inspiration Practice Gratitude


and Change Your Life by April Thompson


“I have started a gratitude journal that I write in every day. When you run out of the ‘obvious’ blessings, it makes you dig deep and see all the small things. I commit to do my very best to never take anything or anybody, good or bad, for granted.”


~ Lisa Henderson Middlesworth


Great men are those who see that


spiritual is stronger than any material


force—that thoughts rule the world.


~Ralph Waldo Emerson M


iddlesworth and Pine are among thou-


sands adopting a Grati- tude Challenge to help develop their gratitude reflex and cultivate a more positive outlook on life. Gratitude can take many forms, but typically participants


“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”


~ William Arthur Ward


pledge to reflect upon and express it daily with the help of email prompts from a sponsoring organization. A gratitude practice can help grow appreciation for the strangers that better our lives. It can also deepen our gratefulness for the significant others we sometimes take for granted. Approaching a milestone birthday, retired businessman Walter Green set out on a year-long journey to visit 44 people that he credited with changing his life to initiate conversations about their influ- ence, which he recounts in the book This is the Moment! While the relationships were already solid, according to Green,


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“In many cases, it was the most significant conversa- tion we ever had.” Gratitude is a small act with a big payoff, Green observes. “The person receiving gratitude appreciates knowing they made a difference, but the giver is the greatest recipient. It feels good


to express gratitude, plus you are freed from future regrets that you didn’t ex- press it when you had the chance.” Patricia Brugioni, a Christian Science nurse from Chicago, has been sharing three things she’s grateful for on social media on a daily basis since taking a five-day online challenge ear- lier this year. “I am a grateful person by nature, but now I am claiming the good that is coming to me and learn- ing to cherish things without feeling like I have to earn them,” she says.


Connect with freelance writer April Thompson at AprilWrites.com.


“A town can be such a blessing. Neighbors always pull together when there’s a tragedy or natural disaster. The boundaries diminish and yards become one... we eat in each other’s kitchens, supervise each other’s children, share vehicles and generally watch out for each other. I believe it is God’s way of reminding us that we’re one family and each of us provides the strength and foundation for the other.”


~ Colleen Epple Pine


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