Welcome to Gratitude Watch.

Gratitude Watch is an eye on the internet for news, articles, videos, and other items, all focusing on the subject of gratitude. For more on my intent on these postings, see About Gratitude Watch.

So … let’s rock!

•  This is The New Stuff  •

Harry W-B at UW-Maniac (University of Wisconsin, Madison) gives us “Happiness, Gratitude, and Our Capacity for Greatness.” In this article he points us at the January edition of the online magazine Yes!, to the article “This is Your Brain on Bliss” by Matthieu Ricard, a former cellular geneticist and current Buddhist monk who works with the Dalai Llama. Harry also points us at a PDF article of some work done by Prof. Richard Davidson on the same area.

This very same issue of Yes! Magazine gives us “How Thankful Are You?” an online quiz by Stephen Post and noted gratitude researcher Michael McCullough, a quiz that gives us our gratitude score and a chance to calculate our happiness.

(Hmmm … looks like I need to do some work …)

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Jonathan at The Year of Gratitude gives us “Gratitude and Marriage,” a celebration of the rewards of a continuing to nurture a successful marriage.

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Julie Obermiller at Sunny Side Up gives us a gratitude two-fer: “Saying ‘Thank You,’” some thoughts about “gratuitous thanks” and how it is not enough; and “Eating humble pie,” where one person’s misery is another person’s gratitude … and can turn the first person’s misery into gratitude.

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Dlynthomas at My Little Slice of Heaven offers “Word or words of the year,” wherein she tries to pick a word for the year, and settles on five. (The duck came down because she included the Secret Word.)

(If you’re old enough to remember “the duck coming down,” well, I am too. We can’t be that old …?)

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Monica M. Deer at Wisdom for Women gives us “An Attitude of Gratitude for 2009,” an excellent overview of down-to-Earth gratitude, with a prayer that brought a smile to my face.

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Luke at LukeFord.net gives us a candid “Christina DeRosa Interview,” in which the sexy actress of Zane’s Sex Chronicles offers her thoughts on thrills, speeding tickets, spirituality, religion, and … (yes) … gratitude.

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Tammy at A Cricket in a Garden offers “Who would I rather be?” in which she gives us some reflections on fear, the intentions of others, and gratitude.

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Soulsearcher at Calliope gives us “An Attitude of Gratitude,” in which a reflection of a less than pleasant past galvanizes the need for gratitude in the present.

•  Oldies but Goodies  •

DailyOm gives us “The World in a Bright Light,” reminding us that the universe, if we meet it half-way gratefully, wants to shower us with blessings.

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Even the U.S. Army understands the power of gratitude: FreedomTeamSalute.com gives us an opportunity to honor someone with a Freedom Team Salute commendation.

Thanks to Michelle at Shay’s Mom for pointing me to this one.

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YouTube user mypartofthething give us Sinead O’Connor and her song “Thank You for Hearing Me,” a expression of gratitude that, if we’re fortunate, we can relate to.

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If you have a substantive original posting about gratitude (please see my “About Gratitude Watch” page) feel free to email me a link through my contact page, or “tweet” me on Twitter.

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Stay tuned for the next Gratitude Watch.

© 2009, by Daniel Brenton. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to Gratitude Watch.

Gratitude Watch is an eye on the internet for news, articles, videos, and other items, all focusing on the subject of gratitude.

For more on my intent on these postings, see About Gratitude Watch.

All kinds of stuff out there. I ran across a post about a post on someone expressing gratitude for her breasts. Didn’t even go there.

Anyway … let’s rock!

•  This is The New Stuff  •

Another video from Cathy Mott (who still may or may not be YouTube user letterstomyfather …. still can’t tell) gives us “Waiting for Me,” a reminder that we can be grateful for us, too. The video features the song “Grace” by Bryan Ingram.

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Julie Obermiller at Sunny Side Up returns with “Reverse gratitude,” and makes some a very good points about some people we probably have all envied now and then.

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Ali Hale at Dumb Little Man (?) gives us “Ten Simple Things We Should All Say More Often.” Yes, “thank you,” is what I’m going after here, but some of the others are worth thinking about.

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Jacey Tramutt at Cultivate Confidence gives us “The Power of Gratitude” — of how a picture on a refrigerator can straighten up our priorities in a heartbeat.

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At SubmitYourArticle.com, Colleen Lilly gives us “Entitlement,” suggesting the root of our unhappiness is a lack of gratitude. (Going once … going twice … sold to the curmudgeon with the odd little blog.)

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That Snazzy iPhone Guy gives us another review of the iPhone/ iPod Touch gratitude journal application “Gratitude!” — this one on video.

Fair warning — this video opens WITH SOME SURPRISINGLY LOUD ROCK AND ROLL!

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Elizabeth at Unpathed waters, undreamed shores gives us “my own private wonderland.” Normally I pass on personal expressions of gratitude, but this expression is so lucid, and so clearly what has been called an experience of “flow,” that I wanted to share it.

I feel that in recognizing that such moments are possible, we invite them to happen in our own lives. Jump in.

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Bud Hennekes at A Boundless World gives us “Ten Reasons Why You’re Not Happy.” Three guesses what one of them is. First two don’t count.

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YouTube user shawnnorthcutt gives us “Grateful: Adiemus.”

I had to research this a bit (unfortunately the information on the YouTube page was minimal). “Grateful” was actually only the name of the event, an evening of a new mixed chorus called Resounding Harmony, conducted by Dallas-area conductor Tim Seelig. “Adiemus,” the music itself, composed by British composer Karl Jenkins, actually has no lyrical content — the words are all simply collections of phonemes — hence, there is no lyrical “message” to the piece whatsoever. Except that it is utterly gorgeous.

Give it a listen. This is beautiful.

•  Oldies but Goodies  •

Brenda Arnall at It’s a New Day gives us “A Gratitude Project,” the introduction to The Gratitude Project, an online forum to help encourage users in the practice of being grateful.

The followup: “A Grateful Beginning,” where she thanks Lisa Wilkins for her help in designing and setting up an “online home” for the project.

Think you could use a gratitude support group? Then The Gratitude Project may just be for you.

Thanks to Donna Brisbois for pointing me to The Gratitude Project.

• • •

If you have a substantive posting about gratitude (please see my “About Gratitude Watch” page) feel free to email me a link through my contact page, or “tweet” me on Twitter.

•

Stay tuned for the next Gratitude Watch.

© 2009, by Daniel Brenton. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to Gratitude Watch.

Gratitude Watch is an eye on the internet for news, articles, videos, and other items, all focusing on the subject of gratitude.

For more on my intent on these postings, see About Gratitude Watch.

One day down, 364 to go. Let’s rock!

•  This is The New Stuff  •

Some gratitude eye and ear candy from YouTube user kozmovpassana, “Tribute to the One: Unknowable Mystery.”

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Kathleen Gage at Daily Awareness offers “21 days to a life full of gratitude,” sharing an exercise she learned to bring the awareness of gratitude more completely into her life.

(Thanks to Lyman Reed for tipping me off to this article.)

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Certified usability analyst, user advocate, technologist, systems engineer, and business analyst (shwew!) Ann Krause gives us “Gratitude on the iPhone,” a review of Gratitude! the iPhone gratitude journal application.

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Darlene at Praisewalker.com gives us “A Gratitude Trial,” in which she she finds gratitude for a mice infestation (and not Mickey and Minnie, either).

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Julie Obermiller at Sunny Side Up gives us “An attitude/gratitude adjustment,” an entertainingly personal reflection on having discovered gratitude journaling through Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance years before, letting the practice go by the wayside over the years, and recognizing the need to re-embrace it a short time ago. I love her line: “Growing old is inevitable. Growing old, bitter and crabby is optional.”

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Silvia Johnson at Silvia the coach’s Weblog gives us “Bringing in the New Year,” a quick reminder that despite appearance presented by the media, people are thriving everywhere … and we can too.

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Murder Mystery author Louise Penny shares “Surprised by Joy,” and with it shares a touching reflection of gratitude, a miracle, and a hard anniversary.

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If you have eight minutes for a guided meditation, complete with ongoing affirmations and ambient pan-flute background music, then Angela Carole Brown has a “Gratitude Meditation” for you.

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Jonathan at The Year of Gratitude gives us “Beginnings: an Appreciative Inquiry,” a quick introduction to “Appreciative Inquiry” a technique for getting organizations to stimulate creativity and innovation.

I am astonished … this is a business methodology of gratitude. Who’d a thunk it?!

Jonathan gives us a couple of sites to learn more — at Wikipedia, and Appreciative Inquiry Commons.

This latter is sponsored by Case Western Reserve University. From the “about” page there, “Appreciative Inquiry” is explained as “the coevolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations, and the relevant world around them.”

Totally cool.

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This is a touch off-topic, but I think most of the men out there can reflect back to their adolescent and young teenage years and relate to this (and most women can relate to the other side). My Video (Germany) user AB_Divine_HB gives us “Thankful,” which frames the unrequited “thang” the Harry Potter series character Ron had for the focus of his interest, Hermione.

(Though I could translate the site, I couldn’t find any references to the singer or songwriter. Wish I could … it’s a good song.)

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If you were looking for “Oldies but Goodies” down here at the bottom of the page, today I have to disappoint you.

… sorry.

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Stay tuned for the next Gratitude Watch.

© 2009, by Daniel Brenton. All Rights Reserved.