my buddhist blog number 60

Hi Everybody,

Walking in the park with Gatsby this morning it was the most beautiful autumnal morning, slightly cool, low sun slanting through the trees, lots of people and dogs and walkers and cyclists making the most of this lovely September. To requote the poem, oh to be in England now that Autumn is here!! We have a lot to be grateful for in our climate. which brings me neatly to todays theme...last time we did altruism. This time we do gratitude!

' Altruism is close to gratitude and there is much discussion in the research findings of the remarkable transforming power of a spirit of gratitude, unlocking as it has been described, a whole basketful of positive and beneficial effects for the giver as well as the receiver, and indeed for anyone who happens to be within earshot. It's clear that building a strong dimension of gratitude in our lives is very good news indeed. Just going out of our way to express our gratitude to someone has been shown to have a positive effect on our sense of well-being for days after the event itself. But it's important, the researchers point out, to recognise that gratitude goes well beyond simply saying thank you to someone for help or support. They talk about it as a much broader, whole-life attitude to the way we take each day; about having for example a keen and lively sense of appreciation for all the ordinary things of life, ( takes me back to my walk this morning!) not taking things for granted, recognising all that we have, as opposed to focusing on on what we don't happen to have. Gratitude if you like as an essential element in the way we everything that happens to us.

And it's in that sense I would argue that it chimes most closely with the Buddhist description of gratitude, as being absolutely fundamental to a positive life state. A sense of gratitude if you like literally drives out negative thoughts. you can't be grateful and negative at the same time. Indeed the social scientists make a great deal of this idea in their work, talking of gratitude being incompatible with negative emotions such as anger and resentfulness. One psychologist describes it very much in that vein, ' gratitude helps people cope with stress and trauma, ' she writes.

So clearly gratitude is a hugely powerful and valuable quality to nurture in our lives, which once again, is a powerful conjunction of views between the scientist and the Buddhist. '

That's it for today. I think it helps to deal with just one quality per episode.
See you next time,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available for not a lot from Amazon and for even less from Kindle. I can only express my gratitude for the warmth with which it has been received by readers from all over. Can't thank them enough.