Composing Gratitude

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and
more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It
can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for
tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie
As Stanford students busy with classes, sports, volunteer work and a slew of other
activities, we often see writing as a necessary task, rather than a leisure activity. I
know the feeling because I am swamped with midterms, papers and problem sets,
and even as a writing tutor I often forget that I love to write. However, I recently
read the book Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach, and was re-inspired
to start writing. The book is a series of short essays, one for each day of the year,
which emphasize finding oneself and the importance of a strong sense of self. One
of the first tasks mentioned in the book is to keep a gratitude journal. Breathnach
is so adamant about how her gratitude journal changed her life that she swears the
simple abundance path will only work for those who keep one. She insists that the
more one gives thanks for everyday, the more one will receive, creating a positive
cycle. While I was not fully convinced after having read the book, I decided to give
the gratitude journal a try. So far I have not noticed any more physical abundance in
my life, but I do feel like it has become much easier for me to see the good in most
situations. Most importantly, I feel reconnected to myself and to my love of writing.
The act of writing in a gratitude journal allows me to have a conversation with my
inner self and to learn more about my likes and dislikes. Try it out, it might just help
you realize that writing has other uses besides PWR and IHUM papers!

Jessica Guenther