Habit converts luxurious enjoyments into dull and daily necessities. -Aldous Huxley
That's exactly what I was thinking as I turned off the shower yesterday: a hot shower is such a luxury and I don't want to forget that. As I wiped myself dry, I purred like a kitten. I was grateful for everything in my life: past, present and future.
Gratitude is a recurrent theme in my life and I admit to saying "thank you" to some invisible benefactor, more times throughout the day than I curse. It used to be the other way around.
I wonder if it's because of something I do in my yoga classes. At the end of class, just after we say our three oms I often say, "Think of one thing that you are truly grateful for" and I am focused on a few things during that 5 to 10 second pause.
Gratitude is not simply a social grace ("say thank you") but a deep, heart thumping emotion for me. When I stop and think about all of the things I'm grateful for, it makes me happy because I feel loved and cared for by people and by a larger presence. Blessed, is a proper description.
Practice has allowed gratitude to become a daily necessity but it is never dull!
Gratitude is a recurrent theme in my life and I admit to saying "thank you" to some invisible benefactor, more times throughout the day than I curse. It used to be the other way around.
I wonder if it's because of something I do in my yoga classes. At the end of class, just after we say our three oms I often say, "Think of one thing that you are truly grateful for" and I am focused on a few things during that 5 to 10 second pause.
Gratitude is not simply a social grace ("say thank you") but a deep, heart thumping emotion for me. When I stop and think about all of the things I'm grateful for, it makes me happy because I feel loved and cared for by people and by a larger presence. Blessed, is a proper description.
Practice has allowed gratitude to become a daily necessity but it is never dull!
Does Gratitude Motivate Moral Action? by Robert A. Emmons.
Photo: Shannon Halsaver