Fri, 26, Nov 2021
Practices of Gratitude
The Rev. Anne Williamson
“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.” - Rumi
In this season of gratitude, I have been collecting gratitude practices…I have even been practicing some of them! Emails have arrived from different quarters, offering a variety of practices as well as reminders of why the practice of gratitude is so important to our well-being in body, mind and spirit, individually and as a community. From Dr. Cathy Collins, Executive Director of Mercy by the Sea in Madison, CT, an observation that ‘Science tells us that it takes 7 positive comments to counteract one negative one.’ Dr. Collins’ gratitude practice is both personal and professional – her personal gratitude practice is one of noticing: tastes, smells, visual images, sounds and touch sensations that might otherwise be missed in the busy-ness of daily life: ‘My practice of gratitude turns me towards the beauty of God’s creation in all its magnificent forms’. Dr. Collins has also introduced a gratitude practice in her staff meetings at the Mercy Center: “We end each staff meeting with each person sharing something they are grateful for related to their work. It’s amazing how much you learn about what people are doing when they start offering gratitude to each other. I believe I learn more about what is going on by listening to them share their gratitude than I would if they each made a report.’
I am on an email distribution list for the NYT column of The Reverend Tish Harrison Warren. In her column on Sunday, Warren notes ‘Feeling grateful does not always happen naturally. Thankfulness is something like a muscle we can exercise. Just as we can cultivate ingratitude, entitlement, bitterness or cynicism, we can foster gratitude, appreciative humility, delight and joy’ Here is Warren’s offering of five gratitude practices:
1. Keep lists (ACW note – I love lists) . ‘Look back over a day or a week, and write down as many things as you can think of that you receive as a gift — things that are as essential as breath or as frivolous as a good parking spot. On a terrible week, you can list moments of light amid the darkness. On a good week, you can take time to celebrate each grace.’
2. Write notes of thanks. ‘I will be honest here that I hate writing thank-you notes’ (ACW note – me too…but I try to do it!) ‘As a pastor I’ve seen how this customary task crushes people right when they are most in need of a break, during major life transitions like having a child or in times of mourning after a loss. That said, I love random, not required, notes of thanks. Gratitude reminds us that we are deeply dependent on one another and on God. Take time to say thank you in writing to the friends and family who surround you. Consider writing occasional thank-you notes to those who you may not know as well but on whom you rely every day: your mail carrier, bus driver or child’s teacher.’
3. Compose your own Psalm. ‘The Psalms are a poetic way of expressing thanks to God. You can read a Psalm of thanksgiving like Psalm 111 or Psalm 34 and alter the words to reflect the particular good things in your own life’. ACW note – I have been blessed by this practice in an Advent workshop and I suggest you give it a go this Advent!
4. Make a piece of art or a shrine. ‘For those who are more visually inclined, instead of listing things for which you are grateful, create a space where you can draw, make a collage or otherwise represent things that remind you of the gifts in your life. This can include photos, single words or sacred objects. Get creative and see if it helps you notice big and small graces in your day’. ACW note – I use my bedroom mirror as a collage board of photos of people I am grateful for – here is one of them:
5. Take a gratitude walk. Take to the streets (by foot, bike or car) and give silent thanks for what is around you: your favorite coffee shop, a burst of red leaves in a tree, the local school, the crossing guards, a friendly neighbor, the quieting of city streets in the evening. ACW note – the blessings of a beautiful autumn day in Portsmouth:
The most challenging gratitude practice I have been offered comes from an organization called Sacred Threads, based in Massachusetts. Their invitation was to both offer gratitude for all the good in our lives but also to leave space to honor what my family euphemistically calls ‘character building experiences’. Ouch. And yet I know that even the pandemic has brought blessings in the midst of many terrible experiences. In their Thanksgiving message, the women of Sacred Threads reference a line from Kahlil Gibran’s Joy & Sorrow: “the deeper the sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” ‘This is not to deny the pain of hardships but to be grateful for the spiritual muscle it builds while leaving space for incredible joy, sharpening our ability to recognize and more appreciate the good that comes our way.’
This practice resonates with the Welcoming Prayer and one of my favorite Rumi poems, The Guest House. Life is full of blessings, life is also full of character building experiences and the practice I am practicing in this season of gratitude is to trust in the blessing that both can offer, and to look for the grace in the times of joy and sorrow.
I am grateful for this community! Anne