When a well-known radio presenter and musician knew he was dying he also was aware he did not want to die angry. He had a tv crew follow him in his last year of life in a program called ‘The year of living gratefully’.

“I don’t want my last days to be angry,”  he said in his final interview. “If these are my last months, I want them full of joy. I want them full of friendship, love, and happiness,” he told the program.

Shortly before his death, he held a living wake, reminiscing with his friends and playing the saxophone with his band.

Most of us will not have a TV show following our last year of life but I wonder what a year of living gratefully means to you or living every day gratefully.

Here is a description of how some people define living gratefully:

- Living gratefully involves appreciation and mindfulness.

- It is looking at the good in life during easy and hard times.

- This looks at the positive.

- This can build resilience.

I know years ago everyone was encouraged to have a gratitude journal and write down three things a day for which they were grateful. I lasted a week.

Is gratitude and living life gratefully the same thing?

Is it possible to be angry and grateful at the same time?

Do we need to have a terminal illness before we learn to live gratefully?

Do you think living gratefully would help you?

Do you think the whole idea of living gratefully is something you do naturally?

Are you a bit sceptical of phrases like living gratefully?

Leah 

A Moodscope member