I've wondered about the whole, 'gratitude,' schtick for some time: it seems trying to produce genuine gratitude on demand, for me at least, is next to impossible.  I really do wonder what genuine gratitude is.  I imagine it to be a rather unpleasant experience in humility.  Yet, I don't think that is what it really is.  Seems to me, properly, it should be a sort of...  exquisitely beautiful feeling: like standing next to a very tall, old tree, and thinking: wow...!

Perhaps it's different at different times: gratitude. 

It has been interesting to get to know the crickets here though.  When I've really got up close with them, really observed, I could tell you without a doubt, their, what we would call, 'humanity,' is quite present and observable: fear, elation, curiosity, etc..  It's beyond me to imagine..  I suppose I'm grateful for that. 

I'm grateful for beauty, most of all, and my experience of it, over the years.  That tremulous sort of awe that gives you a bit of a shiver, perhaps some goose pimples, and puts a bitter sweet tear or two in the eyes.

edit: Also, I'd say I'm eternally grateful, for those moments of profound, or even simple, shared experience with friends over the years: leisurely walking.. and talking.. about this, and that, and special sort of nothing special somethings: with heavenly ground and grasses under foot, trees here and there, and sky above..

...And how could I forget Music. 

One my faith,
two my anger has diminished over the years
if there is a third, it is that I begin to see traps for what they are.

Such as social media, people go on there to be validated all too often and whether they are or not, there is a risk in both directions of losing your way.

1: You become arrogant from get validation too much (positive)
2: you fall into despair from being criticized too much (negative)

My faith has been showing me these things.

although it took me a while, for me to respond and/or take it seriously.

Those are some gratitudes I have discovered recently.

ETA: And because my Devuan installs are so boringly stable, so I never really have an issue to post unless i'm doing something hacky that I probably shouldn't be doing, hah!

Don't be a stranger, greenjeans!

Spiders are a favorite, we have a a bunch living in the house, they take care of gnats and other things like dust mites and such, occasionally one falls into the sink or tub and can't get out, and now they know when I reach my hand out to jump on it because i'm just giving them a lift back to their web.

All the animals and trees in my little environment know me and trust me, wild critters come up and talk to me all the time, usually wanting a treat, but sometimes just to say good morning. Wife calls me Dr. Doolittle at times, lol.

Thanks for sharing Golinux!

I suspect I know where spidy is hiding but don't want to disturb her.

I have a spider - don't know what kind but it is really fat - that has been building a web across and blocking my front door every night for most of the summer. I never see what it is catching because every morning when I get up the web has disappeared and there is no sign of its maker.  But by 11-12:00 at night, it is back. Not a problem for me because I never go out after dark. I also have bunnies in the yard that don't flinch even when I walk very close to them. They just keep chomping on the various native grasses. I've also had sparrows nest on my front porch. Always happy to provide protection from wind, rain and predators.

Animals, including insects, are much more intelligent than scientists believe.