Today we welcome Kristi Nelson, the executive director of A Network for Grateful Living. Her life’s work in the non-profit sector has focused on leading, inspiring, and strengthening organizations committed to progressive social and spiritual change. Being a long-time stage IV cancer survivor moves her every day to support others in living and loving with great fullness of heart. She is the author of Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted. 

In this episode, I talk to Kristi Nelson about gratefulness. She differentiates gratefulness from gratitude by describing the former as an orientation towards life, without being dependent on internal or external circumstances. Kristi shares with us the practice of Stop, Look, Go and her five guiding principles that can inspire you to live a life of gratefulness. We also touch on the topics of positive psychology, mindfulness, play, and self-compassion.

Website: gratefulness.org

Topics

03:01 Kristi’s cancer diagnosis 

04:17 Gratitude vs gratefulness

08:50 Gratefulness during hard times

12:37 Reclaim play, curiosity, courage

15:58 Life is a gift

18:08 Everything is a surprise

20:41 The ordinary is extraordinary

23:48 Appreciation is generative

26:55 Say yes to your life

32:46 Love is transformative

34:35 Stop, Look, Go

38:18 Befriending our full selves

40:43 Leaving a grateful legacy