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David Steindl-Rast, Gratitude, Kebba Buckley Button, Melody Beattie, peace, peace within, Peacemaking, personal peace, stress, UpBeat Living
© 2014 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM. World Rights Reserved.
This morning I woke up realizing my mind was chanting “thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” I had a perfect day yesterday, with meaningful paying work, good food, satisfying writing and editing, a client meeting, and a professional meeting full of loving colleagues and friends. After the meeting, I drove home in my cute PT Cruiser with the great air conditioning and hung out with my amazing, delightful husband. I was (am) so grateful! It would be hard for life to be sweeter. My consciousness was so filled with peace within, so permeated with my gratitude, that my brain was chanting it when I woke up today.
In daily life we must see, that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.
~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
So: what if everyone on the Planet were this grateful and happy for the Good? Wouldn’t there be less stress and more Upbeat Living? Would we not all be quicker with appreciation and slower to anger (Prov 14:29)? Could we end up with peace among peoples and nations?
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
~ Melody Beattie
Do you dream of world peace? A basic practice of peacemaking is to BE the peace we want to see. Then our inner peace multiplies all around us into a force of and for peacefulness. One of the negative human traits that generates the most conflicted thinking and conflicted interacting is resentment. And the most effective antidote for resentment is gratitude. When we are unhappy or frustrated with someone else’s choices, we feel resentment. And resentment can turn into anger, conflict, and violence. Resentment is the basis of racism and of religious hatred.
But if we focus on how grateful we are for our good and for the good of others, we cannot simultaneously be in resentment. Focusing on the good, and our gratitude for every positive thing and every positive happening, is the basis for joy. And joyful people emanate peacefulness. They BE the peace they want to see. Are you in?
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● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc). She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.
● Liked this article? You can buy Kebba’s books: just click the links!
- Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br).
- Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)
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You are absolutely right. I do believe that when trauma strikes, it is how we handle it that helps determine the outcome. Life happens, all of us go through conflict and as a wise one said:
Never forget in the darkness what you saw in the light.
Carol
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Hey Kebba…..
HUH! Yesterday, my pup and I wrestled for three hours. He has developed a sudden ferociousness, especially when it comes to clamping his teeth on my arms *sigh* 😛
I am so very happy for you, darling! You deserve the VERY best in and of life 😀
LOVE YOUUUUU SOOOOOO MUCCCHH
Kitto
PS: YOU BETTER continue interacting with me 😉 I NEED YOU 😀
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Being happy is a choice and having gratitude takes practice.
Kim
http://www.things2doinutah.com
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Kim, you are so right! Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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You’re so right about gratitude being the basis for happiness and contentment. Every night before I sleep. I think God for the good things in my life.
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Francene, thank you! I am so glad to hear it. Thanks for visiting and commenting. Blessings to you!
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