For Lady Texan: on gratitude

Beachfan

Lady Texan, 

Thinking of you today as I am cleaning up the kitchen table (bills, mail, clipped coupons, etc.).  I came across an article that I had clipped from a magazine that my neighbor gave me before recycling.  The magazine is Spirituality and Wellness and the article is entitled: "Seven Buddhist Lessons in Gratitude" (March/April, 2021 issue).  Lesson 7 is "Start each day like a Buddhist monk" and reads.......Many Buddhist monks begin each day with this chant of gratitude for the blessings of their life.  Join them in this practice every morning when you wake up by reciting the following words of gratitude.

  With gratitude I remember the people, animals, plants, insects, creatures of the sky and sea, air and water, fire and earth, all whose joyful exertion blesses my life every day.  

With gratitude I remember the care and labor of a thousand generations of elders and ancestors who came before me.

I offer my gratitude for the safety and wellbeing I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the blessing of this earth I have been given.

I  offer my gratitude for the measure of health I have been given.

I offer my  gratitude for the family and friends I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the community I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the teachings and lessons I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the life I have been given.  

Strangely, when my neighbor passed along these Spirituality magazines, she said, "Now these are a little 'out there', so if I smell incense or hear you humming a mantra, I'll overlook it."  We had a good laugh, but when I paged through the magazines, they are very informative with soothing articles and I ended up clipping several and referring to them now and then.  I haven't subscribed; it's not really my "thing", but have to admit, I've given it some thought.  

Hope you enjoy this; you came to mind immediately.  

LadyTexan

Thank you for sharing the beautiful monk chant BeachFan.

I appreciate your thoughtfulness. As you know, expressing gratitude has been so helpful to me along this challenging journey. It pulls me out of the frustration and anxiety that pops up often on the dementia journey highway.

I laughed heartily when I read about the incense because my sister, who is a self proclaimed hippie, burns incense every morning.

Thank you again for sharing.

Blessings to all.

-LT

M1

Thanks Beachfan, I like this too.