This is the roundup post for the 14-Day Gratitude Challenge held in Aug 2013, where we practice gratitude for 14 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Hi everyone, welcome to the roundup of our 14-day gratitude challenge! :D This is the final post of the challenge!
Challenge Overview
For convenience, I have listed all challenge tasks and posts in an overview page. Visit here: Gratitude Challenge Overview, Aug 2013
Today’s Task: Roundup of the 14-Day Gratitude Challenge
With the gratitude challenge now coming to an end, I’d like you to do a roundup of your gratitude experience.
Reflect over the following questions today:
- How has the gratitude challenge been for you? (Have you found the tasks helpful in cultivating gratitude?)
- What has been your favorite task(s)? Why?
- What have you learned in the challenge? What have you learned about gratitude? Elaborate.
- How do you plan to integrate gratitude into your life moving forward?
- Anything you would like to see at PE moving forward? If so, what is it?
I love reading your responses, so do share as much as you can! I look forward to reading your feedback! :D
Continuing the Daily Gratitude Journaling: Write 3 Things You Are Grateful for Today
By now, you have been writing (at least) 3 things you are grateful for every day for 14 days. I hope you have found this daily gratitude journaling helpful in helping you be more aware and appreciative of the great things you already have and have been receiving every day in your life. :)
Whether you continue this daily gratitude journaling is up to you. The challenge is merely meant as catalyst to get you (re)acquaint with gratitude and cultivate the practice of gratitude in your life. What you do from here on out depends on how committed you are to living a grateful life.
As you would probably have learned from this challenge, gratitude isn’t limited to just identifying 3 things you are grateful for every day. It’s a way of life which you live by every moment of the day, be it when you are by yourself, out with other people, or busy with your work. It’s a state of being where you are unconditionally appreciative of everything that you have today and will receive in the future, because nothing you have is a right–it’s a privilege.
Now, on top of today’s task, identify 3 things you are grateful for today. These 3 things can be events that occurred today, mishaps which could have happened but didn’t happen, or simply things which have always been in your life but which you suddenly came to feel grateful for today.
3 things I’m grateful for today:
- A successful gratitude challenge, made possible by all of you. Thank you for being such an instrumental part of this challenge. (More on my thank-yous below.)
- The opportunity to meet up with my secondary school friends later tonight. (We’ve already known each other for 15 years, which is almost half of our age now!!! Yikes! Time flies!) One of the members, Neo, took the initiative to organize a meetup among us (unlike of him actually) so this meetup wouldn’t be possible if not for him. It’s been a while since all of us met in a group like this, so I can’t wait to meet up with the rest!
- The fast recovery of my future-mother-in-law’s hand. She had quite a bad fall last month (broken bone and all) but luckily it’s healing very well now. Thank you to the universe and Powers That Be for blessing her!
THANK YOU.
Thank you to all of you for being a part of this challenge. All of you are dears in this challenge–Lina (Madalina Sraier), Alexa (Calae), Karin, Spešl Pavrs, Sulthana Begum, Melody, Derrick R Kearney, Annette Hatley, Jeanne Floresca, blessedart, Bette, JadePenguin (Mel), Hanna, Kiki Maria Valera, Andi-Roo, asma, Eli, Vinay Kumar, Anuj Grover, and anyone else I have missed but have been a part of this challenge.
Even those of you who didn’t post any comments but have been doing the tasks and even sharing the challenge with your friends/family–THANK YOU.
Without any of you, this challenge would not be the success that it is. We are all pieces of a larger puzzle. Over 200 official participants (and many more who participated silently) plus over 900 comments–these did not happen with one man’s (or woman’s) effort. I thank you for being a part of the PE community. *hugs*
Moving Forward
It has truly been my joy to conduct this challenge and I hope there will be many more to come. My next challenge *may* be a frugality challenge, as reader Matt has suggested a frugality article on PE before (I haven’t written anything on this topic yet). We will see.
In the meantime, I look forward to connect with you further on PE. :)
Share Your Results!
What are your reflections for the five questions in the roundup?
What are 3 things you are grateful for today?
Share them in the comments section! :)
See you guys around! :) New posts to resume in two days’ time!
(Images: Gratitude
)
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And after 10 days after i replied for day 14, here comes the roundup reply. Very late. Extremely late. But I’m happy I’m finishing it :):
1. How has the gratitude challenge been for you?
The gratitude challenge has been extremely helpful. I’ve been journaling on and off for a few years now, and the habit itself has been very helpful. I’ve been switching back and forth between few ways of journaling. The most recent one has been writing “morning pages”. However, just before that, I had a gratitude section in my journal. After this challenge, I’m thinking of at least reinstating the ‘gratitude’ section of my journal after my morning pages. Thanks for making me (re)appreciate its value ?
2. What has been your favorite task(s)? Why?
I guess my favorites would be the tasks that instantly come to mind(after few weeks notwithstanding). The first one was me thinking about the importance of gratitude. About why it was required in life. Although I probably had read earlier what I wrote, just really realizing it for myself, when I was made to think about it and write, dug in the meaning deeper than mere reading could probably ever have.
The second task was writing a gratitude-letter to a friend. When I gave her the letter my friend was extremely happy. I’m now planning to write such letters to few other near and dear ones.
3. What have you learned in the challenge? What have you learned about gratitude? Elaborate.
I’ve learned that having gratitude fortifies the love in your heart. It encourages you to appreciate what you have. Paying attention to the goodness in your life, only makes that goodness grow. It also takes your mind off the ‘problems’, and things that make you unhappy. It shows you how your problems too are in fact a blessing, when you look at them in a different way and see what’s there to be grateful about them. It just puts a positivity-lens over your life, and everything seems great. It’s really important to cultivate the habit of regular gratitude. It’s important to be grateful towards everything that comes your way. And what the challenge showed was that it’s possible to be grateful for everything that comes your way, ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Each thing that befalls you is probably the next thing you need.
Life would be so much more beautiful if only you stop by to notice its beauty. And when you stop and notice, how can you not be anything but grateful. The feeling of gratitude is probably closest to that of love(wonder if they’re the same).
4. How do you plan to integrate gratitude into your life moving forward?
I plan to continue the habit of making list of things I’m grateful for each day. I’ll also make writing gratitude-letters a habit from now on. I already have a list of 3-4 people I need to write for. At least one per month for now.
5. Anything you would like to see at PE moving forward? If so, what is it?
Maybe a ‘love challenge’ or an ‘affection challenge’. I think we as human race have grown upto be more accepting of violence than love and affection(that’s at least the case where I live). Maybe something to question that conditioning of ours.
3 things I’m grateful for today:
– The opportunity to go and work on cutting edge technology, with some very intelligent people. Working with them is so fulfilling.
– Going to watch a play tonight. The play has some good friends acting in it. Also going to watch it with my girlfriend and best friends. So a nice evening awaits.
– My girlfriend is back in town today, until she again travels after a few days for a week. Grateful for the next 4-5 evenings with her.
– From tomorrow I’ll also start rehearsing on a new movement piece I’ll be working on with a friend. It’s going to be challenging for me thinking on the lines of ‘movement’ instead of the more comfortable ‘narratives’ and ‘text’.
– To celes for listing my name in the roundup. Unexpected and brought a smile :) Thank you!
Since nothing is ever too late in my book, just wanted to put my round-up post…
I am thankful to have participated in this challenge. I think everybody needs encouragement, coaching, and a community of like-minded people to support each other. This is the new recipe for life success. No more one man for himself! Humans in harmony = humanity! (I know, I can be very cheesy- LOL)
I enjoyed reading many of the readers post. It was interesting to see the perspectives of different people around the world. The PE community is fantastic.
Thank you Celes for hosting the event. Your website is love and art in its best form.
I finished late, but I finally finished! Here is my roundup post. Have a blessed evening!
http://donettas.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/14-days-of-gratitude-round-up/
thank you so much Celes for all you do and best wishes for a perfect wedding
Finally, I’m back here, and I missed out a few days’ posts here… My laptop was down and sent for repair. I was told that I needed to spend a large amount of money to repair my laptop, so I decided to buy a new one instead of repairing it.
My mood was so down last few days because of the laptop, as I was unable to do all my work. What I felt glad was that I had sufficient time to backup all my works and documents to my external hard disk since the day I got the laptop system error, so now I’m still installing the software and resuming back to my work slowly with this new laptop.
Can I just continue from where I stopped previously and come to this post again?
By the way, I’m so happy to see all of members who completed this challenge and commented in this post!! Congratulations to all of you!! ^^
Doing the Gratitude Challenge helped me to realise that gratitude can help you feel better, so thank you, Celes for creating it. :) I’m going to continue writing down things I’m grateful for every day.
Suggestions for PE- maybe you could do an article on the Law of Attraction? I’ve
noticed that in some of your articles you’ve mentioned principles that are also part of LOA, such as if you’re seeking a relationship out of fear based reasons then you’re sending a vibe of fear out into the universe and you’ll attract people who are scared too and also want a relationship for the wrong reasons. But I don’t know if you actually follow LOA? It would be good to hear your experience with it, if/how it’s improved your life and any tips you have for manifesting.
I’d also like to hear more about how you and Ken met (I remember you said you were acquaintances and got back in touch) and got together, if you would like to share it and Ken is ok with it. :)
First, thank you for the mention, Celes! It’s an honor. =)
1. The gratitude challenge has been great! Easily one of my most important values, I was glad to have the chance to attempt so many things in such a fashion. I found the tasks helpful, and only wish I’d prioritized it more as I rushed around getting ready for/moving back to/having my first week of college.
2. I’m not sure if this counts as I haven’t actually completed it yet, but I loved the idea of a gratitude meditation for something you want in your life. I think it’s the perfect combination of imagining what you want and “living” it and being thankful for it. It’s a great way to (pre-)appreciate the things you want and how far you’ve grown. =)
3. I’ve honestly just learned that if we try really hard, we can always find something to be grateful for even if it’s difficult to. For example, the other day it was raining super hard and overall my day was just very difficult. However, as bad as it was, I was super grateful for all the great things that happened that day — such as getting a ton of new stuff in the mail, having friends that were able to take care of me when I wasn’t prepared for the weather, and having someone stop the bus from pulling away from the bus stop when I hadn’t had the chance to get off yet.
I’ve also learned how important it is to be thankful for myself. I don’t speak to myself as kindly as I do with everyone else, or take care of myself as well as I may try to take care of other people. This is very deeply ingrained with me, but as I’ve become more aware of it I’ve noticed my behavior is already changing in noticeable ways — my friends have made note that my story-telling in social situations is getting better, and I’m getting more comfortable around them and relaxing more rather than being socially awkward and quiet.
4. I plan on using the gratitude meditation in the future, as well as looking at the blessings I can get from my mistakes. I tend to be quite fear-based both in terms of being hung-up on past mistakes, and on looking at the future but being pessimistic. In general (especially when it comes anything besides myself), I try to be as thankful as possible. I think a good thing would be for me to try and make my thanks seem as genuine as it is, and less like the “polite” kind of thanks people may hear but not think anything of. I’m not sure how to go about this (I want it to be so my thanks is known to the person, not because I want to appear “nice” or “good” by being thankful), but I will make it a point. In general, I just want to get better at having positive self-talk and increasing my self-esteem.
5. I’d actually be very interested in learning how to live healthily as a vegan or vegetarian! I have friends who are studying nutrition at school but none of them really recommend going fully vegetarian, and often speak against veganism. I’ve tried looking into it myself but am overwhelmed by what seems to be quite negative discussions on the diet! I’ve greatly lowered how often I eat meat (especially red meat), but with the right facts I’d also like to try a fully vegetarian/vegan diet if I knew how to keep myself healthy, if only for a little while!
Hi,
Thanks so much for running this Celestine. It has been great for me and has meant I have enjoyed my holiday in Devon with my family more than I would have done. I realise that gratitude is not yet a habit for me, and I want it to be. Going forward I want to see how this is workable for me to practice gratitude every day. Gratitude is incredibly empowering and clearly helps to release drama and negative thinking. We shouldn’t take gratitude for granted!
Thank you to all who participated in this challenge as your input has inspired me greatly, it’s also great to have a reminder that we are all very similar.
This is just a quick post.
Lots of love,
Hanna
The 14 –Day
Gratitude Challenge was a very refreshing experience for me. By taking part in the different task I began to live more in the moment, my awareness and appreciation for even the simply things in life have become much more intense.
My favorite task…and
by the way I learned something from each one;-) would be Gratitude Challenge Day 8 –Transforming an Ungrateful Thought. This is my favorite task because I took the opportunity to stop and think about what I allow in my mind and slow down enough to consciously take control and redirect or replace thoughts that are not positive or line up with the truth.
I’ve learned
so much from this challenge but to keep it short and sweet I’d sum it up to the lines from an old song by the Clark Sisters that says “It’s not by chance that I’m standing here today, it’s not by luck that my blessings keep on flowing”. And with that in mind, I’m so grateful.
Moving forward I
plan to consistently grow my “attitude of gratitude” by taking time each day to reflect on my life or just the day and give thanks for it. Seems as though the more I give thanks for the things I’m grateful for, the more things I have to be grateful for.
I would
personally like to see an article or better yet a challenge about being consistent. I seem to have issues with that and would like to get over it. Forgive me if you have already have
written a blog post about this. I will look further but wanted to mention it while I had the opportunity.
I am so very appreciative of you of course Celes, and also for the PE participants who commented and shared. It was great! Thanks to all;=)
3 Things I am grateful for today:
1. I am grateful for doing things I’ve only talked about doing in the past.
2. I am grateful for a firm foundation in the Lord.
3. I am grateful to be a part of the PE community with such wonderful people.
In my pinterest journal, I pinned a photo of a stained glass ‘alpha and omega’ symbol because I felt it was representative of how this will continue. The 14 day challenge is ended but practicing a life of gratitude begins new each
day. When I filled out my journal in the mornings, I found my day went much smoother when I started it with an attitude of
gratitude. Likewise, I found that if I’d waited
til the end of the day to journal,even when I had a bad day, the day ended better. My favorite
task was sharing something I was grateful for. I’m going to keep on practicing gratitude as we’ve done here in the challenge and in any other way I can.
The three things I’m grateful for today are: 1) having a Brother who always seems to have time for me (It was great to chat with him on the phone. He lives several states away. Even though we’re not blood related, I still think of him as my brother.); 2) scrap metal and bitsies. (It never ceases to amaze me how those bits and pieces that most people would throw away still have a use. If I look hard enough, I know I can find one.); and 3) my red and yellow silk floral arrangement which never fails to brighten my mood.
This challenge has been a real eye opener for me. It was a very good experience in that I
learned a lot not only about myself but the world around me. For one thing I learned that I am not as nice
of a person as I should be. There are
situations where I thought I was showing appreciation but truly wasn’t, and
that needs to change. I would say that
of everything I enjoyed the second and third days’ task the most. The third especially since that was a chance
to say thank you to someone in my life.
Any chance to refuel with good food though is always welcomed.
3 Things Grateful for Today
–
I have been able to talk to an old friend for
most of the day through our modern technology. It was nice to get a “good
morning” message from them when I woke up, and a joy to share the events of our
days. This person is actually visiting
me tomorrow so it will be nice to have conversation somewhat started.
–
I have been working on a committee to redesign
our work area for the past couple of weeks.
Though I am not maybe the most fashionable person alive, I have my taste
and abilities. For this group project I
was assigned the task of coming up with a couple of sketches as to what the new
space should look like. I never
considered myself an artist but felt this would be a great creative
outlet. I was totally proved right today
when we met with the graphic artist here at my job. She looked over my sketches and said that
they were “better than what she could create from scratch” and even gave me a
website to use in helping me space out the desk configurations. Felt nice to hear from someone that my work
is validated.
–
This challenge is done and I was able to reach
the finish line. Often we start things that
have no chance of being finished, which I feared would happen with this. It is a relief but also hopefully a beginning
to being able to find daily gratitude in my life. I have been able to share the experience with
others and have received some great comments from others who are involved with
this challenge themselves. Often we feel
alone in the world so it is great to find out that we really are not.
Integrating gratitude :)
This board is beautiful! :D
Beautiful, Spešl Pavrs!!
Awesome visual!
Right after I signed up for the Gratitude challenge, I was bombarded with some not-so-nice people and incidents that I had to laugh about because they seemed to happen because I had signed up. As the days followed, I found that I was less interested in expecting the annoyances and more interested in finding the gratitude. Faithfully, I posted every day except the Gratuity challenge day. That challenge was off-putting; mainly because I normally give 20% tip and didn’t feel any more was necessary. I have been trying to emulate my sister’s habit of sincerity. She looks people in the eyes, smiles, and say’s, “And how are you today?” She means it; she’s genuinely interested. She treats everyone kindly and expects nothing in return for her efforts. So, this challenge fortified my desire to look for things to be grateful for while presenting a caring attitude. I plan on continuing my search for gratitude. I’m not so sure my sister or this challenge is going to help me when some rude driver cuts me off, promoting a “my blinker gives me right of way” attitude, but this will probably help me think twice before I get angry.
Three Things I’m Grateful for Today
1. Recognizing the difference between discipline and meanness.
2. Realizing that I don’t have to like someone to be pleasant and civil.
3. Understanding that some friendships are limited and have a short shelf life.
Thanks Celes for conducting this challege and everyone who participated…love & light, Karin
http://randomthoughts-musings.blogspot.com/2013/08/daily-gratitude-log-15.html
1. How has the gratitude challenge been for you? (Have you found the tasks helpful in
cultivating gratitude?)
I liked the challenge, because I had everyday something new and
joyful on my mind to think about. It lifted up my spirit.The tasks were very
helpful: they expanded my horizon about gratitude. Now I have the tools to
cultivate the habit of gratitude –gratitude meditation, thankyou note, sharing
and showing gratitude, tiping, changing un-grateful thoughts into grateful ones.
These are all acts of gratitude I did not think of before. Before this
challenge I only sometimes wrote down things I am grateful for.
2.What has been your favorite task(s)? Why?
My favourite tasks were the one that streched my mind with
new ideas and new attitude. Now I look differently at my adversaries, my
mistakes, thoughts transformation, things I take for granted.
3. What have you learned in the challenge? What have you learned about gratitude? Elaborate
I have learned I need to
take some action if I want to life a grateful life – it is a matter of every
day »training« and cultivation. I learned there are many ways to be grateful
and that there are many objects and subjects of gratitude. I need to show my appreciation, it is not enough only to think about how grateful I am.
Gratitude = thoughts + emotions, feelings + acts, showing, sharing. With acts of gratitude and also just with beeing grateful I impact others in a positive way. When I am grateful I
feel better and have more energy.
4. How do you plan to integrate gratitude into your life moving forward?
I plan to fill up my purple bling-bling gratitude journal with
writing down every day 3 things I am grateful for and why I am grateful.
I will make a list of things I tend to take for granted and
than I will do an action plan how to show more appreciation to those things.
And than I will go into action acording to the action plan :)
I will say »itadakimasu« before every meal and I will be
grateful for my food while preparing it and while eating it. I will practise
concious eating.
I will try to transform as many un-grateful thoughts into grateful
ones that I can.
I will make a gratitude manifesto :)
5. Anything you would like to see at PE moving forward? If so, what is it?
No ideas for now. But I will let you know when one arises. I am sure it will, I just need to take more time to think about it.
——————————————–
Today I am grateful for:
– peaceful day at work,
– my boyfriend taking my dog for a walk,
– meeting with a friend.
———————————————
THANK YOU, CELES, FOR CREATING THIS CHALLENGE. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO TOOK TIME AND PARTICIPATED IN ANY WAY. AND THANK YOU TO ME, CAUSE I DID IT FOR ALL 15 DAYS :) BECAUSE ALL OF US, OUR LIVES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN :)
HUGS AND KISSESS from Special Powers (=Spešl Pavrs) *****
Okay…I have a mystery that just happened…
I replied to others’ last posts here and then I wrote a very long and complete “ROUND UP” post, and then clicked the arrow, as usual, and actually SAW, right in front of my eyes, my post, just like I saw the others’ posts. Then I saw another post (Russ’), and I wrote a reply to that, and then, before I left the site, I scrolled back to refer to the post that I had JUST posted and seen. G O N E,,,,,VANISHED…..How can this be possible to see it posted and then it disappeared? I even remember how it looked on the page with the others’ posts, and how I forgot to write the number 3 down in my list of 5 in my post. I also remember how I wrote THANK YOU EVERYONE in caps after all of my suggestions for PE going forward and some other messages before the post ended with “COLOR ME MORE AND MORE GRATEFUL” I was pleased at how the post looked physically on the page and was glad that I took the time and energy to put into words this last day’s task.
I am not feeling grateful for the disappearance of a thoughtful post on Round-up Day that i spent my time and energy describing my experience during this challenge.
Perhaps it will reappear as mysteriously as it disappeared. Celes, do you have a clue as to how my post was printed with all the others and then was gone out of the blue off the page that it was just on?!? How can that be? Where is it? I keep scrolling down, incredulous that it is no longer there. I don’t even want to post this, thinking that my original post is still here and this will sound silly…How could a post, once printed, be eliminated??????
Had I not JUST seen it printed there among the others, I would find it easier to accept…but it was RIGHT HERE, PRINTED!!! AM I just not seeing my long post..is it hiding just from me? Have I stayed up too late and I am not seeing correctly? This is too crazy! Baffling! Unsettling!
I surrender…..
Hey Bette, the “disappearance” is because the comment was called in the spam queue! Many members’ comments have been getting in the spam queue for the past couple of weeks since there have been an abnormal increase in responses (it being a challenge and all), but I have been processing the spam queue and approving them one by one.
So don’t worry about the comment being gone; it’s back!
And also a note to everyone to PLEASE always copy/paste/save your responses in a notepad text file first before posting ANY comment because the internet is always unpredictable that way (even browsers can fail on us by hanging just as we post a comment).
ROUND-UP
1.The Gratitude Challenge has been challenging for me. How? Just to stick with the challenge was a challenge. Being consistent and disciplined to post every day has been a good practice, albeit challenging. There for awhile, I just wanted to read what others’ contributed…to concentrate on the topic and give it thought was a challenge. I also wanted to just respond to others’ posts, and omit contributing. It was really nice replying to others’ posts and sharing in that way. Thank you everyone for your posts and for sharing with me, with everyone, so generously. I have been inspired by you all.
Having said that, the tasks have been helpful in cultivating gratitude, so thanks, Celes, for posing this challenge for us, and for looking forward to other challenges.
Cultivating gratitude is always a good idea and I can always improve in the ways that I am aware of and express gratitude.
2. FAVORITE TASKS..
“3 Things you Take e For Granted and What You Plan To Do About Them”…
.Doing this task held a special gift for me, because at first view, I felt like I didn’t take anything or anyone for granted, and upon further pondering, I discovered that I took myself for granted. That gave me a fresh look at how I regard myself, and the task of what I need to do to work through this tendency that short-circuits experiencing the best in my journey.
Another favorite was WRITING A GRATITUDE LETTER to a friend. I have done this task many times, and each time it is a beautiful and heartwarming experience both for me and the person I am honoring and thanking. It creates closeness and connection, and promotes friendship going to a new level.89
GIVING THANKS TO MY LIFE AND TO MYSELF in my gratitude journal is just so honoring and respectful. Cultivating reverence for life and myself is a sacred experience and I am glad to proceed in that way. Sometimes, I just need a boost and faith in others restored. Thanks again, Celes, and everyone here.
I HAVE LEARNED IN THIS TASK to just jump in and start something, even though it may be a challenge to start… to just begin to do something is the thing…and to just keep showing up and be willing to write something, to be willing to move forward…
AS FOR LEARNING ABOUT GRATITUDE…..what I concentrate expands. What I start to do regularly becomes a habit, and from that great things can develop! I am practicing patience and understanding with myself in many areas of my life, and practicing gratitude expands a positive attitude.
And when I am positive and grateful, that is a blessing for all those I meet, and that spreads goodwill and can be very inspiring to others. The ripple effect is one that will make the world better, one gratitude at a time. Blessing and reasons to be grateful just gets bigger and better!
4. INTEGRATING GRATITUDE INTO MY LIFE…I will make a point to be grateful, particularly with myself and sharing the gifts I have to offer, so as not to take myself or the talents I have to share, for granted. I intend on keeping the attitude of gratitude going, and glowing.
I intend to show myself gratitude by practicing ways I can honor myself on a daily basis.
The ways those things are expressed changes, but they have to do with how I live my life…the food I eat, how I take care of myself, the sleep I get, how organized I am, the way I enjoy myself, express myself, create myself and my writings, and how I share myself.
It’s the little things that count!
5. REGARDING PE MOVING FORWARD…creativity challenge, fitness challenge, spirituality/meditation challenge, a favorite healthful RECIPE challenge…now here it can get real creative with simple ideas/recipes for really healthy eating…defining the boundary of what kinds of foods can be used…is it all vegan? gluten-free? sugar free?, etc… This kind of challenge could really be fun and informative and educational as well. Raising the consciousness of what are the super foods and how to use them daily.
PE could also have a favorites challenge where we submit what are our favorite memories or stories that we remember, books, movies, songs, quotes, places, exercises, pastimes, favorite way to express ourselves creatively/out of the box ways included, favorite websites, favorite resources to find certain info, favorite places to shop online or in the world, favorite sacred spots or unusual spots to visit…the list could go on and on…
Each day challenging us to come up with our faves…similar to the idea in our life handbook where we have all these faves condensed in one place. I think that would be fun and inspiring and really connect us with each other in a personal way that may not otherwise be possible. We could also place favorite photographs of our own or of others’ photos…what inspires me with this is your photo of you and Ken in Scotland, Celes…a great example of a wonderful photo that says so much about happiness as a couple….photos like that, that really say something.
GRATEFUL FOR TODAY
1. For hangin’ in and completing this gratitude challenge, I am grateful.
2. For helping a friend get through a verrry difficult time, I am tremendously grateful.
3. For being close to being more loving to myself, I am grateful.
THANK YOU CELES AND EVERYONE!!
HOPE TO SEE YOU HERE AGAIN!
IN THE MEANTIME, ALL THE BEST!!
COLOR ME MORE AND MORE GRATEFUL
Dear Celestineangel!! As I said at the beginning of the challenge, a ‘gratitude attitude’ is the goal for every moment of life, and that’s an enormous challenge. As the past fourteen days have shown, there are many roadblocks to gratitude, and many ways of getting around, through and over them, turning them into stepping stones to seeing the upside in everything, even the tragic. Ever since my life was saved 42 years ago by three ‘miracles’, I’ve been focusing on gratitude for everything. Not easy! But a truly worthy goal, Over those years I have been doing research about the effects of an attitude of gratitude, and I’ve come across some incredible websites with very successful programs in that regard. I would like to share those websites with the participants in this challenge since we wouldn’t have taken up this challenge if we didn’t feel it was vital for our development as individuals and as a personal way of sharing that way of being with everyone we encounter. The more we express our gratitude, the more we live it, the more we ‘model’ it in our lives, the more we will affect others in their ability to see it and feel it and understand how gratitude works and why it is essential to adopt that attitude.
If we embody a gratitude attitude, others will ‘pick up’ on it. Since we will be doing it from our hearts, others will recognize it as such. Everything we (everyone) say and do has an affect on others. It’s a great responsibility and the more we are aware of that truth, the more ‘good’ we will be able to accomplish. We always teach by example whether we are aware of that or not. Being aware is what enables us to choose positive responses to what we encounter in our life. People who ‘take up’ challenges are brave – they are willing to find out things about themselves that they won’t like and be courageous enough to try to change those things. Comments during this challenge have shown that.
It’s the only way to advance in our desire to transform ourselves to a higher level of being, to ‘be the change we want to see’ and to ‘be all that we can be’.
Regarding future challenges, please consider empathy and compassion, and sacrifice and service as two possibilities, and the myriad aspects of love. All three are essential.
The way I’m going to express my gratitude for you Celes, is to share your website with the thousand+ readers who read my missives.
May God’s bounty, mercy, compassion, blessings and love shower upon you until you are completely drenched!
Gratefully, Russ
Russ,
Thank you for your post, filled with wisdom and a generous spirit.
Yes! We are all connected and we all DO teach by example, and I have realized that responsibility we have to ourselves and to the world to be the change we want to see, and to model gratitude. Also, I have realized that taking up challenges does give the opportunity to uncover and discover things about myself that I do not like and would very much like to change, despite how daunting a task it is….
To transform myself “to a higher level of being” and “be all that I can be.” YES!
May we all be aware of the Truth and progress in fulfilling our soul purpose on our individual journeys.
Namaste
I’d like to start off by saying how happy and honored I am to be mentioned in the article, and to thank you, Celes, for conducting this challenge. Also, I’d like to thank each participant in the challenge for being so kind, supportive, and inspirational.
Now for the round-up questions:
1. How has the gratitude challenge been for you? (Have you found the tasks helpful in cultivating gratitude?)
This challenge had definitely determined me to be more positive about my life, because as opposed to my “One-thing-I’m-grateful-for-today”-journal, now I had to find 3 every day.
2. What has been your favorite task(s)? Why?
I think yesterday’s task was my favorite, because it is so easy to beat yourself up for your own mistakes instead of trying to see how they’ve helped you grow and better yourself. So that task was, indeed, an eye-opener.
3. What have you learned in the challenge? What have you learned about gratitude? Elaborate.
There are several things that I could mention here. I’ve learnt that all people share about the same fears and joys (regarding their jobs, families, dreams, and so on), so it’s something that unites us as human-beings. Another lesson I’ve drawn from this challenge is that there is always something good in your life, something to be grateful for. Also, you should cherish every single thing you have, regardless of how small it may seem, because you never know when it could be taken away from you and then you would finally realize that it played a major role in your life. And finally, nothing is worth having unless you share it with others: if you are prosperous, help those in need; if you’re a knowledgeable person, share from your experience and wisdom with those around you; even a good sense of humor can help others by brightening their day with a joke.
4. How do you plan to integrate gratitude into your life moving forward?
I’ll keep writing in my journal, but I will turn it into a “Three things that I am grateful for”-journal since this is more challenging and more efficient (for me) in experiencing true feelings of gratitude.
5. Anything you would like to see at PE moving forward? If so, what is it?
I know I’ve been talking a lot about blogs and sites lately, but what I’d love to see on PE is an article on building a successful blog/site. I know that you have a course on passive income, but it would be great to learn from your experience with building Personal Excellence and to receive some tips and advice.
Three things that I am grateful for today:
-I received more tasks for my job which means that I’ll get more money at the end of the month.
-I’ve cleared my schedule for Friday so I’ll have a nice, relaxing day
-It has been raining for hours, but ,as opposed to other people’s reactions, I enjoy it. I love autumn.
Madalina, I appreciate your post and your insights, especially:
“there is always something good in your life, something to be grateful for. Also… cherish every single thing you have, regardless of how small it may seem, because you never know when it could be taken away from you and then you would finally realize that it played a major role in your life.”
I really am learning constantly about how it is the little things that count!
And I think you have really expressed that so well!
And then you give more good reminders:
“if you are prosperous, help those in need; if you’re a knowledgeable person, share from your experience and wisdom with those around you; even a good sense of humor can help others by brightening their day”
Again, thank you for your sharing and for being here!
Thank you, too, Bette, for being so nice and kind. I’m glad that PE is a gathering place for such wonderful persons :)
First off, I would like to say how completely honored I am to be apart of this 14 day challenge! I only wish it was longer, ha ha!
Because I have learned so much during the short time I was involved. Not only from your post but the beautiful women and men who participated. It is amazing to find so many other people wanting to express gratitude in the same lengths as you do. When you’re thankful for your life, even for the smallest thing, every giant in your path seems infinitely small compared to the blessings we are fortunate to have every day. There is always a positive to every life.
I have to confess that I have been following this P.E since the beginning of January of 2013. You have taught me so much Celestine, as well as many others. And our willingness, success and interest is a result and reflection of your passion and devotion to us. I am grateful for your part in my life. I am grateful for your part in ours. I am grateful for everyone and their motivational stories! I am grateful to be apart this challenge and I’m very grateful for the truth, lessons and change it has brought in all of us! Now on to the questions;
How has the gratitude challenge been for you? (Have you found the tasks helpful in cultivating gratitude?)
Yes! Although I started “late”, the gratitude challenge has been a very productive endeavor in my personal life. In a short amount of time, I was able to look at the bright side on an other wise dreary situation. It helped me because it was like a friendly reminder from a friend, or a teacher’s wise advice. It instilled and reaffirmed the values that I hold so dear, and wish to continue to hold and pass on to others. I have never been committed to a challenge before, but it has inspired me to participate in future challenges. Hopefully, I’ll stick with it from beginning to the end.
What has been your favorite task(s)? Why?
My favorite task had to be between forgiving the mistakes you made, and making goals. Everything was brilliant, or at least where I started from, ha ha.
What have you learned in the challenge? What have you learned about gratitude? Elaborate.
I have learned many things. When I am grateful, it makes me appreciate the things I take for granted like my family, friends, work, education, belongings, myself! It gives me a positive outlook on life. When your grateful, It spreads and is infectious to other people especially when when it comes from the heart. It brightens up your day even if you’re having a bad one. People will notice the change in you, people will want to be around you. Learning gratitude and cultivating it creates a change in you and makes you feel better about yourself and the situation around you. It takes you out of yourself, your self pity and sorrow, and makes you better appreciate what you have verses what you don’t have.
Every day should be gratitude day! Every day should be appreciate a fella day!
I here by decree this day, Appreciate a Fella day!
How do you plan to integrate gratitude into your life moving forward?
To continue to be grateful for the blessings in my life. I was about to say ‘things’ like I said before, but I think it also starts with changing your lingo :). Choosing to be grateful even when the going gets rough, and I think keeping a journal or starting one will aid me as well. And whenever I need a little recharge, I’ll start this challenge all over again!
Anything you would like to see at PE moving forward? If so, what is it?
Wow, a frugality article sounds interesting! Honestly, you have covered so many topics; I don’t know what to add to that. Maybe another challenge consisting of empowering women. I noticed that there are many women on PE. I know men also participate too, but maybe you have a 13 day “Beauty from the Inside Out Challenge?” and have one for the men too.
I like the idea of challenges; I really do. I notice you have social challenges were you ahem “challenge” or dare the reader to step out of their comfort zone. Like the kindness challenge? Oh, and do you have a 13 day Anger Management Challenge. Ah, so many things. Sorry ^_^
Three things I am grateful for
1. While I am saddened that this challenge is ending so soon, I am happy to have completed it with a bang. I am even looking forward to more thought provoking, and life changing challenges in the future. I looked very forward to writing my gratitude.
2. I look forward to the weekend, and tomorrow. I am finally giving myself the grooming I deserve
3. And looking forward to the end of this month and beginning of a new semester!
(hugs)
Kiki, I just read this beautiful post, and you have expressed so beautifully so many things I am thinking and feeling that it almost seems like I could just say “Ditto Kiki’s!”
For all the things, people, and experiences that you are grateful for, I am grateful that you have them in your life. Most of all, I like that you have SUCH an appreciation and positivity and gratitude for all the blessings in your life!
May your life continued to be filled with much that you can be grateful for!
Hope to see you in another challenge!
A wonderful review! My sentiments exactly Kiki. Lots of great ideas for future challenges/topics. You put a lot of thought into your response, thank you. Think I might have to share mine later on today x
I love that Kiki, “Appreciate a Fella Day! I was also kind of sad this challenge was over, but then again I just like challenges they help me to stay focused with a end goal. Nice post Kiki;=)
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