Staff Picks

A collection of favorite resources – both old and new – handpicked by the Gratefulness staff for your perusal. This page will be refreshed 2 – 3 times per month with “gems” which have particularly moved, touched, or engaged us…

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (To Serve)
(2007) On 4 February 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave what was to be his last sermon, ‘‘The Drum Major Instinct,’’ from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is an excerpt from the sermon set to music. “If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That’s a new definition of greatness.”

Sidewalk Flowers: An Illustrated Ode to Presence and the Everyday Art of Noticing in a Culture of Productivity and Distraction
(Brain Pickings, March 2015) Maria Popova reviews “Sidewalk Flowers” which tells the wordless story of a little girl on her way home with her device-distracted father, a contemporary Little Red Riding Hood walking through the urban forest. Along the way, she collects wildflowers and leaves them as silent gifts for her fellow participants in this pulsating mystery we call life…

Where the Mind Is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth…

A Time to Check In on the Questions You’re Living Within
(On Being, December 2015) A year is an arbitrary unit of measurement, of course, but it’s as good as any to pause and recognize yourself for getting through the hard stuff, revisit the really good stuff, and get closer to integrating all of it…

Stop. Look. Go.
This stunning short film of un-hurried, un-plugged summer days with family and friends, beautifully illustrates Br. David’s simple “Stop. Look. Go.” grateful living practice. “All of us want to be happy…by experiencing, by becoming aware that every moment is a given moment – it is a gift!” says Br. David.

Rekindling Hope When Violence Seems to Rule
A website visitor asks: “Each time I hear news from the Middle East, I am horrified, sad, scared, angry. Violence seems to rule the world and I think: how can any one individual’s inner journey toward peace affect the trajectory of a bullet or a bomb? …How may I again rekindle hope in the face of this terrible reality?”

We hope you enjoyed these resources. To discover more, visit our complete Library of Resources or dip into Gratefulness in Daily Life.