Questions for Meditation on Gratitude
These questions are prompts for your own reflection. They can also be shared and discussed around the Thanksgiving Holiday table, or to express gratitude on the Sabbath, Sukkot, or other joyous occasions.
1. What do you really want, when you complain? What do you really want, when you express thanks or gratitude? What do you generally get in response to both complaining and thanksgiving?
2. When do you complain? When do you praise?
3. What makes you open and susceptible to complaining? What makes you open and susceptible to feeling grateful?
4. For both complaining and gratitude, what are the factors that depend on you, rather than on external circumstances?
5. Is there anything you want or need to do about your complaining or your complaints? Is there anything you want or need to do about your gratitude?
6. Right in this moment, what are you most thankful for?
7. What have you learned to be thankful for, that you used to take for granted (or even complain about)?
Thanksgiving is a significant theme on our six CD’s. Along with Debra's newest CD entitled Gratitude, the opening track on Transformation Now , “Why We Are Here,” reminds us that gratitude is intimately tied up with knowing our purpose. Later tracks on that same album show us why – and how – to be grateful for our free will choices, the lessons we had to learn the hard way, and even people who try our patience.
Awe Always cultivates not only reverence for the way we use our time, but gratitude for the time we are granted. It also explores what we really mean when we give thanks to God.
Compassion Constantly teaches gratitude for life, and finding blessing even in crisis. Others may seem to “have it all,” but be grateful for your lot and don’t engage in negative comparisons, for, as this album teaches at the most profound level, “you never really know what another person is going through.”
Reb Zalman’s CD’s offer stunning examples of gratitude, from the opening Halleluyah of Reb Zalman Prays to the life-changing perspective on synagogue honors offered on Reb Zalman Teaches.
If you haven’t yet ordered these CD’s for yourself, click here. If you have, you may want to listen again, with an ear attuned to Thanksgiving. CD’s make wonderful Hanukah gifts.