Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Not only for your thoughtful and inspiring work on gratitude, but your continued voice of love and inclusion and justice. I often struggle to make sense of a God of Love — that I believe in with my entire heart — and the “God” that animates so many to act against Love. Your work reminds me of important faith lessons that can get lost in a zeitgeist of cruelty and greed and hate.
I want to tell you about the project of which this note is a part. I turn 50 on October 1st. During the countdown to my birthday, I am writing 100 thank you notes/messages in 100 days. (I have been working on it for a while now and it has already been a grand love experiment.) When I think about what I can do in these crazy times — my boat is so small and the sea is so big — reaching out to those whose life’s work makes the world better makes sense to me. Gratitude begets love begets a better world.
A few quick thoughts on how I came to this project. I started focusing on gratitude in the summer of 2017. I was knee deep working on a political campaign and needed to breathe. I had completed my PH.D. in 2003 studying the existential concept of wide-awakeness. I found the concepts of wide-awareness and gratitude kept converging in interesting ways. I needed to know more. I started a daily gratitude practice and began an investigation. Today, many years, and more than 20 gratitude-focused interviews with everyone from yogis, to professors, to a Colonel in the United States Air Force, and teaching a writing class focused on gratitude in a men’s Federal prison, to this 100 in 100 Days Project, I am constructing what can be loosely understood as a grounded theory of gratitude.
Thank you again, Diana. Thank you for kindness, wisdom, and leadership. From church history, to building religious community, to spiritual revolution, your scholarship informs all of us who seek to understand. On National Gratitude Day, thank you specifically for your work on gratitude. May you and your family be surrounded in the same light and love you share with the world in your work.
Today is also the UN International Day of Peace, which I think integrates well with World Gratitude Day. Act justly, show and love mercy, walk humbly with the Divine, and be grateful for the Creator's Universe and steward it with love and peace. https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace
Amen to all that! For many years, I have worked in a focused way on being grateful even in the face of pain and disappointment. I once made a “gratitude coin” to give to friends and associates. On it is the famed quotation from Cicero: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all others.” I am aware, by the way, that “parent” is a rather loose, politically correct translation of the original Latin, which was “mater,” or more accurately, “mother.”
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Not only for your thoughtful and inspiring work on gratitude, but your continued voice of love and inclusion and justice. I often struggle to make sense of a God of Love — that I believe in with my entire heart — and the “God” that animates so many to act against Love. Your work reminds me of important faith lessons that can get lost in a zeitgeist of cruelty and greed and hate.
I want to tell you about the project of which this note is a part. I turn 50 on October 1st. During the countdown to my birthday, I am writing 100 thank you notes/messages in 100 days. (I have been working on it for a while now and it has already been a grand love experiment.) When I think about what I can do in these crazy times — my boat is so small and the sea is so big — reaching out to those whose life’s work makes the world better makes sense to me. Gratitude begets love begets a better world.
A few quick thoughts on how I came to this project. I started focusing on gratitude in the summer of 2017. I was knee deep working on a political campaign and needed to breathe. I had completed my PH.D. in 2003 studying the existential concept of wide-awakeness. I found the concepts of wide-awareness and gratitude kept converging in interesting ways. I needed to know more. I started a daily gratitude practice and began an investigation. Today, many years, and more than 20 gratitude-focused interviews with everyone from yogis, to professors, to a Colonel in the United States Air Force, and teaching a writing class focused on gratitude in a men’s Federal prison, to this 100 in 100 Days Project, I am constructing what can be loosely understood as a grounded theory of gratitude.
Thank you again, Diana. Thank you for kindness, wisdom, and leadership. From church history, to building religious community, to spiritual revolution, your scholarship informs all of us who seek to understand. On National Gratitude Day, thank you specifically for your work on gratitude. May you and your family be surrounded in the same light and love you share with the world in your work.
I am grateful, Diana, for the ways in which you share your feelings and insights.
I'm grateful for you Diana Butler Bass
A beautiful message for today. Thank you. I am experiencing this lately and it is making all the difference.
Today is also the UN International Day of Peace, which I think integrates well with World Gratitude Day. Act justly, show and love mercy, walk humbly with the Divine, and be grateful for the Creator's Universe and steward it with love and peace. https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace
Amen to all that! For many years, I have worked in a focused way on being grateful even in the face of pain and disappointment. I once made a “gratitude coin” to give to friends and associates. On it is the famed quotation from Cicero: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all others.” I am aware, by the way, that “parent” is a rather loose, politically correct translation of the original Latin, which was “mater,” or more accurately, “mother.”
I'M GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TRUSTWORTHY MESSAGE.