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Daily Question, December 28

What is one thing you’re grateful to have learned this year?

  • Rose Merry

    I am grateful for the people who have come into my life unexpectedly just when I most needed their wisdom.

  • Ose

    I am deeply grateful to have learned that I do belong, no matter what, like everybody else does, too. There is not a trace of a discrimination concerning belonging. It is as simple as that and was nevertheless so difficult to understand. It brings peace and deep gratitude towards all of you who come to share here and also who come to visit, and beyond.

  • Zenith

    One thing I am grateful for is this website and all the people here. My practice of daily gratefulness has really helped me be more positive in general in spite of everything. I am bothered that my new phone does not allow me to log in at home. Coming here to begin each day was a sacred act for me. But I still read the Word for the Day and everyone else’s entries. But I am profoundly grateful for this place.

  • Malag

    Some breathing skills. The mechanics of my breathing are better now.

  • Cheryle

    That forgiveness and meditation are “anti aging elixers” (Azim Khamisa)

  • Dusty Su

    That broken places may bring some of the greatest transformations.

  • Pollyanna Gladwell

    From Brother David: “We are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart.” Stop – look – go!

  • KC

    Friendship.

  • Melissa

    That so far in 2020 my family and friends and myself have not died of Covid-19. I am grateful even more for a home, food and love of family and friends. For spiritual leaders who have helped us all through this year. Including this grateful website. Deep appreciation for all of you offering your thoughts and insights this year.

  • Mark Piper

    Lewis Carroll said it best, as the words on the page I read scream, “You don’t know much and that’s a fact.”

  • Don Jones

    That notwithstanding a year marked by massive bush fires, flooding, a pandemic, and an economic crash, at my core I can still be grateful and happy.

  • Linda

    Due to covid, I am grateful for the opportunity to experience a form of “retirement” before I actually retire. Working from home all these months reassured me that I will be ok in retirement, that I will have enough to do and that my many friendships have, and will, sustain me.

  • Lauryn
    After I separated from my partner in April 2019 & moved across the country, I expected to be a solo traveler for life. I didn’t think I’d be able to ever cohabitate with another human and be in a long term relationship. I didn’t think I’d ever be comfortable. I met someone earlier this year and learned how wrong I was - I learned what it’s like to cohabitate and share life with a partner who understands me- and I understand him. We love each other in our own way. I’m grateful for...

    After I separated from my partner in April 2019 & moved across the country, I expected to be a solo traveler for life. I didn’t think I’d be able to ever cohabitate with another human and be in a long term relationship. I didn’t think I’d ever be comfortable. I met someone earlier this year and learned how wrong I was – I learned what it’s like to cohabitate and share life with a partner who understands me- and I understand him. We love each other in our own way. I’m grateful for that and grateful to grow outer connection and love in the years ahead.

    Read More
  • Elaine

    The ability to improvise ways of connecting with friends. Through outdoor nature art projects, delivering shared meals, zoom wine tasting , happy hours, dinner parties, cross country check-ins etc etc, we are staying close while staying apart.

  • expati

    I am grateful to know that I can converse in Spanish. I do not understand everything people say, but I can hold my own when I speak. Well educated bilingual friends of mine have chided me for not learning Spanish, and this made me feel bad. But during this past year, I’ve had some long conversations and see that they are wrong. I wonder how often what others say impinges on me this way?

  • Papilio

    Being an introvert, I welcomed this year’s unusual opportunities to be alone without saying NO to social events. Yet, I missed lively conversations with dear friends. I’m grateful that I have learned the importance of belonging to communities including A Network for Grateful Living.

  • Sofia Pinto
    I did learn many things this year but more importantly, I learned how to keep alive our relationship with everyone around me. This period of lockdown taught me how in one's point of life each moment is so important where we need to take care of each other. The most thing that people miss around them, is to love. Only a four-letter word but it holds the most powerful emotion in each and everyone's life. It needn't be only our loved ones, it could be our neighbor, animals, or everything around us....

    I did learn many things this year but more importantly, I learned how to keep alive our relationship with everyone around me. This period of lockdown taught me how in one’s point of life each moment is so important where we need to take care of each other. The most thing that people miss around them, is to love. Only a four-letter word but it holds the most powerful emotion in each and everyone’s life. It needn’t be only our loved ones, it could be our neighbor, animals, or everything around us. I hope humanity conquers hatred. I’m grateful to have and had the time that I spent with my loved ones.

    Read More
  • MelaD

    Self-compassion. In these last many, many months with no employment, having to ask for help to stay afloat, and enduring skepticism because I do not match or agree others’ expectations (including mine), I learned that I am worthy just as I am, as a child of God/Divine, and that when I treat myself with compassion, I am accepting the gifts of grace and faith, the belief to keep looking up. And the best, I now have something I can give away to others, with love and no conditions.

  • Carol
    I have a dear freind who says that "All is Grace." The good is Grace and the difficult is Grace. We can learn from both and this past year has reminded me that my EGO (Edge God Out) is still very strong and it is important for me to challenge it. I truly believe that Life is trustworthy but I've learned that in difficult times, it is very hard for me to let it flow. I share Sheldon Kopp's Eschatological Laundry LIst below. Number 22 stands out for me this year. It reminds me that no matter how ...

    I have a dear freind who says that “All is Grace.” The good is Grace and the difficult is Grace. We can learn from both and this past year has reminded me that my EGO (Edge God Out) is still very strong and it is important for me to challenge it. I truly believe that Life is trustworthy but I’ve learned that in difficult times, it is very hard for me to let it flow. I share Sheldon Kopp’s Eschatological Laundry LIst below. Number 22 stands out for me this year. It reminds me that no matter how much I grow/evolve, when I allow fear to be my motivator, I stumble. Love of power and control conquers the power to love.
    An Eschatological Laundry List
    A partial register of the 927 (or was it 928) Eternal Truths
    Written by Sheldon Kopp in his book, “If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him.”

    1. This is it!
    2. There are no hidden meanings.
    3. You can’t get there from here and besides there’s no place else to go.
    4. We are all already dying and we will be dead for a long time.
    5. Nothing lasts.
    6. There is no way of getting all you want.
    7. You can’t have anything unless you let go of it.
    8. You only get to keep what you give away.
    9. There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
    10. The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.
    11. You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
    12. It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.
    13. You don’t really control anything.
    14. You can’t make anyone love you.
    15. No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
    16. Everyone is, in his own way, vulnerable.
    17. There are no great men.
    18. If you have a hero, look again: you have diminished yourself in some way.
    19. Everyone lies, cheats, pretends, (yes, you too, and most certainly I myself).
    20. All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.
    21. All of you is worth something, if you will only own it.
    22. Progress is an illusion.
    23. Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.
    24. Yet it is necessary to keep on struggling toward solution.
    25. Childhood is a nightmare.
    26. But it is so very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care-of-yourself-cause-there-is-no- one-else-to-do-it-for-you grown-up.
    27. Each of us is ultimately alone.
    28. The most important things, each man must do for himself.
    29. Love is not enough, but it sure helps.
    30. We have only ourselves and one another. That may not be much but that’s all there is.
    31. How strange that so often, it all seems worth it.
    32. We must live within the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power and partial knowledge.
    33. All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.
    34. Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
    35. No excuses will be accepted.
    36. You can run, but you can’t hide.
    37. It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
    38. We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
    39. The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.
    40. All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
    41. You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.
    42. What do you know…for sure…anyway?
    43. Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again…

    Read More
    • Trish

      #38

      • Carol

        Hi Trish, Agreed! #38 is quite the challenge right now. I do try to remember that there is a difference between helpless and hopeless. I’ve had many counselor and preacher friends say that their clients and parishioners all express a need for hope and that it’s important to separate hope from hopes. They are not the same.

    • KC
      Carol, WOW! Thank you for this list and your reflection. Such food for thought! Now I must seek out his entire list. As so many former hero’s were removed from their public pedestals this year, I began a poem called ‘The Empty Plinth’. Perhaps it is time to remove the ‘plinth’ from the cultural stage entirely and start over ... Indeed, John Lennon’s Imagine says so much! Honouring his humanness and my / each of our own humanness too ... Such a great adventure we are on! ...

      Carol, WOW! Thank you for this list and your reflection. Such food for thought! Now I must seek out his entire list.

      As so many former hero’s were removed from their public pedestals this year, I began a poem called ‘The Empty Plinth’. Perhaps it is time to remove the ‘plinth’ from the cultural stage entirely and start over … Indeed, John Lennon’s Imagine says so much! Honouring his humanness and my / each of our own humanness too … Such a great adventure we are on! With gratitude, 🙏🏻 KC

      Read More
      • Carol

        Hi KC, Thanks for your kind words. “The Empty Plinth”…what an interesting expression. I hope you continue to work on that poem! The world needs poets! Sincerely, Carol

        • KC

          Thanks so much for your encouragement Carol. I will pull it up and see what is there! Who knows. Best to you as well for your new beginnings, roots and shoots emerging for 2021! Warmly, KC

          • Carol

            KC, There is a point of view that says when we put any one on a pedestal, we set them up for a fall. I don’t know if that thought might apply to the message of your poem but thought I would pass it along.I love your expression of new beginnings, roots and shoots. It’s important to be rooted in love. I was listening to a tape by Carolyn Myss the other night and she said that the struggle is always between the love of power and the power of love. Be well, be safe, Carol

    • expati

      Thanks for the list, Carol. I’m going to copy and save it. I’ve heard different opinions. Eastern religions say that you can achieve, or gain enlightenment, for example, only by grace. Western ones specify the need to work to achieve. How do you see this dichotomy?

      • Carol
        I know that the title to Sheldon Kopp’s book can be misleading but he is not debunking Buddhism. He is saying that when we commit to a spiritual path, we should be wary of blindly following any guru. I remind myself often that my belief system has changed many times. To answer your question about East v.s. West, I will borrow a quote from Eckhart Tolle: “To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease and lightness. The state is then no longer dependent on things being eith...

        I know that the title to Sheldon Kopp’s book can be misleading but he is not debunking Buddhism. He is saying that when we commit to a spiritual path, we should be wary of blindly following any guru. I remind myself often that my belief system has changed many times. To answer your question about East v.s. West, I will borrow a quote from Eckhart Tolle: “To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease and lightness. The state is then no longer dependent on things being either good or bad.” Western religions and Buddhism have different vocabularies. Buddhism speaks of enlightenment and Western religion speaks of incarnation. In my book, we are all called to be incarnate and enlightened. If in deed creation is ONE, ultimately, no one can achieve enlightenment this unless everyone achieves it. Until we gain enough self-awareness to understand this, we will block the free flow of Grace. Until we learn to “Let it BE done unto us” true progress will remain an illusion. “Letting” has to be more important than “getting.” Whether you preach Messiah, Second Coming or Enlightenment, our job is willingness to be instruments of Grace. I’m reminded of John Lennon’s song, “Imagine.”

        Read More
  • Rosemary

    I’m grateful to have learned…
    that challenges carry blessings.
    that love flows in a never-ending circle.
    that within me beats a joyful, resilient heart.

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