The Thank-You Muscle ~

          Sometimes magical things happen when we open ourselves up to gratitude.  Things we could not know would be so wonderful.  And the more we do that, the more we change how we move through the world.  And the more we change how we move through the world, the more the world changes too.  We each have the opportunity to let go of disappointment and make happy and thankful decisions each day and each moment in our lives.  We have that great power!  And we can and should use it for good!  Let's gift ourselves and each other RIGHT NOW by committing to exercising our "Thank-You" muscle more than ever as we navigate the blitz and glitz of the oft-times aggressive holiday season ~ 

How do you practice gratitude?  Is your thank-you muscle so strong that you lead with gratitude rather than fight to make it present?  What would a thank-you workout look like for you?  Mine is to practice silent gratitude before each meal, whether or not I am alone.  I name three things for which I am thankful in that moment.  But I'm clear I need to build upon this practice.  Lately I've used twitter to name three more, but need to step up this practice so it's more consistent.  I don't think this is a muscle that can ever get too large ~ 

Here's how we exercise it communally at UU Congregation of Marblehead :  before we begin worship each Sunday, we look around appreciatively at the gathered community and then close our eyes and think of three things for which we are grateful.  Two weeks ago we texted or wrote gratitudes to the pulpit for use in the prayer/meditation and then used our phones or sticky notes at the close of service to send a gratitude/message/apology/ connection to someone we thought would benefit.  We also posted gratitudes to our facebook page Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead.