News from our European Network, “Dankbar leben”

Europäisches Netzwerk „Dankbar leben“

Summer 2015

After successfully building up and accompanying the European Network “Dankbar leben” in the coordination team between July 2012 and December 2014, Brigitte Kwizda-Gredler has decided to dedicate most of her support during 2015 to finalizing projects within the network, e.g. the documentary movie about witnesses of grateful living and the booklet about mindfulness and gratefulness in schools.

Mirjam Luthe-Alves and Christiane Ströh de Martínez will continue to be on the coordination team during 2015 and are currently looking for new team members interested in joining. Already so many friends have been sharing their contributions in a silent way – thank you so much! Without you, we would not stand where we are now.

We send a heartfelt “Thank you!” to Brigitte for her overwhelming dedication to the network and all coordination efforts – the fruits of her work and her heartfulness are visible and will continue to ripen. And we trust she will always be a networker in many networks from her whole heart…

We are profoundly grateful to share with you the accomplishments of the last two years, to which so many dear friends have contributed in an amazing variety of ways:

• The event “Grateful Living” with Brother David and the Vienna Boys’ Choir was held in Vienna, May 15, 2014. The concert and dialogue with Br. David – entirely organized by Brigitte – had 430 guests. The event’s long version is now available on DVD, and a short version is to be found on youtube.

• “Erfülltes Leben – wenn die Schale überfliesst…” (translation by the author: “Fulfilled living – when the vessel is overflowing…”) is a documentary film project, which will be soon available on DVD (so far only in German language). It is the fruit of 2.5 years of volunteer work of Brigitte Kwizda-Gredler and Hans Fuchs without any project budget, interviewing witnesses of grateful living, while following the event’s thread with Brother David and the Vienna Boys’ Choir in 2014. The film may serve as working material for seminars, training courses, teaching in schools and many more circles. The DVD comes with a film script with fully transcribed dialogues and the project methodology. All products are property of “Verein und Zentrum für Europäische Klosterheilkunde Gut Aich”; all film rights are with Brigitte and Hans.

• 

  This amazing film was screened for the first time during the „Day of gratitude“ on May, 30th, 2015 at the Austrian Gut Aich Monastery. The monastery invited guests to Brother David’s 60th anniversary as a Benedictine monk. Almost 200 guests enjoyed a beautiful day with many events related to grateful living from music and arts to mindfulness practices and the film screening preceeded by Rilke poems recited by Brother David. The Holy Mass was celebrated at the end of the day, surprising Brother David with this creative gift. Pope Francis sent his blessings and congratulations. Thank you to all for such a joyful day!

• A recent 2015 gathering with 42 participants took place from June 22-24th in Austria, St. Arbogast. This year, the Dialogue Project and supporters from the European Network „Dankbar leben“ had organised an event following the symposium style of the global initiative „Be the change“ (www.be-the-change.de), including exercises from Joanna Macy’s Deep Ecology, combined with dances and mindful dialogue groups.

• The second European Network Gathering in Austria, St. Arbogast, was held from June 12-15, 2014 with the title “Gratefulness as Mindfulness in Dialogue” with Br. David and other speakers like e.g. Tania Singer. 130 guests attended.

• Six new local gratefulness groups were formed since 2014: 4 in Vienna, 1 in Graz, 1 in Zurich. More than 100 people gather in local gratitude groups with a maximum of 20 people. More groups have been announced to be createded this year. Our website features their updated meeting dates and their experiences with their gatherings.

• A new e-card feature was developed by our Swiss e-card team in 2014. Many beautiful cards have been created in a new format. Thank you very much, dear team!

• New book publications in 2014 and 2015 included:
  – „Einfach leben – dankbar leben. 365 Inspirationen“, by Br. David Steindl- Rast, published by Herder. („Simple living – grateful living – 365 inspirations.”) (2015)
  – “Das glauben wir”. Spiritualität für unsere Zeit.” by Anselm Grün and David Steindl-Rast, published by Vier-Türme GmbH Verlag. (“This is what we believe in. A spirituality for our times.”) (2015)

Mirjam Luthe-Alves is a mother of three children. Her family currently lives in Southern California, Germany and Spain.  Since 2012, she and many others have dedicated much love to creating a supportive environment for Dankbar leben. Mirjam has been working in development cooperation for years and is currently introducing the use of Mindfulness and Contemplative Practice in schools for young children.