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Daily Question, October 27

What unexpected things have brought me gratitude?

  • dimple dangi

    Finding a great book to read in the middle of the night

  • Maeve

    Cleaning out the basement where I live, with my housemates. Gave me an unexpected feeling of energy and hope. Getting rid of crap.

  • Hot Sauce
    I used to be a fairly conservative Christian and took the Bible as inherent and infallible. This brought a lot of pain to me, however, because I worried about being condemned to hell or of God being angry with me. Rather unexpectedly, however, I made some discoveries that led me to believe that, while the Bible is a sacred text and provides an account of people's experience of God in a particular time and context, it does not mean that the ideas and beliefs expressed in it are always 100% accura...

    I used to be a fairly conservative Christian and took the Bible as inherent and infallible. This brought a lot of pain to me, however, because I worried about being condemned to hell or of God being angry with me. Rather unexpectedly, however, I made some discoveries that led me to believe that, while the Bible is a sacred text and provides an account of people’s experience of God in a particular time and context, it does not mean that the ideas and beliefs expressed in it are always 100% accurate or meant to be taken literally. Today, I am a Unitarian Universalist who thinks it unlikely that anyone will be eternally damned or that there are some people that God doesn’t love, and to me, all religions are valid paths to the sacred.

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  • Don Jones

    I think it started when the not knowing got to the stage where I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to eat. When the path opened, there was a deep realization of profound gratitude for those that went before me and what they have done. I still can’t really express my gratitude to this day.

  • Dusty Su

    The golden ah-hah moment you know you understand, see, hear, and/or have been understood, seen, heard. That often silent place of connection of souls is sacred. God becomes more real when there is a witness to the other it seems to me.

  • Pollyanna Gladwell
    As I shared last week, I had to send Puccini, my darling little Bichon, to the Rainbow Bridge. While I miss him terribly and occasionally burst into tears, I am now able to go for walks without having to stop every few yards for the sniff/sniff/ pee ritual. I can walk briskly and sometimes walk into town, which I rarely did with him. I did that today and I met friends by accident. We got coffee and sat by the river and chatted. We are in lockdown again, so I wouldn’t have had the lively...

    As I shared last week, I had to send Puccini, my darling little Bichon, to the Rainbow Bridge. While I miss him terribly and occasionally burst into tears, I am now able to go for walks without having to stop every few yards for the sniff/sniff/ pee ritual.

    I can walk briskly and sometimes walk into town, which I rarely did with him. I did that today and I met friends by accident. We got coffee and sat by the river and chatted. We are in lockdown again, so I wouldn’t have had the lively and interesting conversation had I not been able to go for a real walk!

    We are also forbidden to travel more than 5 kilometres except for essential reasons, and because, surprisingly, my car failed its road test recently, I will have to drive to another town tomorrow for the retest. A very dear friend lives there, so I will be able to see him.

    As others have written today, unexpected (and unwanted) circumstances can result in gratitude.

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  • Mica

    The random idea that came to me while looking thru a dissecting microscope in the apartment where I lived, which has become my scientific life work now, in retirement

  • Linda

    Of course, the pandemic has changed everything about day to day living. I am most grateful for the time I spend with my husband every day. He is not well and was spending much of his time alone when I was working at the office. Now I am here and am able to support him in ways that bring peace to both of us.

  • Monique Marie

    My new beagle puppy

    • Trish

      I wish I could give this one thousand hearts. Beagle pups are the cutest!!

  • Anya

    Having my children home for online school during the pandemic. My teen daughter had been slowly pulling away from me and I found that I was completely out of touch with what she was doing in school. Having her schooling at home has allowed me to gain a better understanding of what she is learning and we have had some great dinner conversations about history and science lessons.

  • Present Moment

    My practice of staying in the present moment.

  • Journey

    Gym closures in the pandemic forced me to start exercising at home with no equipment except for a couple of hand weights. After 4 months of home exercising, I finally did my 1st push up! Something I could not do after 10 years in the gym as I would just get onto an elliptical at the gym and do nothing else. Truly when one door closes another door with a better view opens.

  • Papilio

    The pandemic brought me gratitude. My husband has been working in our dinning room since late March. Although I’ve lost my quiet meditative life, I now understand what he actually does for his work. I appreciate his work as well as I’m grateful that I know him on a deeper level.

  • Zenith

    The pandemic. The Zoom chat groups in my language study on Duolingo. My own fragile health.

  • Trish

    I’m connected to someone who is constantly forgetting to share important things w/ me: links to meetings, message that meeting was cancelled, data that is needed to do my job & not responding to direct email questions. It’s been frustrating & I’m attempting to be grateful for this opportunity to learn more about grace.

    • Patricia

      Thanks for this unvarnished response … there’s plenty that I’m attempting to “be grateful for this opportunity to learn more about grace” too!

  • devy
    Getting my career job back in the day after having worked in a few not well paying jobs when I graduated from university. I didn’t think about it at the time, in reflection I look back, look at the various « ys » in the road that I came to and know that with good intuition that i made the best choice or took a risk. Also, while working I decided to go back to college part time and took evening classes. It was there that I met my future wife, took the chance to ask her out on a date on our...

    Getting my career job back in the day after having worked in a few not well paying jobs when I graduated from university. I didn’t think about it at the time, in reflection I look back, look at the various « ys » in the road that I came to and know that with good intuition that i made the best choice or took a risk. Also, while working I decided to go back to college part time and took evening classes. It was there that I met my future wife, took the chance to ask her out on a date on our very final class and the rest is history

    Read More
  • kimthompsen

    Having to apologize! That is REALLY unexpected. I find that when I apologize, especially when I can’t see I’ve done something wrong, I get a lesson in humility.
    Only it’s less of a lesson and more of an opportunity.

  • sunnypatti
    Last week, my curmudgeon uncle made a joke to me at my other uncle's funeral. This guy hasn't spoken to me in years (since the 1st year Obama got elected), and it was nice to have him be jovial with me. I just deleted a long story about me getting fired from a job to instead say that getting fired brought some of the greatest changes that never would have happened otherwise. Because I got fired, I had to find a new career. I have moved up in the company twice in very little time, taking on a ...

    Last week, my curmudgeon uncle made a joke to me at my other uncle’s funeral. This guy hasn’t spoken to me in years (since the 1st year Obama got elected), and it was nice to have him be jovial with me.

    I just deleted a long story about me getting fired from a job to instead say that getting fired brought some of the greatest changes that never would have happened otherwise. Because I got fired, I had to find a new career. I have moved up in the company twice in very little time, taking on a leadership role that I enjoy, but most importantly, I met the love of my life at my job, and I sit here in our home in the country pinching myself to remind myself that it is, indeed, real!

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  • Enough I suppose.

  • Lioness

    Adversity has led me to discover gratitude, including this very site. And through the found gratitude I have been able to discover strength which in turn has helped with the adversity I have faced.

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