The Practice of Gratitude
On 13 June, fourteen people from St Margaret’s and from St James in Curtin gathered
together for a day-long retreat led by Rev Chris Lockley at the Silver Wattle Quaker Centre
on the dry shores of Lake George for a Gratitude Retreat. It was a great day, for which all
participants were grateful.
Chris encouraged participants to practise gratitude and to live thankfully. Ideas that he
shared included:
keeping a journal in which you record gratitude. He told us about Rabbi
Baruch Spinoza, one of the earliest advocates of a daily gratitude practice. (See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza).
adding water to a gratitude glass every time we felt gratitude.
expressing gratitude - such as by writing letters to writes or teachers whose work had
touched us.
Beginning each new activity by saying a brief grace expressing thanks for what we are
about to experience.
Chris provided participants with some excellent resource material and utilised some
additional excellent audio, visual and written resources throughout the day. They included
the video “Grateful” and the song “Grateful Heart” by Trisha Watts. You might like to
explore Trisha Heath Schneider's board "With a GRATEFUL Heart" on Pinterest, a visual
bookmarking tool that helps you discover and save creative ideas:
https://www.pinterest.com/trishiepink/with-a-grateful-heart/.
There were opportunities for shared conversation and walks with other participants, as well
as shared refreshments provided by our hosts.
After a foggy start to the day, which meant all our cars collected very muddy exteriors on the
dirt road into the venue, the day was fine although chilly. We were grateful for the blankets
provided by the venue and the nourishing food and hot drinks.
Photos by Brian Rope
St Margaret's News
3
July
2015