hello and welcome to a new day and a new post. :)
today's post is kind of like a welcome post, part II; an introduction to my true blogs.
so let us dive in.
lately, i have been thinking about what it means to be grateful. truly grateful.
and loving. truly loving.
and gentle. truly, lovingly gentle; yet bold and fierce.
i cannot touch on these all today, so i will choose one: gratitude.
oxford languages defines gratitude as "the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness."
"the quality of being thankful."
thankfulness, i feel, is often depicted as a cloud-nine sense of being so intentionally happy that you physically smile. yet, in real life, we often experience those circumstances as fleeting. no matter how hard we can try to be thankful, it does not seem to last.
this can be devastating for those of us who feel that we need to be thankful about all things. how on earth could that be possible, if thankfulness is so fleeting?
"readiness to show appreciation for ... kindness."
this is the definition of thankfulness. definitions are curt, but i think that they say something profound. if someone is ready to show appreciation for kindness, it usually means that they already appreciate that kindness. some might say that this starts in the mind. i would say that this starts in the heart.
gratitude means noticing what is kind in this world, and what is good. those of us who struggle with depression and pessimism may find this difficult to do (myself included), but there are so many things which are kind and good. if we have enough food for the day, that is good. if we have friends who support us, that is good. if we are given a cup of coffee unexpectedly, that is a kindness worth noticing.
the more that you dig into the goodnesses of this earth, you realize that there are so many of them.
the more that you notice these, the more that you can think on them.
the more that you can think on these, the more grateful your heart becomes.
and it is then--only then--that you can truly be grateful.
why, though, is it helpful to be grateful?
try it--and you very well may see. ;)
with love,
karen elise
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