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Grace
& Gratitude
Celebrating
Lifes' Blessings
Grace & Gratitude reminds us about life’s little blessings and to not take them for granted. By allowing Grace & Gratitude into our lives, we learn to be thankful, contented and to celebrate life’s blessings no matter big or small. With this sense of gratitude, we will come to experience that life is neither stressful nor a chore, but a journey that can be undertaken with full consciousness and love. Grace & Gratitude is a creation of love and sharing from a speciallycatered workshop in October 2007, involving over 20 friends and participants from Clove&Clive. At the workshop, we brainstormed and created quotes that reflect our experiences and feelings of grace & gratitude. With creative expression, we drew and inked the quotes on smooth stones which were turned into gifts for visitors to the centre. Indulging ourselves further, stories on grace & gratitude were spun from the threads of our lives. We are pleased to share with you our little collection of personal and wisdom quotes, and anecdotes on how our lives have been touched, transformed and inspired by these two divine qualities. This booklet is lightly peppered by sepia photographs of the workshop in process, showcasing everyone’s contribution and joyful creation of their stones and stories. This booklet is our gift to you. Its core message—A beautiful life is your own creation. May you be blessed with grace & gratitude, embrace love & forgiveness and express joy & creativity as a part of your beautiful life. Each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we can simply learn that as well as giving, it is blessed to receive with grace and a grateful heart. -- Sarah Ban Breathmach, Author
Excerpt from Preface Every so often, someone or something comes along and presents us with their gift of Grace & Gratitude. The gift lights up our heart, brightens our day and soothes our soul with love. Gratitude is most valuable when expressed wholeheartedly to the persons or situations that brought the gift. Gratitude is beyond appreciation for an act of kindness; it could go as deep as a sense of profound gratefulness for our experiences and lessons in life. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. —MELODY BEATTIE, AUTHOR Grace, the second part of our title, is revealed in the dictionary with many definitions: it is the beauty and elegance of form; an attractive quality; a favour, honour or blessing made; kindness; moral strength; or a prayer said at a meal. In theology, grace is defined as divine love and forgiveness. Grace is the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul. —WILLIAM HAZLITT, 18th century English writer The definition of grace that we assumed in this booklet comes closer to the meaning of ‘kindness that we embrace in everyday life’, or ‘a blessing of love or forgiveness that we shower upon ourselves and others’. |
 Book Cover  Sample Pages  2009 Edition's Cover |
