My friend, Janet Broderick, preached about gratitude on Sunday at St. Peter's in Morristown. It was a beautiful sermon and one I needed to hear. Here's one of the points she eloquently made:
"It's not happiness that makes us grateful;
it's gratitude that makes us happy."
What a revelation that was to me. I've always thought that it's the things I have (not just stuff, but experiences, people in my life, places) that made me happy and that, in turn, makes me grateful. For those things (again, not just the stuff). But that's not really it at all and that explains why the moments of gratitude are separated ... like dots on a timeline. Why the time between the moments of gratitude are often unsatisfying.
It's really the other way around. Starting with a grateful heart, every minute, allows happiness to flood inside. Starting from that place of gratitude, enables one to fully realize all the possibilities for joy that exist every day. Starting from that place of gratitude unleashes the potential for unlimited ways to find happiness.
But gratitude is also a practice. And those things we call a practice (living a life of gratitude, keeping healthy and fit, prayer or meditation, so many others), require practice. We aren't good at them the minute we discover them. We need to keep touching base with these things until they become second nature and are as deep-rooted in our lives as breathing. Practice.
I needed that sermon on Sunday. I've always been grateful for the things, people and places in my life. For my job, my fun, and all the rest. But I've been miserable the last few months and now I know why ... I need to start from a position of gratefulness. So let the practice begin.
Every day.
Every day.
It's Thanksgiving Night ....
Today I'm grateful for
... my mom who makes the world's best turkey (for real)
... my children and all my family
... my friends here and there and my twitter family
... and Janet for her words last Sunday
No comments:
Post a Comment