Patricia Campbell Carlson

PATRICIA CAMPBELL CARLSON is Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living.  A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Whitworth College and advocate of lifelong learning, Patricia studied counseling through Cornell University’s Empathy, Assistance, and Referral Service; philosophy and meditation with Anthony Damiani; Sufi practice with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan; Mevlevi whirling with Sheikha Khadija Radin; and healing arts at Omega Institute and the Fingerlakes School of Massage.  In the course of her career she has run a youth program in Belfast, Northern Ireland; edited Sojourners magazine as a member of a Christian community devoted to radical social renewal; and served as the anonymous voice behind Cornell’s acclaimed “Dear Uncle Ezra” column, a forerunner in online counseling. Her ardent interest in interreligious dialogue led her to Gratefulness.org. 

You will find Patricia's writing throughout the website, especially in our QBox and poetry section (see below).  She lives in Ithaca, NY with her husband, two sons in the "revolving-door" stage of life, two dogs, a black cat, and a famous wandering tortoise.

POEMS:

“Deer Wisdom” - The spirit within us can guide us through our thorniest problems, the way instinct guides the deer through a thicket.

“Trillium” - The more gratefully we live, the more expansive our view of heaven becomes.

“Vessel” - Part praise, part wake-up call, this poem invites us to freshly appreciate the "ordinary beauties" that surround us.

"The Great Silence" - Every parting brings us into the Great Silence, that vastness which we so easily misinterpret.

"Inclinations" - Even when we have no answers, we may find our path illumined.

"Luminous Jealousy" - What on earth (so to speak) is the moon up to on the day after an eclipse, and why is she taking all the credit? 

"Icarus" - You must have felt the singe of the sun while you soared still higher...

ARTICLES:

"Prosperity" - This essay explores the great prosperity given to us even when things – economic or personal – fall apart.

"What Can Gratefulness Accomplish In Our Lives?"  - This
mini-course shows how, appreciating the gift of life, we can bring ourselves repeatedly into a grateful alignment.

OTHER:

Hymn to the Mother of Hope

Gratefulness QBox (interspersed entries)

Practice Sessions (co-written with Br. David Steindl-Rast)

Living the Hours - An 18-part Online Retreat on the monastic practice of punctuating each day with eight points of prayers, known as the Hours.

You can follow Patricia on Twitter. You can also follow GratefulnessOrg (no dot) on Twitter,
and we hope you will!