Close
Close

Receive “Word for the Day” each day in your inbox

See our Privacy Policy

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Menu Gratefulness Donate
Daily Question, December 7

How does living gratefully help me navigate life’s ups and downs?

  • Carol

    Ups and downs are no longer opposites. they both represent opportunity. Oneness rather than duality is easier to embrace and the battles within are calmed. Being present to my life moment by moment manifests more often.

    • Mica

      Thank you Carol! “Ups and downs are no longer opposites.”🧿🙃😊

  • Carla

    Living gratefully has reduced the emotional swings I’m still prone to have.just by my nature. I’ve come to know whether it’s an up or a down time—“this too shall pass.” I’m grateful for Grace that provides acceptance.

  • Ed Schulte

    The ‘Word of the Day’ speaks volumes to this question. The Not-paying attention to the body’s wisdom is the painful side of the truth it speaks of !
    Word for the Day

    Our bodies are speaking to us all the time—and if we pay attention, we hear the gratitude they hold.

    COLETTE LAFIA

  • Patricia

    From the wording of this question, “navigating life’s ups and downs”, I had this image of a ship plunging through stormy seas. Sometimes all we can do is hang on… or maybe gratitude is the ship itself?

  • Antoinette

    It teaches me that letting go is truly important.

    • Ed Schulte

      Yes very true! “Letting go” is acknowledging the fact that life is truly the greatest gift.

      I read an analogy of life’s ( imagined ) chalange this morning, it said .. parahrasing a bit here ….”Life is a puzzle with many pieces, each life time is a test of completing that puzzle”

      So I took from it and added my own summation …

      Gratiude is the table surface to do the task of assembling that many piece puzzle to its completion on.

  • Nelson

    When down, gratefulness reminds me that things could be worse and that better days are to come. When up, gratefulness reminds me the power of being in a mindset of abundance, positivity, and love.

  • Butterfly

    I find that living gratefully is my bedrock. Whatever life throws at me I now have that stability in my mind and heart. I am so much calmer and happier since being introduced to this website and learning to practise gratefulness every day 😊

    • Pam Larson

      I am new here, what part teaches you that?

      • Mica

        Dear Pam Larson, living gratefully helps us accept what comes – and many other benefits.🤗

        • Pam Larson

          And how do you learn that?

          • Pam Larson
            Thank you Holy in Ohio. I do try and look toward the positive, but self pity often gets in my way. I have COPD, stage 4, yet, to be grateful I can still breath on my own (most times) and I try very hard not to let it get in my way. I've started living more in the moment, for it is all I am guaranteed, yet, fear does worm it's way into my head. I was just diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism and it's like "no, I already have one thing!!" the "not fair" voice cries loudly at time in my head. I am g...

            Thank you Holy in Ohio. I do try and look toward the positive, but self pity often gets in my way. I have COPD, stage 4, yet, to be grateful I can still breath on my own (most times) and I try very hard not to let it get in my way. I’ve started living more in the moment, for it is all I am guaranteed, yet, fear does worm it’s way into my head. I was just diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism and it’s like “no, I already have one thing!!” the “not fair” voice cries loudly at time in my head. I am glad this site came to me, it couldn’t have picked a better time.

            Read More
          • Holly in Ohio
            I would say for me, it came with practice. I look for good things every day. At first, from the point view I used to have, it was difficult to find things to be grateful for. Over time, life did not create more things for me to be grateful, rather it was the practice of looking that helped me to see the blessings that are there. The resilience comes because the gratitude fills us. We need less to be happy or content or at peace. Good things happen, bad things happen, but most days we can see...

            I would say for me, it came with practice. I look for good things every day. At first, from the point view I used to have, it was difficult to find things to be grateful for. Over time, life did not create more things for me to be grateful, rather it was the practice of looking that helped me to see the blessings that are there.

            The resilience comes because the gratitude fills us. We need less to be happy or content or at peace. Good things happen, bad things happen, but most days we can see some good, even when loss is present.

            I find that patience helps, Pam. Just practice and be patient. .

            There are many resources here that help us learn. These daily questions are one, there are videos, the quote of the day, there is the community itself.

            Welcome to the website, Pam. 🙂

            Read More
  • EJP

    Living gratefully opens my heart and soul to all that life sends my way, the challenges and the joys. Gratefulness enables me to understand and appreciate it all.

  • Kevin

    Living each day with a measure of gratefulness for all that a day holds, for its joys and for its challenges, somehow also builds in a cushion, a dose of resilience if you will, that has, frequently, lifted me over and past the worst of the most difficult days.

    • Mica

      Thank you, Kevin – ” a cushion, a dose of resilience” – and I am awaiting my air cushion for my poorly padded self, probably exacerbated by the fact that I’ve been sitting on the cushion of this same glider rocker since 2002 now 🙂

      • Kevin

        Ha! Sounds like that air cushion will be an excellent investment, Mica! You may never want to rise up from your favorite seating ever again!

        • Mica

          Yes, Kevin – I moved the dining table and the adjacent table with the guinea pig cage to where I can reach from the glider rocker to pet the guinea pig if she’s at the end of the cage 🙂

  • sunnypatti

    The word in this, for me, is acceptance. Life has lots of ups… and lots of downs. It’s not always perfect; it’s not always fun. But it is the life we are living, and appreciating the ups and learning from the downs help to move forward, to advance and grow as a person. I’ve learned that it’s really the only option, so I might as well do the best I can, which isn’t always that great! But I forgive myself when I need to and focus on what’s in front of me.

  • Michele

    It’s part of life to have ups and downs, good days and bad days. Love, kindness, empathy, experience all help through it.

  • Christine

    I’m not sure yet if I really live gratefully. When life has its ups, gratitude comes naturally. But in the moments of downs, of intense sadness, I only feel intense sadness and then frankly I am not concerned with gratitude. In any case, it doesn’t come naturally and I find it difficult to feel it.

    • Mica

      Dear Christine, I think we also want to experience the sadness, like in a recent daily quote – Admitting grief does not diminish us, it strengthens us and makes us more compassionate. TREBBE JOHNSON
      A woman spiritual teacher said that her polio had given her compassion for others.

    • Patricia

      I appreciate your honesty, Christine. In my really down times, my awareness of gratitude also wanes… and it may take time and prayer to get my balance again.

This site is brought to you by A Network for Grateful Living, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are fully tax deductible in the U.S.A.

DONATE https://gratefulness.org/content/uploads/2015/03/GX-Gold-Participant-L.png

© 2000 - 2022, A Network for Grateful Living

Website by Briteweb

0

Your Cart