About an Ecology of Gratitude: So What? Now what?

I finished my book in November, launched it in December and realized in January that my motivation and energy had been consumed. After any heavy project, it is normal to expect a phase of deflation and energy lagging. I was there last week – running on fumes, as the saying goes.

I read poetry, newsletters of inspiration, listened to podcasts, talked to friends and listened for voices that would reflect some light and energy back to me.

As I paused and then paused a little longer, I found myself savouring the phrase: Time to let my soul catch up.

The effort to write, research, edit, design, publish and launch a book required more than I anticipated. But 2021 is in the rear-view mirror and as I paused and resisted the push and paused for a bit longer, I began to hear that couplet of questions rising in the hollow chambers of my brain:

“So what?”

“Now what?”

Thanks to all who have sent a note of appreciation, or an inspiring photo or a link or a tag or an email advising me that the book is being read, and that the messages are shedding light into some of those hollow corners.

I consider the book “an appreciative inquiry into the power of gratitude”. My motivation for writing was to connect the words: “Journal Writing” to “Growing Gratitude” to “Social Capital”. I have resisted the label, “Self-help book” and this morning I heard Simon Sinek assert that gratitude is a leadership tool that can help people working in the “Help-others Industry”.

Ah-ha! The Help-others Industry. For me, this expression switches on a full room of bright light and possibilities. If you are so inclined, try listening to Simon Sinek’s A Bit of Optimism Podcast, December 2021 episode: Gratitude with Omar Brownson. At minute 14:20, he uses the term in the context of gratitude.

So what? My book is not a self-help book, rather it is a tool for building a person’s self-awareness. What else? I plan to take a pen and a piece of paper and riff on the idea of making a contribution to the “Help-others Industry”.

Now what? I am still pausing, planning and thinking and listening to voices contributing to the gratitude conversation. In February, I will host some online Zoom workshops. I have been asked to be interviewed on a couple of podcasts (Feb. 29 with Lynda Monk, International Journal Writers’ Association) and I will happily to show up most anywhere within a 2 hour drive of Banff, with a box of books in the car, a mask over my mouth and a burning wish to be part of the “Help-others” conversation. I am eager to reinforce the idea that gratitude can power this emerging sector that helps others.

Gratitude is an underappreciated character strength. Gratitude is NOT a weakness, nor a soft skill nor personality flaw. Gratitude is a human-centring view that, under the right conditions, can be trained into a Super-power.

For me, Sinek’s suggestion that gratitude can help us go from a self-help mindset “Help-others Industry” is a slam dunk of an idea that answers the question: Now what? Answer: Keep going!

As An Ecology of Gratitude takes root in the hearts and minds of readers, more and more grateful seeds will be looking for fertile ground. If you have some warmth and sunshine and fertilizer to share, please let me know. Clearly, our planet can use a bumper crop of gratitude  in 2022. And clearly, growing gratitude takes careful planning, pausing and tending.