Thanksgiving Reflection: Nature, Beauty And Gratitude
This popular TED talk about gratitude will touch your heart as you prepare for a day of giving thanks.
What's not to love about Thanksgiving – an entire day dedicated simply to being grateful.
But with myriad preparations to be made – for the meal, company, house guests, or travel – it's easy to lose focus.
There's a popular TED Talk about gratitude, which -- if you have never seen it – is well worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch. Given by Louie Schwartzberg, it's titled, "Nature. Beauty. Gratitude."
Schwartzberg is a pioneer in cinematography. He captures the wondrous beauty of nature through stunning time-lapse photography – petals opening on a flower, hummingbirds flapping their wings, clouds floating across Yosemite Valley.
Images that take your breath away.
"Nature's beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude," says Schwartzberg.
Schwartzberg gave the talk in San Francisco in 2012, and the video has now been viewed nearly 3 million times. It includes a powerful meditation by Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast set to Schwartzberg's amazing photography.
Now 92, Brother David is recognized as a spiritual teacher and interfaith scholar and his books on gratefulness, read around the world, have been reprinted for more than two decades.
His premise is that "Being happy does not make us grateful. Being grateful makes us happy."
So give yourself a gift of 10 minutes this busy week and check it out.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Image credit: KieferPix on Shutterstock.com