The Earth's happiest places, the world's oldest woman, the most remarkable use of a cabbage patch:  This month, there's some superlative (and surprising) news for which to be grateful. 

If you enjoyed Wednesday night's eclipse – or even if clouds, sleep, or location prevented you from seeing it – you may enjoy this poem.

Here's how a user-friendly Lent can sharpen your spiritual focus.

G. F. Duckwitz and the people of Denmark courageously collaborated in 1943-45 to turn potentially devastating circumstances into the best possible outcome.

"How dedicated the heart must be to catch its own reflection in another," writes Stephen Levine in this addition to our series from his new book, Breaking the Drought:  Visions of Grace.

The most enjoyable things in life are superfluous – music, for instance, or mountain climbing, or a kiss – as this new set of keywords points out.

Whose heart can you lift with a Valentine's ecard?

What tools can help us be in the present, asks January's newsletter, no matter what that present looks like?

In a way, Ella May Damiani, this month's Gift Person, wasn’t surprised that the Dalai Lama helped save her life.

January's Gratefulnews focuses on bringing the world together so that we can benefit from each others' perspectives.

If you have moments when what you thought you understood gets fundamentally shaken, this poem by Stephen Levine will ring true to you.

How do you begin changing your life for the better when you feel utterly blocked by past pain?

What has slipped away in 2007 is still present, as this beautiful poem by Katherine Lansing Davis shows. To learn more about the poem's origins and read other selections, please see our poetry index.

For the New Year, please let us be the first to greet you with glad tidings, through Mr. Moses.

  Honor the memories of 2007 and celebrate the promise of 2008 with New Year's ecards.

What is it about A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L) that draws people back time and again?  Our Annual Report explores the reasons and underscores the value of your ongoing moral and financial support.

Keeping wonder alive is a gift you can give to yourself, as our December newsletter shows.

  Dreading flying over the holidays?  Want a counterbalance to news of religious extremism?  You will find refreshing perspectives on these topics and more in December's Gratefulnews.

Sadness as well as joy can reveal the true meaning of the holidays. (Scroll down to "Special Memories" under "Links").

"Giver of All Good Gifts" combines Br. David's Thanksgiving prayer with the award-winning music of Gary Malkin and a heart-stirring slideshow.

In the press:  ReligionLink.org offers insight into the "Science of Gratitude," with mentions of A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L) and Light a Candle.

Tuy Sobil's difficult transition in exile became life-transforming as he developed a dance troupe for street kids in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Read his story and other November Gratefulnews.

How can we keep the spirit of upcoming holidays without feeling manipulated into wanting more than we need?  Meredith Jordan describes an intriguing approach in "27 Things."

Scroll down the links in our Guidance topic to learn about a new e-course, Practicing Spirituality with Henri J. M. Nouwen. Nouwen speaks to our condition with his essays on loneliness, anxiety, and insecurity.

Our October 2007 newsletter talks about the importance of community:  "One hand can't tie a bundle."

  Visit our "In the Press" page for a sensitively written and informative new article, "The Meaning of Gratitude," by Douglas Todd of The Vancouver Sun.

Engaging discussions are underway in the "Grateful Living Practice" forum:  "Today I am grateful for...,"  "Books for which I am grateful," "Gratefulness in Business," "The Natural World," and more. Please stop by and join in! 

How universal is gratefulness?

Have you noticed the new community link in our upper-left menu?  It leads you to nearly a dozen ways you can be in touch with others -- online and in person -- to create, nurture, and expand a network for grateful living. 

In our alphabet of keywords, you will now find "thanksgiving" and "truth."  Did you know that some societies don't have any verbal equivalent of "thanks"?  Surprisingly, that lack reflects a greater sense of belonging....

Healing takes on a variety of faces – poetry, social innovation, Blues music, spiritual practice, and ecology – in this month's Grateful News.

We wish you a blessed, peaceful Equinox!

Our new Grief and Gratefulness forum invites you to share your sorrow, your gratitude, and the mysterious intermingling of the two.

Our new ecards include blessings for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), the Equinox, and the month-long Islamic observance of Ramadan.

Have you ever thought about how there's no action word – "religioning" – to tell us what religion is all about?  These explorations into keywords have a playful side to them, through which they express lasting wisdom.

What can gratefulness do to calm the intense pace of our lives?  The August newsletter offers some helpful insights.

Expanding your sense of belonging through this practice session brings you to "the place just right" between grandeur and microscopic magnitude.

Our individual journey of discovery through life "calls for all our energies, and involves both labor and sacrifice; each one approaches it from a different angle."  That journey in the life of Bede Griffiths became a gift to all.

Can food bring nations together?  Can grassroots efforts succeed where big governments fail? Can one class of students fulfill a dream of their beloved custodian? July's Grateful News is full of possibilities.

"To prevent questions from weighing us down we must raise them.  The longer we wait, the heavier they get, like a thatched roof in the rain." These new keywords touch upon the nature of questions, paradox, and more. 

If you enjoyed the narration in "A Good Day," you may also appreciate these audio clips, including a new link to interviews on "Gratitude and the Web of Being," "Our Notion of God," and "Imagine a World."

How can you spend this day in a spirit of blessing all that's around you?  Our July newsletter points the way.

Thank you for your unfailing, deeply appreciated support.

 Take a playful break to enjoy the links in our Children and Elders topic.  Make it a treasure hunt and look for the one about a newly started e-course on "Practicing Spirituality with Children"!

July's Gratefulnews focuses on communication: Journalists speak out in Honduras, Sanskrit echoes around the world, women lawyers in Uganda advocate for fairer laws.  And what about news beyond Earth's bounds?

How can you be grateful and enjoy so much of what is "right" in life when you're caring for loved ones with serious health problems?

In this remarkable account by Naomi Shihab Nye, what begins with frantic tears and a language barrier becomes an opportunity to recognize that "not everything is lost."

This video with Br. David and Roshi Joan Halifax looks at ways that gratefulness helps overcome compassion fatigue.

Our June newsletter is about transforming conflict into trust.

Send a Solstice ecard!

There are still a few spaces left in these upcoming events.

Care for the Earth.  Encourage creativity.  Authentically appreciate colleagues.  In these areas and more, gratefulness and business overlap.  We invite you to reflect on this topic in our new forum.  (Register here if you haven't already.)

If different angels stood watch over every month, what would each be like?  Here's one envisioned for June: "When the rose moon blooms in the sky like a silver-wrought rose, an angel shall show you a rose garden no one else knows."

A 71-year-old man reaching the summit of Mt. Everest?  Cars powered by coconut oil?  Fundamentalist religions peacefully co-existing with society as a whole?  This month's Gratefulnews takes some surprising turns!

Hearing the words "freedom," "opportunity," and "cancer" in the same breath teaches us a lot about gratefulness.

In the 1500s, words like these paved the way to martyrdom:  “Eternity maintains her substance throughout time, immensity throughout space.”    Giordano Bruno showed radical courage by claiming that earth is a small part of an infinite universe.

These keywords bend our conventional way of looking at things.  Think, for instance, about the paradox of being open.  We are fully open to hope only when we are drained empty of all hopes. 

Celebrate the Ascension -- a day for cultivating peace of heart -- with this poem.

Our May newsletter encourages us to cultivate all that is nurturing and healing, in the spirit of the original 1870 Mother's Peace Day proclamation.

A June 19th teleseminar will feature Br. David Steindl-Rast on the topic "What Is Gratitude, Anyway?"

Rilke's poem of trust attests to an enduring relationship that goes beyond our vision, hearing, speech, mobility, and even our ability to think...a relationship which cannot be extinguished.

Saving a language is a vital step towards preserving a culture, so it is wonderful to learn -- along with other Gratefulnews -- that Andean languages are making a comeback.

Christine de Pisan, Europe's earliest known professional woman writer, writes eloquently -- in words no less relevant to us today -- about the delicate matter of keeping peace between nations.

Take a deep and joyful breath.  You have helped light more than three million candles:  a new threshold and a sign of loving compassion fully alive in our world.

"Gratefulness is the inner gesture of giving meaning to our life by receiving life as a gift." 

The April newsletter looks at our struggles in the light of a lifelong discovery of gratefulness.

Send Earth Day blessings with a nature ecard.

Please join us in a candle vigil for Virginia Tech.

Our newest forum, "Grateful Living Practice," gives you opportunities to put your insights into action. 

Thich Nhat Hanh returns to his native land to help heal the wounds of the Vietnam War.  Marc Gold's grassroots philanthropy spreads in Afghanistan and Cambodia.  An unusual rescuer performs the Heimlich maneuver...and more good news.

April doldrums?  Find fresh energy at our Art of Gratefulness workshop April 14th.  Through the mediums of music, movement, poetry, and collage, we will explore how gratefulness applies to our losses, to our everyday lives, and to our relationships.

If you have not heard of Alvida Earls, the love and respect in Marian SkottMyhre's poem about her will be an excellent introduction. 

"A pilgrim's job is to rouse people from apathy and make them think," wrote Peace Pilgrim, who walked more than 25,000 miles to share her practical and compelling message.

Have you ever thought that true knowing both empowers and overpowers you?  That leisure is a virtue?  That love means a wholehearted “yes” to belonging?  There's plenty to ponder in these keywords.

Our March newsletter looks at patterns that help us make sense of our experiences, whether burdensome or uplifting.

One of the many forms peacemaking can take is skillful compassion, as "Pilgrimage through Kham:  A Medical Mission in Tibet" movingly shows.  To view this documentary, go to our Peace resources and scroll down to "Links."

Over the next few weeks, holiday ecards -- starting with St. Patrick's Day and the Equinox -- will be rolling in.  You can schedule cards in advance to arrive on any day you wish.

Rejoice!  Our long-awaited Labyrinth Pilgrimage -- with thousands of variations -- is now ready for your journeys.

These Gratefulness mantras, based on the Christian tradition, have universal appeal.

Even when you fear an adverse response to your efforts, you can live with determination and creativity, as this month's Gratefulnews shows.

If you watch a round dance from outside of the circle, the dancers closest to you appear to be going one way and those on the opposite side, another. When you join the circle, however, you know that everybody is going in the same direction.

If you live in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois area and would enjoy volunteering up to five hours a week to help us with clerical work, please contact us.

  How can we rekindle hope when violence seems to rule the world?

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you," observed this month's Gift Person, Meister Eckhart, "it will be enough."

What can you do when other people don't see your closest relationship the same way you do?

The Guardians for Gratefulness—ANG*L’s major donor group—invite anyone interested in learning more about the Guardian program to attend their annual retreat in Santa Fe, NM, May 4-6, 2007.  For more information, email us or call 217-344-5495.

This wonderful weaving of self and the wild, wet world of frogs takes an honest look at gratefulness amidst prolonged cancer treatment.

If you offer a gratefulness group in your town, where people gather to study and share practice ideas, please let others know in this new forum.  You can also use the forum to find like-minded people who live near you and share your desire to start a group.

Our February newsletter asks:  What does it take to have heart?

To listen to a heart-stirring meditation, prayer, and song by Brother David, visit our audio page and scroll down the new Wisdom of the World selection.

From young photobloggers to Barbaro's enduring spirit to a soft-hearted Rottweiler to flourishing trees in Niger, this Gratefulnews will brighten your February.

Puzzled about how best to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day? You can send a loving ecard, visit our online store, or honor someone with a gift of gratefulness.

If it has been awhile since you laughed and cried at the same time, visit our Angels and Animals links and scroll down to the video “Two Hundred Horses Rescued.”  What a courageous expression of gratefulness!

This year, you can join us for events – to stretch your mind, meditate, cruise, or explore gratefulness through the arts -- in New York, California, or Greece.  

Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh – nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize in honor of his life-long reconciliatory efforts – is this month’s Gift Person.

These new keywords for "I" and "J" sparkle with insight. "...Even bad luck will give joy to those who manage to be grateful for it."

Join people around the world lighting candles for Barbaro, the racehorse who won the Kentucky Derby by the biggest margin in 60 years and won people’s hearts touched by compassion after his injury.

Have you noticed recent updates to our Topic links?  Here's the latest, in Religious Harmony: "Practicing Spirituality with Thomas Merton," a refreshing daily e-course which begins January 31st.

January's newsletter explores two aspects of gratefulness:  Peace (we needn't depend on circumstances to make us happy) and wonder (our very life and breath are miracles).

 Racial harmony over generations, a university program in sustainable living, a remarkably timed rescue:  Let January's Gratefulnews reinvigorate your confidence that together we can build a more caring society.

  As Peggy Billings' poem shows, sometimes back-breaking work that we would just as soon pass on to someone else brings us – along with aches and pains – unexpected gifts. 

Opening to the mystery of love made Catherine of Siena unafraid to improve the world around her.

Is life something that you can lose?

Please accept our gratitude for the gift your life is to us!

Welcome 2007 with New Year's e-cards.

Did you know that the word "humble" is related to the words "human" and "humor"?  Learn more....

Our Annual Report (pdf) shows how thoroughly your kindness has risen up to meet our needs over the past year.

December's Gratefulnews reminds us that the true spirit of Christmas is embodied by people of many faiths.

Can we find time for listening and bewonderment?  The December newsletter reminds us how.

Thomas Merton's words invariably abound with surprises, and these recollections are no exception. 

“Without the energy that lifts mountains, how am I to live?” Thirteenth-century poet Mirabai moves us by her remarkable coupling of devotion with freedom.

This poem has no illusions about the difficult predicament we’re in, and yet it conveys heart-stirring knowledge:  Warm Presence enters into the coldest of our winters.

In gratefulness we open ourselves to this gratuitous universe and so we become fully graced with it. These "G" keywords festively fit the season.

Ever wonder what prayer or other spiritual practice is best for you?

In this month's Gratefulnews, music and poetry help bring about a more respectful world.

The November newsletter looks at an ancient wisdom that we desperately need to honor.

Thank you for sending Thanksgiving ecards and joining this special candle-lighting vigil.

Sister José Hobday describes the four days of Thanksgiving celebrated by the Seneca Iroquois tribe. 

Enjoy our new Gift Shop!

How does gratefulness help in these terrible times when one religion is pitted against another?

Imagine if your legacy to the world was to be known as a kindly neighbor!

 Listen to a recent interview with Brother David on our "In the Press" page.

Did you notice our 14th candle language, Slovene?  If you know any Slovenians, please tell them about this opportunity.  We would also love your help spreading the word about Chinese, Polish, Zulu, and Chichewa candles.  Now that you know the ritual, try lighting a candle yourself in a new language!  You may be surprised at how strange words begin to look familiar to you.

How can we stop lingering in what Maya Angelou calls "the bruising darkness"?  Our October newsletter offers some antidotes.

Sunny the Flying Guide Dog and Cascadilla the Pumpkin Cat are back!  Enjoy our Halloween ecards (and more!).

“Es ist Zeit,” writes Rilke:  “It is time.”  Each word punctuates life the same way summer’s passing punctuates the seasons.  Can we invite the Divine to “let the wind go free” -- that cold, winter wind that is to come – and so take part in what we cannot avoid? 

The awarding of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank, pioneers in micro-credit lending, is news for which to be profoundly grateful.

The best way we can honor the victims of religious intolerance who suffered and died during the Salem witch hunts is by considering how we can create compassionate understanding in our own times.

Even if only a few of us change our lives and learn to play with our varieties rather than fight about them, our efforts will go a long way towards creating a more grateful world.  Sri Swami Satchidananda reflects on regaining our sanity.

Why are people of deep faith of one heart, even though their beliefs differ greatly? For new insights into Faith, Fear, and Give-and-Take, visit this growing alphabet of gratefulness keywords.

Ever wonder how to get a printer-friendly version of one of our articles, or whether you can edit a message you leave with a candle you have lit?  You will find answers to these and other Frequently Asked Questions here.

Our September newsletter explores the kindling of courage.

The gifts you generously donated during our fund-raising campaign surpassed by $200 our goal.  From all our hearts we thank you for providing, in the words of a poetic friend, "a place for reflection where no gust, no storm can extinguish the flame."

Preventing wildfires...with goats?  September's Gratefulnews brings you this and other suprising stories.

The presence and fiery oratory of Mother Jones could move men and women to tears and then embolden them to action. 

Would you like to thank someone for their kind response to candles you lit here?  To leave messages for those whose candle dedications touched you?  To let people know about a group you started?  Our new forum, Light a Candle, allows you to do all this and more.

Celebrate the variety of ways we humans experience divine Mystery through these treasures of Religious Harmony.  Don't miss the e-course on the Tao!

This new brochure (pdf, 112k) is easy to print and share with anyone who may be interested in how gratefulness gives meaning to our lives.

Peace – within us, between us, across national boundaries – begins with gratefulness, which expands our sense of belonging.  During this September 11th season of remembrance, please visit our peace topic, send peace ecards, and join the online candle vigil for peace.

Whether you are a sophisticated film-buff or simply enjoy the occasional movie night, you are in for an adventure when you view the films described here, each revealing unique facets of gratefulness.

Our August newsletter gives you a myriad of ways to master the complicated dance between selflessness and self-fulfillment.

What can gratefulness accomplish in our lives and in our world?  This grateful living mini-course supplies practice ideas plus links to an abundance of resources.

There are moments when, altogether gratuitously, we get an inkling of the ground of our being.  These definitions point us in that direction.

Galileo’s proof that people are players – not centerpieces – in the cosmic mystery shocked a world that believed the sun and the planets revolve around us.

This month's Gratefulnews looks at ways we can restore Earth's ecological balance.

If you've been following Barbaro's progress – his right hind leg is healing well, though he cannot yet bear more weight on his left – we invite you to light a candle along with this group of faithful fans.  If you would like to start a candle group for a concern dear to your heart, please see this page.

Equal in affection towards the mouse his cat deposits under the table and the lavender soap which washes away death's scent, poet Billy Collins basks in "Aimless Love" for all that comes to us "without recompense, without gifts."

Did you know that you can subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter?  The July issue looks at how moments of death and loss can be transformed when we cultivate throughout our lifetime appreciation for surprise.

Thanks to the translating efforts of Aleksandra Redyk, our Light a Candle ritual is now available in Polish. If you have friends who read Polish, please let them know. And take a moment to be grateful for the light which spreads from heart to heart around the world.

As a Solstice gift, we offer this snowy poem, seasonal for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere and cooling for our friends in the North. 

Sojourner Truth's integrity had unstoppable power to set captives free, and her fiery fearlessness continues to rouse us to action.

Please make yourself at home with our Light a Candle updates.  Use the new menu to easily get where you want to go.  Start a group around a shared concern.  You can even custom design an entrance page from your own website!

A friend writes, "I hope you do not grow too commercial although I realise how much it all must cost."    We fervently share her hope and offer you this matching-gift opportunity as a way to meet twin needs:  to remain a free, peaceful haven and to continue to be available to people around the world.  

Celebrate the Solstice with ecards!

Our June Newsletter looks at Gratefulness through the lens of hope.

Ever had a narrow escape?

Honor your favorite graduate with a celebratory e-card.  The cards look so joyous that we are tempted to go back to school in order to receive one! 

How do the many spiritual paths to which we have access go together with our need for a single way?

The news this month is full of healing, as Sweden sets its sights on renewable energy, Iraqi charities offer relief, music restores New Orleans, and poetry helps bring peace to Yemen.

"Our great poverty is our greatest fortune" (Thomas Merton), emptying us so that we can receive the fullness of life's gifts. This alphabetical collection of words, to which we will add over time, points beyond any fullness words can convey to an emptiness in which we can silently recollect all that matters most.

In remembrance of the toll that war takes and in hopes of ever-widening compassion, we offer these Memorial Day e-cards.

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."  The active social concern of Henry David Thoreau, combined with his desire to live in great simplicity and keen awareness, can teach us much about gratefulness.

People of all beliefs are learning a new balance between living valiantly in the world – with everyday responsibilities as well as the vast social responsibility we all share for the healing of our planet – while developing a rich inner life by returning time and time again to our source. 

Please support our work -- for free! -- through GoodSearch. 

The mystery and magic of Minnaloushe the cat -- who dances with the moon in this poem by W.B. Yeats -- challenges our reluctance to face each new phase of our lives.  At first, like Minnaloushe, we find the coldness of constant change troubling.  But what happens if we discover, change by change, the chance to initiate new dance turns? 

Thembi Ngubane bravely offers a public diary that helps bring AIDS out of the shadows.  Silas Siakor speaks out against illegal logging in Liberia.  Angelo d’Arrigo, now greatly missed, soared higher than eagles.  Let their news inspire your own dreams.  

Powerful in their silence and perseverance, the Mothers of the Disappeared came together at Plaza del Mayo in their quest for answers.  Their unfailing witness brings us courage not only to face our own despair but also to defy injustice.

All the different areas of our homes and all the activities we do there can become a workshop for the spirit if approached with respect, creativity, and imagination.  Our friends at Spirituality and Practice invite you to sign up for a new ecourse, Practicing Spirituality at Home, which runs until May 26.

Why are Easter eggs a rather inadequate symbol for what we celebrate this time of year?

Send hope and joy to your loved ones with Passover and Easter e-cards.

How you can learn about gratefulness one step at a time?  This sequence of articles will help you take root in a vital practice for our mutual well being, starting inwardly and moving out to explore how our Earth family belongs together.

Humdrum equals deadness; surprise equals life.  Let these reflections and practice tips challenge you to become more fully alive.

How do we balance contemplation with our responsibility to care for a world in need?  Eido Shimano Roshi and Brother David explore their respective Buddhist-Christian viewpoints with a mix of laughter and somber awareness.

Light a Candle as a pledge of peace.

If you have struggled with the steep climb before us, you will appreciate Gary Snyder's "For the Children."

Renew your faith in human altruism with our latest Gratefulnews stories.

Forty years ago this month, Cesar Chavez marched 340 miles to the California state capitol in Sacramento to draw attention to the struggles of farm workers, whose poverty and disenfranchisement he shared.  Only by giving our lives, he believed, do we find life.

We have a choice of two attitudes, writes Brother David:  We can feel anxiety because we don’t trust that life is a good gift, or we can exchange that anxiety for a positive kind of suffering, a narrow way of compassion that leads to life.

Poet Glenn Colquhoun spent time with the Te Tii Maori community, learning their language and, more than that, their way of perceiving.  In this poem he applies that insight, capturing his grandfather's integral connection with the natural world and his undying bond with his loved ones. 

It's surprising to hear in the news -- not once but twice! -- that you can still come close to the Garden of Eden.

Whose heart can you lift with a Valentine's ecard?

To help another is no virtue, wrote Martin Buber, but rather "an artery of existence," in which we help not out of pity -- a sharp quick pain we wish to expel -- but out of love, tending to another's needs as if they were our own.

"A thing of mystery / is this heart."  These ten poems of Otagaki Rengetsu -- translated by Kaz Tanahashi and Joan Halifax Roshi -- touch upon this mystery with playfulness, poignancy, and penetrating insight.

"The present state of worldwide anxiety, which is characteristic of all great periods of radical transition, must give way to an expression of dynamic hope and faith in the capacity of the human family." 

As our site becomes increasingly popular, our web server (which, true to its name, has served us well until now) occasionally can't handle the load. We're in the process of migrating to a new server. Stay tuned...and thank you for your patience!

Have you noticed how bright the globe has become?  Check out the dozens of new points of light added to our Light Up the World feature since it went live in September.  Each represents a dynamic organization working to bring hope and health to our planet.  

  In 2005, we raised $20,551 -- just over the goal of $20,000 we had set – from old and new online friends.  Thank you for your gift, in any form:  donations, appreciative words, alerting others to our work, or simply being here in peace and compassion.

Looking for “a place you can go where you are quiet”?  This selection from Wendell Berry's "Sabbaths" may provide a gateway there for you.

Read a whale of a story about a whale's grateful behavior, along with other Gratefulnews.

Our Annual Report (pdf, 200kb) reminds us how thoroughly your kindness has risen up to meet our needs over the past five years and during 2005 in particular.  Thank you for fostering a world of grateful living.

The last words of Martin Toler, Jr., who died in the Sago Mine accident, honor the best in our human connectedness:  that life is sacred and our relationships precious and holy.

If, when faced with life's perplexing blend of harsh and hopeful realities, you have ever wavered between doubt and faith, you will appreciate Emily Dickinson's poetic perspective.

Begin 2006 with Ever Deeper Roots in Love.

How can you practice gratefulness when you're estranged from someone you love?

"We want to help other children who are suffering," says 12-year-old Alejandra, who along with eleven other children has been appointed a member of the Council for the Rights of Children in Mexico City.  Read her story and other news to brighten the season.

Thanks to your generous help, we are closing in our goal of raising $20,000 from our friends by December 31st. Your gifts keep this sanctuary of peace and hope available to people around the world.  And did you know about the bonus of the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act?  If you have not already given, we invite you to do so now.

Anyone who barely has a moment to pause in this busy holiday season will find comfort, connection, and a keen penetration into the soul of the matter through Patrick Donnelly’s poem, "On Being Called to Prayer While Cooking Dinner for Forty."

St. Nicholas has arrived with an abundance of seasonal ecards.

"For Your glory, the mighty whales have praised You in the vast ocean: for Your sanctity and holiness the waves have crashed." When we see the world imbued with divine Presence, as Rabi'a did, how can we help but treat all living beings -- even those we ordinarily call "inanimate" -- with profound consideration?

Whether or not you have heard reindeers’ hooves on your roof lately, you will appreciate this perspective on St. Nicholas and the benevolence behind all great gifts (sometimes in the smallest packages!).

"No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant," writes Fra Giovanni in his 1513 message of hope and reassurance.

The approach of winter means the approach of emptiness:  bare branches, denuded fields, the departure of geese.  That very emptiness allows us to notice offerings which we would otherwise pass by unawares.

Rebuilding governments, interfaith relationships, young people's lives, and ecological balance is always Grateful News.

What a tremendous Thanksgiving gift:  We just passed the threshold of one million candles, spreading the light of peace, understanding, hope, and love around the world.  

Our thanks for your support knows no bounds!  Here's what you helped us accomplish in 2005.

How do you distinguish a calling from a daydream?

"Probably no saint is associated more with ecology in the west than Francis of Assisi," writes Dr. Maria Jaoudi in this fourth essay of her series on the divine goodness that permeates life.

Have you ever thought of your life as part of a statue -- still being carved -- that depicts ardent advocates of equality like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott?

Thinking about how to go from a "thank you" here and there to a life imbued with gratefulness?  Don't forget these ABCs, gathering many resources together in one place and linking you to the whys and hows of grateful living.

Within a twelve-step program or any other life path, how do we discern which way to turn at choice points?

How do world religions fit into the perspective of one Way?

Hold tight to happiness, try to maintain it, and it slips from your grasp.  Perennial truths often emerge through paradox, as this poem shows.

Imagine a future in which every watt of power in the house comes from solar panels, or former enemies restore a temple together, or books arrive by camel-back.  This and other good news is happening right now!

Do you know anyone who speaks French, German, Portuguese, or Spanish?  Now you can send ecards in new language categories: Français, Deutsch, Português, Español.

Our friends Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat will be leading an e-course, "Practicing Spirituality with Native Americans," November 1 through December 10.  Explore the values of silence, vision, gratitude, generosity, circles, stories, respect for elders, Earth etiquette, listening, and more.

Wednesday, October 26th, is a day of vigil on behalf of the 2,000 American servicemen and servicewomen killed in Iraq, the tens of thousands of Americans wounded, and the estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians who have died.  Light a vigil candle and join us in prayer.

How is prayer different from wishing? 

A prize for peace, a nudge towards negotiations, a shot at women’s equality, a reprieve for a war-ravaged country:  all are reasons for cautious celebration, but Gratefulnews nonetheless.

"We have to learn all over again how to enjoy those things that children seem to have such a spontaneous relationship with:  dirt, grass, dandelions, cats, and dogs," writes Dr. Maria Jaoudi in Enjoying Nature, third in her series on God-Centered Ecology.  

The mourning in Jeanne Lohmann’s poem, "Beginning Autumn," emerges without bitterness.  She reminds us that disappointment can carry an element of surprise which helps ferry us through our losses. 

"Our tendency is to run away from the painful realities or to try to change them as soon as possible," wrote Henri Nouwen, this month's Gift Person.  With trepidation and faith, he moved forward into those realities, encouraging us by example to do the same.

Our exciting new Light Up the World feature is now online!  Take heart from the light of hope in our world, steady and growing.

Gratefulnews is full of surprises:  $1.25 billion in commitments to tackle world poverty; a Chinese region with women in charge; a Muslim president holding public dialogue with Jewish leaders; and amidst mounting violence in Haiti, an international symphonic tour.

"Spring comes:  the flowers learn their colored shapes."  "Happy Autumn!"  Whether you're in the southern or northern hemisphere, please join us in celebrating the Equinox with seasonal ecards.

People's generosity worldwide towards Katrina-relief efforts brings fresh hope in a somber time. Artist Yunsun Chung-shin found a creative way to help, and offers here her candlelight vigil poster for others to share.

Dankbarkeit ist ein spiritueller Weg, der sowohl für den Einzelnen wie für die Welt zukunftsweisend ist.  (Gratefulness is a spiritual path, pointing the way into the future for individuals as well as for the world.)

How can we change our tendency to take advantage of Earth's bounty?  This second essay in a series by Dr. Maria Jaoudi looks at our partnership in the splendor surrounding us.

It's late summer, and the sweet juice of peaches reminds us of their impossibility, the impossibility of nectar lasting, the impossible yet delicious joy of those fleeting days we live "as if death were nowhere in the background." Can we take in the dusty skin as well as the succulence?

Have you ever paused to be grateful for the wonderful things that almost did not happen? Dale Biron's new poem shows how the slightest turn of a moment can profoundly reshape our lives.

Anne Hutchinson's courageous attention to inner guidance put her at odds with authorities of her day. "As I do understand it," she said, "laws and edicts are for those who have not the light which makes plain the pathway." 

Floods, fires, and droughts worldwide:  As we offer prayers and, when possible, financial aid to people devastated by natural disasters, it’s comforting to remember that dramatic weather can also be good news.

We join with friends around the world in mourning and gratefulness for Brother Roger of Taizé.

A small vessel overflows sooner.

This description of St. Benedict's Monastery Woods, at risk of development for a roadway, gives us pause for reflection, concerned prayer, and renewed efforts to conserve wilderness areas.

Imagine how quickly alternative fuels would catch on if they were profitable!  According to Newsweek, the sooner we get off oil, the sooner we save money.  Read this good news and more.

In this first of a series on God-Centered Ecology, Dr. Maria Jaoudi draws from Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic imagery to help us “awaken to the sacred always present” in the Garden of Life.

Playing with paradox, this poem tenderly points out our need for felt awareness of the Divine Presence, while not for a moment neglecting that Presence in the intimate infinity of grasses, waves, sky, and the miraculous sparking of our own minds.

Striving to live compassionately and free from fear, we can draw inspiration from Fr. Damien De Veuster’s work of restoring dignity to lepers banished on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

Does God single people out for special treatment?  What role does gratefulness play in prayers of petition?

In the face of tragic news from London, here’s comforting news about two people’s peaceful, positive influence and two marginalized groups’ empowerment.

If we consider ourselves members of the Earth Family, our opportunities for belonging, gratefulness, and love are limitless.

Fr. Dennis Grabrian's "Evening Song" sensitively captures that moment at once serene and dynamic when the energy of the day introverts and our connection to the Holy becomes more transparent, like the sky unveiling stars.

What does the Quagga -- that fascinating, extinct kin of the zebra and the horse -- have to do with our dignity and place in the universe?  Martha Kate Miller's heartbreakingly beautiful script offers strength for a passage most of us eventually make.

Hearing how a lion rescues a child, or seeing ex-militia members fight poverty and illiteracy instead of war, or learning how a mother listens to jazz, you just may find your optimism restored.

The registration deadline for our special September gathering has been extended until the end of July. If you are interested in becoming a Guardian for Gratefulness, please join us!

In this poem’s sensitive rendering of grief, memories of shared food become the vehicle for expressing nuances of anger, denial, and humor that are easy to bypass when one thinks "sorrow." 

In this meditation on Equanimity, last in a series on the Four Boundless Abodes, Joan Halifax Roshi asks, “What kind of mind and heart can stay strong and open and not fall prey to conditioned reactions?”

The real truth that we are after is something that holds us; it holds us when we give ourselves, in those moments when we really open ourselves. Read more….

It may come as a surprise to you that A Network for Grateful Living (ANGeL) not only offers this online community, but also local support groups. 

We welcome your interest in a job opportunity for a fund-development professional to advance our mission of creating a worldwide community dedicated to gratefulness.

Do you have friends who speak German? If so, please let them know that we now have a Dankbarkeit homepage with translations of three features:  Light a Candle, Selected Readings, and Angels of the Hours.  Thank you for helping us build a worldwide network for grateful living!

Dismantling stereotypes in the United States, promoting understanding through music in Pakistan, respecting a surprise visit at an Orissa temple in India:  Around the world, grateful news restores our courage.

John Howard Griffin, best known for writing the revelatory journal Black Like Me, devoted his life to bringing awareness to social injustices. 

How many times a day problems jostle for our attention, sidetracking us from the great mystery in which we live and move and have our being!  This poem by Denise Levertov brings a smile of recognition about a forgetfulness we all share. 

Be sure to revisit your favorite topics from time to time; each week we add new links.  Our most recent leads to Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow photography exhibit:  exquisite renderings of the spiritual relationship between humans and other creatures.

It's not easy to take an honest look at our part in the many forms of theft, from harmless to heartbreaking.

"Sending sympathetic joy to someone who is sick or to yourself when your life seems bereft of peace," writes Joan Halifax Roshi, "is a treasure of a practice." 

Communication expert Terry Pearce offers a prescription for conveying real appreciation "in our world where convention rather than authenticity rules."

Who is your favorite poet?  How many neighbors do you know by name?  And how can questions like these help make your intuitive knowledge of the sacredness of nature an effective force in the world?

Rose Hawthorne’s pioneering attitude towards care for cancer patients, born of friendship and respect, began in a tenement apartment far from her privileged roots as the favorite daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Learn more....

Here's a cause for great joy:  No matter where you live, you can now hear Brother David speak through these audio clips on peak experiences, the Buddha's flower sermon, a rabbi's ecstasy, meaning in crisis, and much more.

Responding to our own or another's suffering through compassion allows us to transform it.

Thomas Berry's poem, An Appalachian Wedding, drenches us "in a deluge of delight."

"The arc of the moral universe is long," observed Martin Luther King, Jr., this month's Gift Person, "but it bends toward justice."

Visit our candle-lighting tribute to Pope John Paul II. There are many thousands of candles shining from over 100 countries.

Do you ever feel that you have wintered long enough?  Let these words of renewal lift your spirits.

To live gratefully means appreciating not only your strides ahead, but also mining the profound value of your apparent failures, which build humility and compassion.

"We cannot bank love; it grows as we give it away," writes Joan Halifax Roshi in this essay on Lovingkindness, second in our series on the four treasures.  "The more we give it away, the greater our capacity for love.  This is how lovingkindness becomes limitless."

"Contemplative community is solitude-community for the sake of leisure.  To live leisurely means to take things one by one, to single them out for grateful consideration."

Did you know that we have a Community Bulletin Board where you can post messages and learn about a variety of resources:  conferences, retreat centers, kindred souls in your area, and more?

"How long will you keep pounding on an open door?" asks Rabia, an eighth-century Sufi saint from Basra, Iraq.

What clearer expression of gratefulness can we find than heaven in the "ordinarie"?

D.H. Lawrence's "Pax" reassuringly rocks us back and forth, back and forth, until we find ourselves resting upon the heart of God. Amidst such gentleness, how remarkable to wind up in a place of mastery! 

The ultimate form of self-care is at all times available to us.  In this first in a series of essays, Joan Halifax Roshi encourages us to cultivate four treasures:  lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

It takes a tremendous effort of the heart to pull through a crisis, to find the guidance at the rock bottom of everything.

This tribute to Sri Sarada Devi draws us into the heart of her message:  "If you want peace, do not see the faults of others.  Rather...learn to make the whole world your own.  No one is a stranger."

Awestruck gratitude for a winter rain storm reminds us that prayers can wend their way backwards through time and knit it together with what's to come.

If "two is company," what is three?  Children's wisdom gives us a never-ending source of gratitude.

Thanks to the translating talent and generous help of Jakob Grandin, you can now light Svenska ljuset - Swedish candles. 

When we face a perplexing or troubling event, or when we simply need to replenish our reserves, we can be grateful for the opportunity to tune in to divine grace.

Why is a new understanding of God necessary to carry spirituality into the future?  Listen to this recent interview on a Godview for today's world.

Our miniature candle windows now stay open even when you put your computer to sleep.  (You can engage this feature by going to the settings page and checking the box beside "automatically open and display a desktop mini-candle.")

How can we practice gratitude towards our nation?

Feel a need to refresh body and soul?  Check out the retreat centers listed under "Links" on our Guidance page.  Whether or not you can get away right now, you can take a mini-retreat simply by visiting their serene websites, especially our latest addition, the Hermitage Cottage.

"Ein paar Gedanken über die Tsunami-Katastrophe im Indischen Ozean" und andere deutsche Texte.  (Visit our new consolidated page for German texts.)

 "Taknemmelighed kan lyse op I hele verden":  That's Danish for "Gratefulness can set our whole world aglow."  Heidi E. Barlach graciously donated her time to provide our twelfth candle translation, Dansk.  Please tell any Danish-speaking friends of yours this good news.  And enjoy the beauty of the words yourself!

With a shift in viewpoint, the exclamation "Oh no, more shoveling!" becomes "In Winter, snowflakes accompany you."  A radical appreciation is available to us year-round, as this poem shows.

What can you do personally to strengthen non-violence in yourself, your local community, and the world?  Give this question some thought and then write a short essay or poem for the Blue Rose competition.

When we're overwhelmed by a global disaster like the tsunamis, how does gratefulness fit into the picture? 

Many candles are lovingly dedicated to people who went through the devastation of the Southeast Asian tsunamis.  We remain united in prayer for them. To help through contributions, please see this list of disaster relief organizations.

We're given astoundingly ample time for healing our relationships. It's up to us to make good use of that gift.

"It happens sometimes that a sweet and joyful love is awakened in the heart," writes Beatrice of Nazareth, known throughout centuries for the beauty of her friendships.

 "The quest for meaning is the adventure par excellence." Discover how Word, Silence, and Understanding contribute to this adventure.

Like Maura Clarke and her companions, we can find "real peace in spite of many frustrations and the terror around us."

To view ALL lit candles from your or any other country go to Candles by country page and click on that country's flag.  At the time of this writing, for instance, a single candle from Antarctica reads "Einfach so, weil das Leben schön ist" -- "Simply so, because life is beautiful." 

Offering support doesn’t always mean doing more; doing less also has a place.

"The saints were human exactly as we are.  They should be presented with their human weaknesses; they don’t have to be perfect in every way," writes Brother David in "Heroic Virtue."  What does this mean for the level of heroism we can each reach in our own lives?

In practicing gratefulness during divorce, we do not fail to acknowledge our grief, but rather embrace it with a gentleness aimed at discovery and healing.

As this poem by Ryokan shows, gratefulness springs not only from what we're given, but from what we're able to let go.

How can gratefulness lead us to understand self and God?  In this QBox answer, Zoketsu Norman Fischer offers a Buddhist perspective which opens into a universal scope.

May we "gracefully rise to the occasion of our own falling" at this season of Thankgiving.

Eco-philosopher Joanna Macy encourages us to act our age -- 15 billion years old! -- and Come from Gratitude.

The more we learn about human impact on the environment, the more precious Earth's gifts become to us, and the stronger our urge to protect them. Through our Caring for the Earth topic, you can share creative ideas with others, explore an array of readings, and come away with new resolve to help heal our beautiful planet.

Brother Wayne Teasdale, whose dedication to interreligious dialogue and the welfare of our planet deeply inspired all around him, died on October 20th after a second battle with cancer. Please join us in this tribute.

What does gratefulness mean to us in the harsh realities of life? Though each of us must find our own answer to this question, we can take cues from Gift People like Madeleine Hutin.

Let us together offer this prayer for unity amidst diversity. (Gebet übersetzt)

As you prepare to vote (if you're a U.S. citizen), take a moment to give thanks for this wonderful opportunity to participate in shaping our world.

Celebrate All Saints' Day by exploring your place on the path.

When gratefulness feels phony, how can you find the courage to act out of genuine conviction?

What appears as dry, wrinkled, and old may surprise us when viewed through the inner eye.

Searching high and low for a favorite essay on the site? Or needing food for thought during a quiet day? Enjoy our newly consolidated Readings page.

Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day are right around the corner. Take a moment to greet a friend with one of our new ecards.

As our days go by we don't necessarily look for suffering, but – as Fritz Eichenberg observed – “it's built in.” His illustrations created “life out of a void,” a talent we celebrate in this month's Gift Person essay.

Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB, offers a litany of great souls who inspire each of us to live our own lives fully.

Here is a love poem – part praise, part wake-up call – which drops us quickly into a sacred place of gratefulness. 

“Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty; believe me, that Angel’s hand is there” (Fra Giovanni). Spread comfort and joy through an Angel ecard.

In our innermost heart we can tap a source of power strong enough to counteract the forces that threaten this good green earth. Read about rerooting ethics in a profound sense of belonging.

Can you be dissatisfied and grateful at the same time? Myrtle Fillmore offers a positive slant on the purpose of restlessness.

Brother David describes ways to be "anchored in lasting joy" through prayer.

In response to dozens of requests for help finding candles, we now offer a special search.

Have you ever felt that you were being tried beyond what is humanly possible to endure? If so, you may find help in a surprising source: Fairy Tales.

A new season, new blessings! Celebrate Autumn (northern hemisphere) and Spring (southern hemisphere) with equinox ecards to family and friends.

What do we do with the fact that our human life, in the only form in which we know it, is bound for destruction; and on the other hand the fact that “all joy wants eternity,” as Nietzsche puts it? Here are insights into the Now That Does Not Pass Away.

In honor of Peace Prayer Day (September 11):
* Visit our Fear/Peace resources.
* Send a peace e-card.
* Light a candle for peace in the good company of 400,000 others from 237 countries around the world.

While sending our love and – when possible – tangible support to troubled places we hear about in the news, it's refreshing to remember also the happy stories less often covered by the media, such as those in the latest edition of Gratefulnews.

On all different spiritual paths, the goal doesn’t come at the end: Every step is the goal.

The word "ecumenism" comes from the Greek word for house. What kind of world-wide house could possibly accommodate all those who, in so many different ways, want to worship God?

Noelle Oxenhandler’s “Where I Found the Women” is a poem of literally uplifting images: high-tossed hay and a suddenly arising ocean view, crafted carefully into the idea of belonging.

"The sublime majesty of Truth's presence in the sacred sermons of so many wise ones, those of good will, ultimately guides us to the ways of peace and wisdom, the lovely, the holy. And so our troubled hearts are reassured..." Read about the Gift Person who wrote and lived these words.

Out-pouring and in-gathering, journey and home, are inseparably united in the dynamic reality of the heart.

As Labor Day approaches, consider this: How can you make work leisurely?

Many ancient myths sound like wild stuff, but what could be wilder than the scientific assertion that we came out of the stars? Take a moment to remember the Cosmic Story within which we live.

This chant in gratefulness for healing comes to us across a millennium as vibrantly as if newly written.

When is disillusionment a hopeful sign? Here's a response from our QBox.

Stressed at work? Sign up now for a free, eight-week E-course – offered through our sister site, Spirituality and Health – on inner practices to make your outer work more meaningful.

“The only way to live is to live in a world that is charged with the presence and reality of God,” wrote Thomas Merton in appreciation of this month’s Gift Person, William Blake.

Knowing the punch line of parables numbs us to their meaning. Poet Christina Rossetti bypasses this familiarity and creates a gateway to gratitude by immersing us in the prodigal son's uncertainty.

In our moments of clearest insight, we experience an overwhelming sense of belonging. Now, what are the consequences of being all in the same boat?

Invite a friend for a visit.

Ram Dass, Brother David, and Swami Satchidananda explore the value of vows.

Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson reflects on the power of real jubilation to lift us up.

Call to mind a moment of awe -- that inexplicable fusion of fear and fascination -- and you've begun to explore the link between Art and the Sacred.

Welcome to our new Grief/Joy topic! The practice session explores the profound source of gratefulness right within grief itself. Share your own experience on the related message board, and learn more through links to further resources.

From now through September 21st, international youth interested in alternative building and peace activism will work side-by-side to build a truly sustainable modern village that can easily be modeled for other communities. To learn more and get involved, see the Time to Shine website.

"If we allow our hearts to be broken they will be broken open not broken down, open to embrace everyone." Here's an invitation to pay the Price of Peace.

Have you ever discovered a stream so fast that it reminded you of a galloping horse? In his poem about Inversnaid Falls in Scotland, Gerard Manley Hopkins' rhythms race and flow along with his images. If you find his words puzzling, follow this key.

Don't let age, teasing, or even species stand in the way of what you want to do. See our latest edition of Gratefulnews....

What do we need in order to pull ourselves together? Jack Loudon from Parabola magazine explores this question in an interview with Brother David.

New to the site? You can discover highlights from the past year on our newsletter page. If you're an long-time friend of A Network For Grateful Living, you can help us by alerting your friends to this page and the opportunity to subscribe. We respect people's full mailboxes by sending newsletters only once a month.

Here are some beauty tips within everyone's reach.

In "A Deep Bow," Brother David observes, "Is not gratitude a passage from suspicion to trust, from proud isolation to a humble give and take, from enslavement to false independence to self-acceptance in that dependence which liberates?"

Sister José Hobday writes about a surprising -- and much-needed -- gift.

After a marathon of 27,000 miles -- more than 50 miles per day -- what would be foremost on your mind?

Through a wealth of Hasidic, Zen, and Sufi teachings as well as the Christian gospel, Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello wakes us up to heaven in the here and now.

Have you ever known in your bones that you belonged? "Spirituality as Common Sense" explores the nature of such peak experiences.

"Encounter with mystery is our basic religious experience; it is our confrontation with the 'Holy,' with a power beyond our comprehension which challenges us, and to which we yet feel akin." Read about Views of the Cosmos.

Whether you are in need of rain, are grateful for rain just received, or even wish the torrents would slow down, you can appreciate the profound expression of need in this Bedouin prayer.

Have you ever built a sand castle on the beach, only to be startled by that incongruous, out-of-scale leg or beach chair intruding on this perfect miniature world? Brother David explores the inclusive nature of wholeness.

If we say "thank you" and really mean it, writes Brother David, we have said YES to our belonging together.

When a relationship shatters, you can go on claiming the gifts it has bestowed. To learn more, visit Questions about Gratefulness.

Think twice before you convert that battered junk into a CD holder! See the latest edition of Gratefulnews....

Send balloons to a graduate, welcome friends to their new home, or simply affirm with Abraham Joshua Heschel that "just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy." We've added dozens of new ecards for your enjoyment and sharing.

Based on the paradox that "everything is alive as long as we let it go," Brother David speaks about Learning to Die.

In times of rampant disillusionment, it's hard to know where to find faith. David Whyte's poem introduces a slender wedge of illumination with the potential to wax into far more.

The taste of gratefulness ties the world together in this travel tale by Phil Cousineau.

Don't let your scientific wonder wane! These children's quotes restore laughter to an oftentimes serious subject.

"If you can just appreciate each thing, one by one, then you will have pure gratitude,” Shunryu Suzuki Roshi wrote. “Even though you observe just one flower, that one flower includes everything." Have you ever seen a single flower with gratefulness?

Come feast your eyes on our Picture Gallery's colorful new paintings by students of Elisabeth Gross-Marks.

Experience the richness of today's rhythms through Meet the Angel of the Hour. Oskar Gelinek has kindly translated this feature into German: Hier hast Du die Möglichkeit, den Stundenengel zu treffen.

Acenda uma vela no Português! A gratidão pode iluminar todo o nosso mundo. (Please spread the word to your Portuguese-speaking friends. Thanks to the dedicated work of translator Maria Adelaide Silva, we've added a tenth language to Light a Candle.)

What is your attitude towards truth? Brother David explores the dynamic nature of understanding.

Our busy lives give gratefulness an intense workout, and from time to time we yearn to be in places set aside for renewal. Enjoy this selection of retreat links, with two favorites newly added: Upaya and Sky Farm.

Since when did you give yourself permission to rest in a moment of simple pleasure, free from judgment? Take to heart William Stafford's poetic hint: Pick up and save these "pieces of Heaven" which can happen "Any Morning".

You can still find Brother David's articles sprinkled throughout various topics, but for your convenience they're now also gathered in a central index.

Different human beings follow different paths to find that oneness which we all have — with other human beings, with animals, with plants, with the whole cosmos. To arrive there is bliss, the path of the heart.

Ever wonder what gratefulness has to do with everyday chores like dishwashing?

Most of us have heard of "pay it forward," but have you ever thought about "dying forward"? Read about this creative tension in The Artist at the Crux of Community.

We continue to be profoundly grateful for our generous donors. Your financial and creative support lead to responses like that of Annette from Russia: "Now somebody has more warmth on the Earth."

Please help us launch our new Gratefulness for Tastes message board!

Would it surprise you to learn that you can begin changing your life right now, right where you are? Read more...

Do you need to accept Buddhism or Hinduism in order to meditate?

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote that "the day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, and gravitation, we will harness for God the energies of love." Read about his life and thought in our new Gift Person essay.

This Osage planting chant firmly repeats a single, powerful phrase -- "I made a footprint." Not only do these footprints become the seedbeds from which corn grows; they also keep us quite literally in touch with Earth's generosity.

One of our most popular features, Word for the Day is now available via email. Subscribe here and we'll send you a fresh quote each day.

In a fear-ridden time, many people want security at any price and wonder whom to trust. This interview with Brother David looks at sources of guidance and the nature of true authority.

When we try to live up to the standards of a God who is purely light, we can't handle the darkness within us. But the more we suppress this darkness, the more it leads a life of its own. Before we know it, we're in serious trouble. Brother David's reflections in "The Shadow" help guide us out of this trap.

Have you ever thought of St. Patrick as an advocate for those on the fringes of society? Read the fascinating story behind his courage and humility.

A concerned father asks about his daughter's involvement in Wicca.

How does gratefulness fit in when someone you know acts unreliably time and time again?

Your ordinary activities may be more significant than you realize. Read Brother David's thoughts about the loving sacrifice all life makes to nurture life.

How does prayer fit into the practice of modern medicine? Dr. Larry Dossey's "Return to Prayer" explores the impressive body of evidence showing that prayer works.

Gratitude threads our lives into a unified whole. Take a moment to contemplate your own experience of this seamlessness, through William Wordsworth's poem "The Rainbow" and its accompanying introduction by Brother David.

Calligraphy flows:/ an elegant new river/ of grateful haiku.

"Joy and growth come from following our deepest impulses," observed A.J. Muste, "however foolish they may seem to some, or dangerous, and even though the apparent outcome may be defeat." To learn more about this deeply dedicated peacemaker, please see our new Gift Person essay.

A visitor asks how to help bereaved neighbors.

“Every religion has its mystical core. The challenge is to find access to it and to live in its power.” Read Brother David’s reflections on the discrepancy between our authentic religious experience and the forms that normally pass as religious.

Sun Bu-er (China, 1124 AD - ?) raised three children before she took up full-time spiritual practice at age 51. Her poems remind us of a paradox we live with moment by moment: We wait for the Divine to appear, yet we recognize that Presence even now in our midst. "Cut Brambles Long Enough" compares this double awareness to a lotus bud. Cut the branches in its way, "sprout after sprout," and naturally it blossoms in the light.

If you have ever wondered what it means to live gratefully in the midst of illness or infirmity, you will appreciate Mariah Fenton Gladis' thoughts on compassion towards the body.

Welcome the New Year with these passages by Georgia O'Keeffe on the wideness and wonder of the world.

"Who has reached the extreme limits of scale with the same infallible precision, equally guarded against the false refinement of artificial elegance and the roughness of spurious force?  Who has better known how to breathe anguish and dread into the purest and most exquisite forms?"  Can you guess whom French composer Charles Gounod refers to in this passage? Turn to our new Gift Person essay to find out.