January 31 – Practicing gratitude
Dear Friends, In insight meditation, we often practice cultivating four specific qualities of the heart: kindness (a.k.a. metta, loving kindness, goodwill, friendliness), compassion, joy (particularly joy in the joy of others, a.k.a. mudita), and equanimity (having a balanced perspective). In some circles, my fellow practitioners and I have discussed that this list could include a fifth quality: gratitude. James Baraz talks about cultivating gratitude in his book Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness: you don’t have to wait for appreciation and gratitude to spontaneously arise. You can consciously cultivate this powerful ally to a joyful heart. Each day of your life, you have many opportunities to develop a grateful heart by paying attention to the blessings, big and small, that are all around you. Even if things are uncomfortable, or not as you might wish, it is still possible to find something you can be grateful for. James Baraz, Awakening…
Andrea Fella Diana Winston Gil Fronsdal gratitude James Baraz Jeanne Corrigal Mark Coleman Martin Aylward Phyllis Cole-Dai Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Sharon Salzberg