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May Newsletter — May 5, 2009
What if you got a fortune cookie that read “happiness is just in front of you”… and then it turned out to be true? That’s exactly what happened to Maria DeCarvalho, and her discovery is available to you, too:
http://www.gratefulness.org/a/inthenews/happiness_decarvalho.html
“Precisely because we have so much,” writes DeCarvalho, “food, shelter, clothing, ‘extras’ – they feel like the norm instead of the great blessings they are.” But you would not be alone if you read her words and thought, “Yes, I know my life has been blessed in many ways, but then why do I feel so anxious?” Fred and Mary Ann Brussat, at our sister website “Spirituality and Practice,” point out that “we like to think of ourselves as being somewhat in control of our lives. But events and circumstances often conspire to set us off course. All of us are now…in choppy waters where uncertainty and insecurity make our journey feel ever more stressful and dangerous.”
If this description sounds familiar and you would like to be more at peace with whatever shows up in your life, then their e-course “Living with Uncertainty” in our “Guidance” topic may be for you (scroll down to the “Links” section):
http://www.gratefulness.org/t/guidance_links.htm
Reaping the bounty of what’s “just in front of you” might be as simple as freshly noticing and enjoying resources at hand, whether they be friends or creative uses for the tools of your trade, as this month’s Gratefulnews shows:
http://www.gratefulness.org/gratefulnews/index.htm
It could also involve a rite of passage that brings you to a new degree of trust:
http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/initiating.htm
And sometimes embracing the happiness at hand comes from remembering to let people know how grateful we are to them. A perfect opportunity is coming up this Sunday, May 10th. Naturally, Mother’s Day is a time to thank your mother, if she is still alive, but it’s also an opportunity to thank anyone who has shown you the nurturing, courageous, life-giving qualities that are the essence of motherhood. Our Mother’s Day gratefulness ecards are now ready for you:
http://www.gratefulness.org/ecards/show.cfm?ec=SE
We, in turn, want to take this opportunity once again to thank you for your generous support as we bring practices of grateful living to people around the world. Because of your caring partnership in this work, we have held fairly steady through the financial turmoil of the past few months. We are a bit like a lean marathon runner, though: Working from home on our personal computers with the equivalent of less than three full-time staff, there’s not much we can cut when the budget gets tight. So if you’ve been thinking about giving a donation, now would be a wonderful time to do so. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that the many enthusiastic messages left in our Visitor Comments (see the box on bottom of our homepage) –
http://www.gratefulness.org/index.htm
– are meant for you. You will also know that the resources you find on Gratefulness.org will continue to be freely available to you and 1.5 million other visitors each year. Every contribution, from the smallest to the most expansive, makes a substantial difference:
http://www.gratefulness.org/a/support/donate.htm
Thank you again for being the most encouraging community imaginable!
In Gratefulness,
Patricia and Margaret
on behalf of our ANG*L Webteam
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