This Moment If you want to create a better future. Start in this moment. Take a stand. It was easy for me to say that I am against white supremacy but I struggled to put into words what I was taking…