Lifetime of gratitude

It is wonderful to be in the moment and thank those around us for helping.  Sometimes, it is nice to reflect on those who have been in our lives a long time ago and whose actions or words shaped us and influenced who we are today.

One such person for me was my 7th grade biology teacher.  His class was “the one” that sparked my interest in cell biology and literally determined the course of my career from the tender age of 12.  I will never forget him.

Well, fast-forward many years later (about 20 actually), and I was at a crossroads deciding what to do… and I decided upon teaching college biology!  I wrote my teacher a long letter, describing my career path, life choices and what I was going to do, and of course the letter was a BIG thank you note to him for getting me started.  He actually wrote back to me and said how happy he was to hear from me and he gave me updates about how he was teaching his class these days!

It was just so amazing to reconnect with him and be able to express my gratitude for something that had happened so long ago, but which continued to inspire me. Read more

Letters of gratitude

We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to be able to sit in such a beautiful room on such comfortable furniture, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat… There’s opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that’s what life is. –Brother David Steindl-Rast

A Retired Teacher’s Letters of Gratitude:
Xu Niankui, a 76-year-old retired teacher in China, had just gotten on a bus when a young girl immediately offered up her seat for him. Xu began chatting with her, and though he couldn’t get her name or age, he found out she was from Taopu Middle School, and so sent a letter to the school thanking the anonymous girl. The school identified the good Samaritan and ended up recognizing her for her charitable act. This was a revelation for Xu: he decided that if people realized how much a simple motion like giving up their seat meant to other people, they would do similar good deeds more. Since that time in May 2007, Xu has stepped his thanking up a notch and made a habit of giving a letter of gratitude to every person who’s ever gotten up for him. [Read more here]

Be The Change:
Step it up — go out of your way to send a special thanks to someone.

~Reprinted with permission from DailyGood.org

The Acknowledge Department

I dreamed that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.   My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Section.  Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.”

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.  Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.  The angel then said to me, “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.  Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.”  I noticed again how busy it was there.  There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station.  To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing.  “This is the Acknowledgment Section,” my angel friend quietly admitted to me.  He seemed embarrassed “How is it that there is no work going on here?” I asked.

“So sad,” the angel sighed.  “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments .”

“How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked.

“Simple,” the angel answered. Just say, “Thank you, Lord.” Read more

Effects of gratitude on the body

Gratitude is noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary. And then taking the nanosecond to feel it. –Karen Krakower Kaplan

Effects of Gratitude on the Body:
Researchers have found that when we think about someone or something we really appreciate and experience the feeling that goes with the thought, the parasympathetic — calming-branch of the autonomic nervous system — is triggered. This pattern when repeated bestows a protective effect on the heart. The electromagnetic heart patterns of volunteers tested become more coherent and ordered when they activate feelings of appreciation. There is evidence that when we practice bringing attention to what we appreciate in our lives, more positive emotions emerge, leading to beneficial alterations in heart rate variability. Neurobiologically, gratitude is nested within the social emotions, along with awe, wonder, “elevation” and pride. It can be both practiced and experienced. [Read more]
~Submitted by: Dr. William B. Stewart to DailyGood.org