2020: The Year of Gratitude. What are you grateful for?
/The Art of Convening can also be called The Art of Gratitude. Sometimes it takes practice, but when you take time to be present to those around you and remember the gifts they bring, gratitude is an easy response.
After reading a wonderful article titled "Abundance and Gratitude," from gratefulness.org, Craig was inspired to create a LinkedIn post offering this reflection and a question:
Gratitude may be the most powerful inner capacity of the purposeful leader. What are you grateful for today?"
Below we offer 3 gratitude practices. We welcome your response to Craig’s question, the article below, or the 3 practices.
Abundance and Gratitude
We already contain that we most deeply desire. Life, love, inner freedom, connection to all. The more we can realize this, the more we can undertake all things with a sense of abundance.
The abundant heart embraces our world, holding all its joy and fear, gain and loss, nobility and selfishness, enveloped in a field of compassion and love.
Here are three practices that support presence and gratitude:
1. Listening
We listen to each other’s stories with curiosity, wonder and attention. A natural respect for all voices emerges when we listen with respect for everyone’s voice without fixing, problem-solving or advice-giving.
The practice: next time you are with someone, listen as if your life depended upon it.
2. Speaking from the Heart
Take a chance to speak about what has meaning and purpose for you. It will most likely be meaningful for the person you are with. Speaking honestly and simply from the heart is compelling and authentic.
The practice: Pause, take a deep breath, put your hand on your heart. Ask yourself, “what has meaning and purpose for me, right now, at this moment.”
3. Slow Down the Conversation
Being interested rather than interesting allows for space and new thinking. Be curious. The tendency to have a quick response, or talk over someone with excitement, isn’t the same as deep listening.
The practice: Allow pauses between the speakers, for connection to occur and to allow something new to emerge.
#purpose #artofconvening #convening #listening #leadership #practice #authenticengagement
