10 Comments

To what or to “Whom?” I like how you handled that. Great essay.

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Thank you, Peter - very kind!

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Thank You. I will probably still just thank the Universe, but it is cool to know such a nice term, “transpersonal gratitude”.

Funny, if we have a phrase to describe it, I betcha there are like, twelve, in Japanese and/or German.

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Thank you Mona - I know what you mean, that thanking the universe is more natural and straightforward to do. So that's what I'd do too... Though it's a nice example of transpersonal gratitude!

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🙌🏼perfect

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Transpersonal gratitude can be directed to Nature whether one believed in a Divinity or not. Nature is mostly beautiful despite some flaws (bad storms, earthquakes, struggles for survival, etc.).

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Thank you Billie, I agree with you there.

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You are most welcome. I liked your inclusivity when you wrote about this. I liked that you didn't want to leave anybody out.

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You cannot deem someone lucky that may drink and not really pay attention to their health. It could also be genetics. Some people just have strong immune systems. And the occasional drink or fast food meal doesn’t hurt them as much as the next person. Everybody is different. We all are on a different journey. What works for you, may not work for me and vice versa. I also wanted to state that just having intrapersonal gratitude isn’t going to necessarily be. Some people are not grateful at all. They feel that the world owes them something for whatever reason it may be. We have to be consciously aware of our gratefulness. To just have it, isn’t so. To keep a gratitude journal, to say it out loud with words is more powerful than just assuming that a person has intrapersonal gratitude. I’m not saying that it doesn’t exist. I just feel that it’s more powerful when you can say it out loud or to keep a daily gratitude journal. Just because I don’t believe in religion or any deity, doesn’t mean that I don’t have gratitude towards human kind or at all. I have great gratitude towards the universe and everything in it. For without it, I wouldn’t exist. I just wanted you to know that not everything is just as you say. There are many nuances to this. Thanks for your interpretation of gratitude though.

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Thanks for your thoughts Alicia - you're right that gratitude comes more easily for some people than others, and that there are lots of nuances to this. I think a lot of what you say is compatible with what I wrote in the article, but I didn't cover some of these extra issues purely for reasons of space. Thanks again for your reply!

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