Another thing I uncovered recently from looking back in my journals is a call to alter my gratitude list practice and make it more about the details around the people I encounter. I hadn't done that yet and that journal entry was about a year ago (hence the value of looking back at older journals). My original practice with gratitude lists is to simply name the people, places and activities of the day before for which I am grateful. I think that this new call is to write about the why I am thankful for others. I can start with the people I encountered the day before and see where it takes me. I expect that this has to do with what I've been working on for a while now; specifically, it's the not judging others thing. I think the result will be to see through another lens, the lens that reveals why God* loves the people I encounter.
------------------------------------------Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you! Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
Reflective questions:
1. When is the last time you looked back and examined your life? (If you haven't kept a journal you can simply start by making a list of the people, places and things that were important during a specific period)
2. What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)
* I use the term God as a universal term. You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today. It is not for me to decide.
I learned something this weekend, or maybe just remembered. I am trying to think about ways that I practice gratitude in the difficult places each day. I am always grateful for many things but it is in finding the gratitude in the non-platitudes that really helps me. I'm always grateful for my family, home, job, friends, etc....but how am I grateful for these when they have been particularly trying. It's like trying to look at the joy even in the tough stuff. I'm not very good at it yet.
ReplyDeleteI am not very good at it yet either. On the first day or two I realized that a gratitude list about other people means I must leave out what aggravates me about them sometimes. The interesting thing is that I also listed myself and did include my faults. In a strange way this helped me to know that God* loves me despite my faults and so I need to love others likewise. I am hoping this will help me bridge the gap and learn to love more unconditionally like God. But I am not there yet and I know that's ok, too. I don't expect that I will ever figure it out fully but in the meantime I think it will help me recognize that even just trying to love unconditionally moves me to better relationships.
ReplyDelete*I use the term God as a universal term. You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today. It is not for me to decide.