Thought Leader: David Steindl-Rast

Click for Ted Talk: Want to be happy? Be grateful.

“The root of joy is gratefulness...It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”

Renowned spiritual leader and Benedictine monk, Brother David Steindl-Rast trained for 12 years in the Benedictine monastic tradition before receiving permission to practice Zen withBuddhist masters. He went on to become a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell, where he was the first Roman Catholic to hold the Thorpe Lectureship, and co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies, as well as gratefulness.org.

Click here.

Notes  from talk:

Grateful living. Every moment is a gift. We haven’t earned it, we haven’t bought it but it is the most valuable thing that could be given to us. This moment is a gift. The gift within this gift is the opportunity. Opportunity is the gift within every gift. Every moment is a new gift offering a new opportunity.

“Does that mean we can be grateful for everything? Certainly not! We can not be grateful for violence, for war, for oppression, for exploitation. On a personal level, we cannot be grateful for the loss of a friend, for unfaithfulness, for bereavement. But, I didn’t say we can be grateful for everything. I said we can be grateful for every given moment, for the opportunity."

“We can arise to the opportunity that is given to us. When a difficult thing is occurs to us, it’s a challenge to rise to that opportunity. And we can rise to it by learning something, which is sometimes painful."

“And if we fail, we always get another opportunity. That is the wonderful richness of life."

"How can we find a method that will harness this? There is a very simple method: stop, look, go. You need stop signs in your life." 

"A grateful world is a happy world." 

Suggested Book: 

Available at amazon

More Quotes: 

“Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness.”

― David Steindl-Rast, Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings

"Look closely and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful. The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted."
— David Steindl-Rast in The Music of Silence

“We are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart.”
― David Steindl-Rast

 

Daily Gratitude: Wonder

Day 11/365: I am so grateful to live in a wonder-filled Universe that keeps me in a child-like state of awe and appreciation.

"We are all born with a sense of wonder.
Wonder and awe allow us to transcend the ordinary.
 
Wonder inspires us to open our hearts and our minds to engender gratitude."
-- Louis Schwartzberg

World Gratitude Day Challenge - Celebrate Miracles

"The miracle is not to walk on water.  

The miracle is to walk on the green earth 

in the present moment, 

to appreciate the peace and beauty 

that are available now."  
  -- Thich Nhat Hanh  

Gratitude is good for you.

Recent studies prove that being grateful has a beneficial effect on happiness, health and fitness, relationships, success, energy and many other aspects of a vibrant life. There's even a close relationship to "miracles." (See definition below.)

World Gratitude Day, September 21, was officially started by the United Nations Meditation Group in 1977. It was created to encourage people to celebrate:

• Life in all its many forms
• Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers
• Opportunities, experiences, adventures
• Personal skills, talents, successes and failures
• The beauty around us, natural and man-made
• The things that make life safer, easier, more fun

To honor this day, we're going to see how many miracles we can create before World Gratitude Day. We're defining miracles not as walking on water or winning the lottery but as those unexpected delights that make you smile and say "Wow!"

     The World Gratitude Day 
Create Miracles Now -

Celebrate Miracles on September 21st

Start now to think about what you are truly grateful for. Studies show that rather than just making a list of things you’re grateful for, it is more beneficial to think and write about ONE thing at a time, listing 3-5 reasons why you’re grateful for that one thing.

Since gratitude and miracles are closely related, let's pay close attention to the miracles that show up in your life. The more we pay attention to them, the more they seem to multiply. How many will show up in our lives?

To create your miracles, you can grab a Gratitude Miracles journal at amazon.com … or you can simply record your gratitudes in any journal … or on little slips of paper you put into a gratitude jar. Do it your way! 

Pay close attention to the miracles

and share them in the comments section below.  

 First be grateful,

Then watch for miracles. 

Invite your friends and family ...

the more miracles, the merrier!

Note: The one thing per day format is used in Gratitude Miracles, the 5-minute journal that could change everything! It also gives you quotes, prompts and simple tasks to help you recognize gratitude all around you. 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Gratitude Miracles

by Joyce Wycoff

Giveaway ends September 24, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Guide: Brother David Steindl-Rast

“The root of joy is gratefulness...It is not joy that 

Click for Ted Talk: Want to be happy? Be grateful.

makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”

Renowned spiritual leader and Benedictine monk, Brother David Steindl-Rast trained for 12 years in the Benedictine monastic tradition before receiving permission to practice Zen with Buddhist masters. He went on to become a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell, where he was the first Roman Catholic to hold the Thorpe Lectureship, and co-founded the Center for Spiritual Studies, as well as gratefulness.org.

Notes  from talk:

Grateful living. Every moment is a gift. We haven’t earned it, we haven’t bought it but it is the most valuable thing that could be given to us. This moment is a gift. The gift within this gift is the opportunity. Opportunity is the gift within every gift. Every moment is a new gift offering a new opportunity.

“Does that mean we can be grateful for everything? Certainly not! We can not be grateful for violence, for war, for oppression, for exploitation. On a personal level, we cannot be grateful for the loss of a friend, for unfaithfulness, for bereavement. But, I didn’t say we can be grateful for everything. I said we can be grateful for every given moment, for the opportunity."

“We can arise to the opportunity that is given to us. When a difficult thing is occurs to us, it’s a challenge to rise to that opportunity. And we can rise to it by learning something, which is sometimes painful."

“And if we fail, we always get another opportunity. That is the wonderful richness of life."

"How can we find a method that will harness this? There is a very simple method: stop, look, go. You need stop signs in your life." 

"A grateful world is a happy world." 

Suggested Book: 

Available at amazon

More Quotes: 

“Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness.”
― David Steindl-Rast, Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Parallel Sayings

"Look closely and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful. The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted."
— David Steindl-Rast in The Music of Silence

“We are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart.”
― David Steindl-Rast