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Welcome! This is a place to share how we celebrate & deepen our relationship to Nature. Here you will find stories, images, & ideas about wilderness, human nature, & soulfulness. Drawing from the experiences of everyday living, the topics on this blog include: forays into the natural world, the writing life, community service, meditation, creativity, grief & loss, inspiration, & whatever else emerges from these. I invite you on this exploration of the wild within & outside of us: the inner/outer landscape.



Friday, November 8, 2013

All About Gratitude

Today I understand the following about my personal practice of gratitude:


Gratitude is a condition of the immediate; it happens now and is about right now. It is not about the future (that is hope). It is not about the past (that is reverie).

Gratitude is about small stuff as much as global, life-changing matters.

Gratitude is specific. (It is not, “my health is good.” It is, “my shoulder moves freely today.”)

Gratitude is about balance. It doesn’t require a lot of something to have gratitude. It is also about keeping our perspective in balance.

Gratitude is about what we have, not about what we don’t.

Gratitude requires an acknowledgement of blessings.

More than a feeling or stance or value or ideal, gratitude is a practice, a set of behaviors that we can cultivate.

Gratitude is, finally, about giving away to others, serving them, out of our deep, abiding appreciation for our very life.

I wonder what else I will learn about gratitude as my journey progresses…

And I wonder how you understand gratitude? What practices do you engage to foster the wellspring of gratefulness in yourself? How do you demonstrate this to others?


I urge you to consider this, for gratitude does make a difference.


All blog images created and/or photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted.