Deciding to be grateful
I want to share with you some words from Henri Nouwen on gratitude.
The article is titled “Deciding to be Grateful”.
When I read this title, I’m struck by that this is an intention. Deciding. It’s not an accident or an afterthought. It’s something we do on purpose.
Here now these words from Henri Nouwen…
“Deciding to be grateful
Gratitude is the most fruitful way of deepening your consciousness that you are not an “accident,” but a divine choice. It is important to realize how often we have had chances to be grateful and have not used them. When someone is kind to us, when an event turns out well, when a problem is solved, a relationship restored, a wound healed, there are very concrete reasons to offer thanks: be it with words, with flowers, with a letter, a card, a phone call, or just a gesture of affection. . . . Every time we decide to be grateful it will be easier to see new things to be grateful for. Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love.”
Let me reread a portion of this.. “It is important to realize how often we have had chances to be grateful and have not used them.” This is shocking to me because I think that I try to be grateful, and I try to let people know that I appreciate them.
My friends as I close, I want to leave you with a couple of question for you to carry with you and to think about.
Are there some chances that you have missed to be grateful??
Can you intentionally be and show gratitude?? I invited you to not miss places to be grateful.
This blog was written by Trained Spiritual Director and Retreat House friend Tonya Minton. She hosts Yoga NIDRA once a month virtually and in person at RH. This entry was originally created for a NIDRA meditation. You can watch it here.