Open Your Heart to Gratitude

/ September 18, 2013

Let’s explore gratitude this week.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world. ~ John Milton

This is one of the most beautiful videos I’ve ever seen. Open your heart to the beauty and gratitude in this awesome video.

What if we learned to see beauty and feel gratitude like in this video?

I’ve been cultivating gratitude over the last few years. Sometimes I journal. Sometimes I speak gratitude out loud. And recently, I’ve been exchanging daily emails of gratitude. This practice helps keep me disciplined to look for beauty and gratitude every day.  The idea came from a suggestion by Jacqueline Wolven in a presentation she gave at WordCamp Fayetteville 2013.

What if we were truly grateful for the precious gift of life?

Appreciating the beauty in us, around us and throughout this beautiful planet. As the narrator says in this video, what if we really look at the sky, the beauty of the moving clouds, the birds flying, the nuances of each day and the changing weather? Or the beauty and mystery in each person’s face. According to this video, 80% of what we process is visual, so let’s open our eyes to truly see the beauty and feel the blessings in our lives. Here’s my tribute to gratitude.

Beauty at Home

Ode to Gratitude

Once I was a bitter man

Soured and scarred by the trials of life

Tired of struggle, lonely and lost in depression

My days and nights were an endless sea of misery

Then one day I got fed up with feeling bad

Who really wants to hear about more misery?

So I decided to look for the good in my life

Gradually I learned to see and feel the beauty in life

The simple joys in both blessings and strife

Each moment an opportunity to look deeper, open more and reach farther

Finding beauty in many feelings, people and circumstances

Nothing is really good or bad, it just is

When we accept and open, we find hidden blessings

Waiting to be mined for our growth and good

Ripening with time and experience like a good wine

Come sample my nectar now

Rich with the many hues of life

Dark and earthy, light and heavenly

Filled with pounding waves and gentle brooks

Always moving, always changing

Moving, growing, rising and falling

In the precious dance of life

For which I am most grateful

Thank You God, Life, All That Is

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19 thoughts on “Open Your Heart to Gratitude”

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  4. “Then one day…” I can almost visualize someone at that turning point. Is this your poem, Brad? I love the honesty and growth it speaks to. I’d seen the gratitude video before. Thanks for the opportunity to again be reminded.

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    • Thanks Robert, I love to write and share my path. And sharing my poems is the hardest and most rewarding. They seem to come from a deeper place. I too need the gratitude and return more often lately as my spiritual roots. thanks for commenting. Brad

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  15. Love this video!! I have a gratitude journal and I also started a gratitude jar too, where I put moments that make me laugh or feel grateful. The idea is to start it on Jan 1st and open the jar to see what you’ve written on December 31st. I did it last year. It was so much fun and reminded me that life is made up of moments. Thank you for this inspiring post. It will go in my jar tonight. Lisa 🙂

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