Cultivating gratitude

A colleague with a sprained finger feels grateful both that dictation software exists so that she can do her job — and that she won't have to dictate for long, once the finger heals. A mother I work with remarks frequently on the progress her teenage son has made — and the help he has received — even as he has continued to struggle in the years after a residential placement. Stories like these abound, centering around the realization of things we've taken for granted, of having a difficult situation reveal the privileges we have. In a word, they embody gratitude.