Gratitude

The mahogany torii of the Brasil Daijingu outside Sao Paolo

In Brazil, I once talked to the elderly priest at the Brasil Daijingu, named Tamotsu Sato.  He’d gone to Brazil on May 22, 1934, and only been back briefly to Japan after the war to get his license to be a priest.  He told me he disliked the Japan-first orientation of Shinto there, and much preferred the international orientation in Brazil.  ‘Gratitude’ lies at the heart of Shinto, he told me, ‘Gratitude for life.’  It’s a universal value after all, endorsed by modern psychology.

Gratitude is written into Japanese cultural life, and the constant expression of thankfulness is one of the most endearing traits of the country.  For those who have the time, I thoroughly recommend reading friend Christal Whelan’s award-winning essay on the subject.  “As gratitude affirms not only the complex web of human relations, but also those with the environment, it is as relevant to ancient Yamato as to postmodern Japan,” she concludes.  “My own debt to Japan for having taught me this precious lesson in gratitude is something that I will never be able to fully repay.  But at least I can begin by acknowledging the debt.”

In an article on the web, psychologist David Mezzapelle, author of Contagious Optimism, shares 10 tips for living more optimistically.  Significantly, No. 1 is Being Grateful.   http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/10-habits-happy-people

“It all starts with counting our blessings. If you are not grateful for the good things in your life, you will never be satisfied. Take inventory of the good around you. But don’t neglect what’s not great, either: You also need to be grateful for the hardships, the obstacles, the failures. Why? Because these are the points of wisdom in your life. They give you strength, they teach you how to persevere, and they form your resilience. Being thankful for every step makes life’s hardships surmountable. All of this is the foundation of optimism; being psyched about the good and the bad, and knowing that they all point to a bright future.”

It turns out that there is an organisation dedicated to grateful living, and though inspired by a Christian monk, it is committed to values of universalism and environmentalism.  Here is the mission statement: “A Network for Grateful Living provides education and support for the practice of grateful living as a global ethic, inspired by the teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast and colleagues.  Gratefulness – the full response to a given moment and all it contains – is a universal practice that fosters personal transformation, cross-cultural understanding, interfaith dialogue, intergenerational respect, nonviolent conflict resolution, and ecological sustainability.”

The quotes below come from the organisation’s Facebook page…

Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy.  – Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

O Great Spirit, I awake to another sun, grateful for gifts bestowed, granted one by one.   – Twylah Nitsch

All good things are wild, and free. – Henry David Thoreau

Gratitude places you in the energy field of plenitude. Perceiving life in a consciousness of gratitude is literally stepping into another dimension of living. Suddenly the seeming ordinariness of your days takes on a divine sparkle. – Michael Beckwith

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.  – Rachel Carson

That’s what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing. – Simone de Beauvoir

"To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light."

Gratefulness is that fullness of life for which we are all thirsting.  – David Steindl-Rast

To the dull mind all nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other people, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the full measure I have received and am still receiving.  – Albert Einstein

If you light a lamp for someone, it will brighten your own path. – The Buddha

So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied. – Helen Keller

Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.  – A.J. Cronin

The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.  – Terry Tempest Williams

Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs — that is your success.”  – Henry Thoreau

For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.  – Elie Wiesel

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. – John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Ironically, gratitude’s most powerful mysteries are often revealed when we are struggling in the midst of personal turmoil. – Sarah Ban Breathnach

Bless those who challenge us for they remind us of doors we have closed and doors we have yet to open. – Native American Prayer

Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. – Henri Nouwen