The Power of Gratitude -

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

Today we take the time to reflect and be grateful. I recently read a chapter about gratitude from the book The Power of Kindness by Piero Ferrucci. It opens with a story about a man who works as a stonemason and constantly craves to be more. He wishes to be the king, the sun, the clouds. Each new wish has a reason to become better than the last. He craves becoming bigger, stronger and more powerful until finally he finds himself returning back to his original self.

“After being everything he wanted to be, he became again what he had always been.” A small change in his perception of endless discontent to finally reaching a place of gratitude.

-Some more quotes I loved-

“If we recognize the value of what we have, we feel rich and fortunate. If we do not recognize it, we feel poor and unhappy.”

“The ability to see value even in humble, unremarkable situations is essential to our happiness, or at least to our well-being.”

“Gratitude is by definition antiheroic. It does not depend on courage or strength or talent. It is based on our incompleteness. If we do not hide if from ourselves, we can receive the goodness that life offers us and we can be grateful. The great sense of relief that comes with gratitude derives from the recognition that we cannot manage alone, that we do not have to strive to be a superman or superwoman, and that even if we are not so brilliant, we are fine we we are.”

Just like the stonemason, I think we all might find ourselves longing to do more and to be more. We feel incomplete on our pursuit to become superman or superwoman. But in the end, we do not have to strive to be superman or superwoman because through gratitude we will know that we are already enough.

In this chapter it mentions that people who noted reasons to be grateful “felt best about their lives in general, had more optimistic expectations of the future, felt best physically and believes themselves to have made the most progress toward their goals. Gratitude seems to be a factory no only in our happiness but also in our health and efficiency.” I found this to be so powerful.

My grandmother read a passage at our table that made me really think about these small and unremarkable situations and I wanted to share it. It reads:

We close our eyes,
we bow our heads
and offer thanks
for daily bread.

For friends and family
gathered near
for forests and rivers
for eld and deer.

For oceans and mountains
for plant and stone
for all that we feel
for love, beauty and home.

And when the day comes
that we must say good-bye,
we thank you, dear God,
for the tears we shall cry,

And our children shall sit
with their own children small,
and give thanks, once again,
for the miracle of it all.

Whether you are religious or not I found this passage to be really beautiful.

What are you grateful for?

I’m grateful for the air in my lungs, my legs, my arms, my eyes, my ears, my nose. I’m so grateful to have a moving body. Find gratitude in life’s simple moments of happiness.

pancake mornings
puppy licks
jazz
clean water
the silence at sunrise
the ocean
eyelash wishes
contagious laughs
warm summer rain
my bedroom
my mom’s unconditional love
fluffy blankets
board games
warm showers
new sneakers
learning something new
hot cocoa
the smell of someone you love
a home cooked meal
the smell of pine trees
the top of a mountain
sandy toes
peonies
the color turquoise
pizza after a night out
a good book
hugs that still feel the same no matter how much time passes

Make your own list of things you’re thankful for too this season. Write it down or talk about it at your table.

In the hidden moments of our rushed life we must slow down and find gratitude in even the simple things; a train arriving just on time, a friend calling when you had been thinking of them or a movie night with your mom. “The possibility of feeling grateful is to open us in every moment of our life. And yet we often miss the opportunity” Don’t miss it.