Thanksgiving - Featured Presentation

Gratitude and the Spirit of Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving and the Spirit of ON

by Gregg Krech

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I once traveled with a friend who had great insight into human nature. He said, “Wherever you go you can find something to complain about.” If we travel, we can complain about lumpy beds and crowded airports. But if we stay home, we can complain that we never go anywhere interesting and there’s never anything good on television. When I first went to Japan about twenty years ago I had a little book of phrases to help me communicate in Japanese. I had purchased it without thoroughly examining it, but when I was in Japan I read it carefully. I was amazed at how many phrases were designed to help the traveler complain about something. In the “hotel” section of the book, about one third of the phrases showed you how to complain about some problem at a hotel (“The air conditioner in my room does not work properly.”) Yet in that same section, there wasn’t even one phrase that helped you express appreciation (“Thank you for cleaning the room while I was out.”) The authors of the book apparently assumed that English speaking people in Japan have a great need to complain.

In Japanese language there is a term -- on. The meaning of on often includes a sense of gratitude combined with a desire to repay others for what we have been given. It’s not just that we feel grateful, or that we express our gratitude, but that we actually experience a sincere desire to give something back. We might think of it as appreciation that stimulates a sense of obligation. Not an externally imposed obligation. But a sense of obligation that arises naturally within us as we recognize how we have been supported and cared for by others.

“ In between birth and death everything I have is a gift – my body, the clothes I wear, the knowledge I have, family and friends, hobbies I enjoy, the house I live in, and so on. The are all “mine”, but only as things temporarily entrusted to me during my sojourn on earth ”
- Rev. Taitetsu Unno

So how do we go from a complaining life to one which cultivates, and is grounded in, a spirit of on – a spirit of Thanksgiving? . . .

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Living on Purpose

a month long distance learning program

January 11 - February 10, 2010

You are invited to join us for a month-long journey, right from the comfort of your own home, to start off the New Year. Our Living on Purpose program will give you a chance to set your compass for 2010, while enjoying the camaraderie of our online global community. 

Many of us desire to live a more purposeful life. We want to use our time well, to put our energy towards that which truly matters, to leave behind a positive legacy. But when we step back and take an honest look at how we're living . . . we're not satisfied. Maybe we're spending too much time doing things that feel urgent, but aren't particularly important. Maybe we find ourselves frequently being pulled off course by our feelings - feelings of fear, anxiety, or depression. Maybe we just procrastinate on doing what we know we need to do or maybe we're just confused about what our purpose should really be.

This course is designed to help you get on the path to a more purposeful life. We'll draw on exercises of self-reflection (Naikan) and methods from Morita therapy (known as the Psychology of Action). We'll incorporate ideas from Viktor Frankl, Stephen Covey, and William Damon. This is a course about direction - about finding direction, setting direction, and staying on course.

Click here to register for this program. Space is limited. Register before December 28th in order to avoid a $5 late fee.

 

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George Winston Thanksgiving

 

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Articles From the ToDo Institute’s Resource Library

Japanese Psychology and Purposeful Living

Attention, Obstacles and Gratitude

An audio excerpt from a public radio interview with author Gregg Krech about attention, obstacles and the experience of gratitude.
Listen to this Audio Segment...

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Cultivating Gratitude

An interview with author Robert Emmons, Ph.D.
Continue reading this article...

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Recommended Books

• Naikan: Gratitude, Grace and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection by Gregg Krech

Table of Contents for Naikan ...

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