I decided to repost this today. Even with everything I’m struggling through, I’m still deeply grateful for what I have and for where I am.

I went to the house early yesterday, and as I walked down the road, the sun was shining across the Harbour. It lifted my spirits more than I expected. After days of gloom and heavy skies, seeing that brightness felt like a small gift. I stood at the top of the hill for a few minutes, just taking it in — the Harbour stretched out below, even Cabot Tower visible in the distance. Once I got inside, I opened all the blinds to let the light spill in. I spent the day sorting through the last of the mess with my headphones on, singing along to whatever was playing.

Today, we’re taking a break. My body needs it; everything aches.

Most of the packing is finally done. I can see bare floor, finally! There are bags and boxes in nearly every room — some to bring home, others set aside for family. I have a truck booked for this weekend to move everything we’re keeping. After that, someone will come and clear out the rest. Then it’ll just be me and my husband cleaning the house one last time. By this time next week, we should be finished and ready to hand the keys back. Just in time for hubby’s first week off on vacation!

I hope that whatever you’re facing, you give yourself a moment to simply be present. Living in the moment steadies me, and it’s done a lot for my mindset.

 

Living in gratitude is a choice!

I feel truly grateful to call Newfoundland and Labrador my home. Despite facing ongoing health challenges, living here has brought me immense joy and a renewed appreciation for life’s simple blessings.

Nature’s beauty never fails to lift my spirit. Watching the ocean’s rhythmic dance or discovering intricate spider webs in the forest, I’ve learned even small acts of gratitude can make a difference. Mother Nature’s healing gifts have helped expand my capacity for joy.

While pain is still part of my daily experience, choosing gratitude transforms its meaning. I’m grateful for my resilience – that despite limitations, I persevere through each day doing what I love. Technology and community support also ease my journey, for which I’m endlessly thankful.

Rather than dwell on “why me”, I focus on learning about my conditions and adapting creatively. My worth isn’t defined by any single aspect but comes from within. With acceptance comes peace.

This rugged yet welcoming province nourishes my soul in ways I never knew possible. For opening their arms to welcome me, I’ll forever feel deep gratitude. Each dawn, greeting the majestic shoreline reminds me how blessed I am simply to be here, enjoying Nature’s restorative care.

Live in gratitude for all you have, and in time, you will get everything you need.

GRATITUDE

Discovering Meaning Through the Lens of Gratitude

Experience life as a gift.

Posted June 13, 2023 |  Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

KEY POINTS

• No expression or act of gratitude, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

• There is a symbiotic relationship between gratitude and meaning.
• Gratitude comes in many forms.

Because life naturally has its ups and downs, joys and sorrows, good times and not-so-good times, it is not always easy to be thankful for what comes our way. Having an appreciative mindset in the face of life’s many formidable challenges may seem counterintuitive, if not impossible, for many people. Finding meaning during such trying times can be especially difficult as well. Importantly, the world-renowned psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D., taught us that there is a “seed of meaning” in every moment of our lives.¹

“I am convinced that, in the final analysis, there is no situation that does not contain within it the seed of a meaning.” –Viktor E. Frankl²

Dr. Frankl also famously espoused that the search for meaning is the primary intrinsic motivation of human beings, which is both a key attribute of our innate humanness and a unique quality that distinguishes us from other living entities. It is against this characterization of the human condition that “gratitude,” both as a concept and in practice, becomes a useful lens through which the path to meaning can be viewed and brought into sharper focus, no matter what our personal circumstances may be.

Gratitude, in short, is fundamental to finding meaning in life, work, and society. Among other things, it provides a beacon for guiding the search for meaning as well as is an important driver for discovering the “seeds” of meaning, as Frankl wisely advised us, that lay along our life path.

Much like author Lewis Carroll’s fictional character Alice who was able to find light at the end of the rabbit hole by looking through the looking glass, everyone can find meaning by looking through the lens of gratitude. Realizing this meaning potential, however, requires the conscious exercise of both free will and intentionality. Gratitude, in this meaning-centric context, can be viewed as consisting of three dimensions: choice, virtue, and spirit. Each of these dimensions, moreover, influences and guides the human quest for meaning in ways that have deep philosophical and psychological roots.

Gratitude as Choice

Simply put, gratitude can be understood as the human capacity to make choices. In this connection, the choice can be exercised in three ways: in our attitude (i.e., mindset), in our expression (i.e., verbal and nonverbal cues), and in our behavior (i.e., actions).

Insofar as choice of attitude is concerned, Frankl famously espoused that “Everything can be taken from a man, but…the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.”³ In our book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, the title of which is instructive on this very issue, there is a short passage that, although it cannot be attributed to Frankl directly (and its original source remains anonymous), certainly is consistent with and reaffirms his essential teachings:

Between stimulus and response, there is space.
In that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our happiness.⁴ (Emphasis added)

It is interesting to note that the life lessons in these three lines can be traced to the ancient Greek philosophers. Epictetus, for example, has been quoted as espousing the view that “It is not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” When answering life’s call, gratitude can be conceptualized and practiced as a choice in the three ways mentioned earlier.

In other words, gratitude is not simply a manifestation of the freedom to choose our attitude, it is also embedded in the way we choose to express it and, importantly, in how we choose to behave in response to life’s challenges and opportunities. It should go without saying that only through our actions are we able to demonstrate that we truly mean what we feel, what we think, and what we say.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-meaningful-life/202306/discovering-meaning-through-the-lens-of-gratitude