Gratitude in Public

Sharing appreciation out in the open

Not quite a Boomer, yet very close in age, [born in 65] I love silly old things like 💗emojis, postcards, & #hashtags. 🤗 The Gen X in me does the reverse by saying, “don’t live in the past, we’ve got $hite to build,” then sends me exploring new tech!

There was an exploratory class of art in middle school. It was just 6 weeks long. I don’t have many memories from the 70s, but I remember that class. Mr Bender, a German art teacher with some exotic pure white hair in a Beatles cut, side burns too. It was a wild look on a mature man, kind of an oxymoron type of vibe.

Mr Bender was never going to make me an artist in a lifetime, much less 6 weeks. He was a kind soul, even if a bit misunderstood. We had to do a drawing of our favorite place, I did my family home. It took all 6 weeks!

The drawing didn’t survive the tumultuous times. A year later, we were gone off to God’s country in Idaho because the 6 of us could not continue living in the place my father passed.

After those years, I didn’t draw anymore. Not until I was grown. The bug bit me to design my own home & landscape. It was so horrible, and I made peace with the identity of not being an artist. There were other gifts. It was imperative to find them when I gave birth to my little girl.

Sometime in my late 40s, I came across “The Artist Way” by Julia Cameron
to unblock my writing. It has since been a bit of a spiritual reawakening for me. It was a stepping stone on the path to appreciating the artful gifts I already possess. Then it led to more. “The Morning Pages” practice became my first place for expressing gratitude openly, once I saw how dark my spirit had been.

The point is, it led me to feel grateful for the life I have, as it is. Not without vision for how to improve it, but you have to start by loving yourself.

I went back to trying to draw. They say it’s a learned skill, so I try to learn it.
Yet, I am no artist, it will take me a lifetime to apply the skill to a point of tolerable ability. I’d rather learn other things in its place.

So I let Substack make the images for the newsletter. Substack or Canva, or any of the other wonderful artistic devices that can now blink out an image with beautiful trees and flowering nature. I am grateful for this tech. It has been fun to play with & it brings me joy, and curiosity.

Tree of life with gratitude soft pastel tones with a jewel blue background

Quote of the week

“Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace”
― Arianna Huffington

Substack Shoutout

On Notes, from

Kathleen Thorne RN, LMT

I may have shared this quote before, but it’s so EVER PRESENT in my thoughts.

We are so blessed to have the convenience we have and the space to write about it! I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for the writers here who express their ideas openly. So many thanks to

Hamish McKenzie

Chris Best

Jairaj Sethi

with deep gratitude for this platform!

From #Grateful4

• The Power of Gratitude Lists—Mark Casey

• What Are the Benefits of Practicing Gratitude Every Day?—Ƒนʀƙเ ฬʀเτєร

• Gratitude in Layers—MsFireballsmom

• Top 10 Things I’m Grateful for This Year—John Edwin

From Medium

Our Gratitude Games Experiment—by Jim Sutton

Gratitude on the WEB

Reading

Morning Motivation

sent me looking to make the custom word of the year card. They look so beautiful.

Just need to reflect on my word for the year. Have you picked out your word of the year out yet? I use gratitude everywhere, so, it would be good for me to expand my vocabulary. I’m going to take a few more days to consider my inspiration for 2025.

Anywho, the next thing on the site were these 3o day Gratitude Challenge. It lit up my mood immediately. What a wonderful Idea.

Hope you will go check out all the lovely items Bess has in her shop!

[not an #AdLink, just an I love it link]

“30 Day Gratitude Challenge”- by our own

Bess Corriveau

here on Substack

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You are always invited

Share your articles on #Grateful4 on Medium. Everyone has something they can be grateful for.

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Julia Cameron is a prolific writer, teaching artists from flow to prosperity.

On Substack, drop your articles, posts, or notes on gratitude into the Chat. If you create gratitude journals, share a selective link in the chat for others to get started too.

If you were uplifted by any part of this newsletter, please share the love!

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Stay Positive | Be Blessed | Share Often

LaLa 👋