I am following in the footsteps of my Slow Travel blogging friends in posting about Gratitude Friday. This all began with Diana Baur of Creative Structures, who made a wonderful post last Friday about things she was grateful for and her follow-up today. She asked that anyone who reads her blog also do a Gratitude Friday post about the things they are thankful for.
The whole idea behind this is to concentrate more on the positive things in our lives instead of the negatives. Such a good idea in a world where the headlines dwell on the bad things happening much more often than the good ones.
So, anyone who is reading this, I challenge YOU to begin making Gratitude Friday posts, linking them to Diana's blog. This could be catching - wouldn't that be wonderful!
OK, down to business. Gratitude - it's a word that has many connotations. I went to my go-to source for information, Wikipedia (for which I am grateful), and this is what they said:
Gratitude, thankfulness, or appreciation is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. The experience of gratitude has historically been a focus of several world religions, and has been considered extensively by moral philosophers such as Adam Smith. The systematic study of gratitude within psychology only began around the year 2000, possibly because psychology has traditionally been focused more on understanding distress rather than understanding positive emotions. However, with the advent of the positive psychology movement, gratitude has become a mainstream focus of psychological research.
So, we are right there in the "mainstream" with our gratitude entries! Good for us! And good for any of you who joins us!
Just so this post doesn't get too long, I will start my Gratitude Friday with just a couple of things that I am extremely grateful for and save some of the others for next Friday.
I am grateful for my family - Bill and our dog Hoochie and my sister JoAnne and her children. I never had any kids, but JoAnne has always shared her kids with me, and I am thankful for that.
I am grateful for my health. All the money in the world cannot buy you good health and allow you to do the things that you want to do in life.
Anne Murray made a recording way back when (I think 1983) about "A Little Good News", and I will sign off with that.
Comments (7)
Nancy, what a lovely post, wonderful sentiments and I thank you honestly for writing this and for trusting your precious vacation time to us this year. A little gratitude goes a very long way, it can stretch across oceans, in fact.
Posted by Diana Strinati Baur | July 24, 2009 12:23 PM
Posted on July 24, 2009 12:23
Diana, that is so sweet! Thank you for getting us started on Gratitude Friday. I think it's going to make a big difference in our lives.
Posted by nancyhol | July 24, 2009 1:05 PM
Posted on July 24, 2009 13:05
Nancy, wonderful way to start a weekend or any day of the week. Such a nice post on gratitude.
Posted by Barb Cabot | July 24, 2009 8:39 PM
Posted on July 24, 2009 20:39
Nancy that is a very sweet post. Focusing on the positive is contagious and uplifting!
Posted by sheri | July 25, 2009 6:18 PM
Posted on July 25, 2009 18:18
What a great idea. I saw this on Kim's blog too. I should join the Gratitude Friday club. I have so much to be thankful for!
Posted by Eden | July 25, 2009 8:54 PM
Posted on July 25, 2009 20:54
Ladies, it would be great if you would join us on Gratitude Fridays!
Sheri, you are right - a positive outlook IS contagious!
Posted by nancyhol | July 25, 2009 11:33 PM
Posted on July 25, 2009 23:33
I first heard about Gratitude Fridays on Sandra's blog, and think I will join the group! Thanks to Diana for starting this up, I'll have to check out her blog :)
Posted by Anne | August 6, 2009 5:18 AM
Posted on August 6, 2009 05:18