Thank you everyone for such an amazing response to this final question of the week for season 7. Around 70 of you have shared your personal stories, and as always a few common themes came up. Of course our family, friends, loved ones are high up on the list of things you are all most grateful for. In fact i think you showed most appreciation in general for our family and in particular our children and parents. Some other themes that came up, in order of popularity are... your appreciation for life itself! SO many of you mentioned this. Some of you brought this together with appreciation for god. Very nice! Also education was very popular, and im sure in many countries having a good education is critical to leading a successful life.. or at least that’s how it used to be, im not so sure anymore now that the system is crumbling and from what i have experienced i can get a better education in the University of YouTube! Appreciation of our self was brought up a few times, it was nice to see some of you be grateful for your mind and intelligence. Of course we had several beautiful posts that spoke about love and nature.

Make of it what you will! For me it's very interesting to be reminded how important family and friends are in this day and age. That really means physical real friends and close ones rather than any virtual friends that we make speak and share with but never really meet. I think this is SO important because we are losing this part of our lives very dramatically and suddenly, and i don’t think our leaders have really taken this into account whilst they consider and prioritise their economic systems. Anyways, that’s getting far to political for this season!

So thank you again EVERYONE who took part. I would mention you all but the list is just too long now! Also many of you post without linking in the comments which has made it harder to see all your posts. Next season we are going to use a dedicated topic tag so help me find them all and group them all together ;)

I would like to share a handful of posts that really stood out. They are different in many ways, and really touched me or inspired me. Thank you guys for making this QOTW a weekly staple that is now a part of my life!

@freemotherearth

I do my best to be grateful for as much as possible in my life, to recognize no regrets, to trust in spirit that each colourful aspect of my path is there for a purpose whether I can see it or not. I have learned to be grateful for the antagonists and struggles just as much as the heroes and riches, for without the former we never truly grow, we miss the opportunities to temper our very spirits and sharpen our tools for building a better life for ourselves and those who come after us.

A lovely exercise that I have used for this task on again and off again is writing down things I am grateful for. One year for Yule our gift to each of our community members was a jar, a pen, and a stack of small papers. The instructions were to write one thing at a time you are grateful for on a piece of paper, fold it in half, and stick it in the jar. No answer is too small! Over time the jar fills up with these little notes of blessings, and on a day when you are feeling particularly down you go and pull one (or all, if need be) of the papers out of the jar to remind yourself of the beauty that is in your life.

@mamrita64

I want to share that I feel so inspired now. This week was so good for me. I realized it was so nice to have a break from all the coaching and all the practices I do more or less on a daily basis (and have been doing for nearly 2 years). Even if it was just for a week...now I have to start to prepare for client sessions next Sunday and Monday. I'll record the latter and it'll be my graduation session for my Jade Egg Coach certification (which actually is quite exciting 🙂).

A couple of days ago I read @trucklife-family 's post about how grateful she feels for her daughters and for being their mom. It really made me reflect on the fact that my mom probably feels that same way about being my mom. Not that I wasn't aware of this before, it just resonated with me since I was spending time with my mom when I read this. I do feel very grateful for my mom but I guess it's even stronger from her side. For her it's always so hard to say goodbye and watch me 'disappear' on a train or flight.

@trucklife-family

I have so much to be grateful for in life, everyday when I wake up, I am grateful that I am alive, that I get to experience another day on this wonderful planet. Regardless of what is happening right now in the world, regardless of the way in which our lives are changing. There are times when I feel overwhelmed by what is happening and what lies in wait.

But really, I am so grateful to be here now and experiencing these times. The world is going through a huge transition at the moment, what we are witnessing is the end of an era and the beginning of something so much better. But you really need to fully conscious, to be fully aware of what is happening, if you wish to transcend.

Things are changing, at what seems like a rapid pace, but actually, the wheels of change have been turning for a very long time and the signs were there for those who wished to look below the surface. Who opened themselves up to the world, to really experience life and all that it has to offer!

@marlenyaragua

Being who I am is what I am most grateful for because I can thank, by extension, Mother Earth who gave shelter and protection to my ancestors. I can equally thank my parents for giving me life and my mother for raising me and allowing me to be who I wanted to be as an adolescent in a society where women had no role to play. Perhaps my mother did not understand what I wanted to achieve; however, she never put obstacles in the way of my possibility to travel in each of the books I could read in the public library of my hometown, my beloved city of Maracay.

I was born in Maracay, capital of the state of Aragua, central part of my beloved Venezuela.

Being who I am gives me the possibility to honour my lineage every day and to honour the woman who gave me life and the homeland where I was born.
Being who I am gives me the possibility to thank all the people who have been part of my academic formation. I have been fortunate to have had teachers of extraordinary academic quality. Today I can say that the career I chose to study when I was a teenager is the career that I love much more with each passing day. I love chemistry and I am honoured to be a professional in the field of chemistry.
Being who I am gives me the opportunity to thank Mother Earth who every day gives me the possibility to inspire my life in her resilience.

With this body I have felt the unconditional love of the mother who, longing for my arrival, lovingly kept me nine months in her womb, then in her arms and then giving me the joy of living with four other bodies, father and blood brothers who have strengthened and rejoiced my life with love and vigor to be able to continue on my way

It is this body that I am grateful to have with which I have embodied countless experiences guided by thoughts, instincts and emotions with which I have been able to recognize my duality between successes and failures in crucial moments that have left me with great teachings and reflections.

I am grateful with this body to have had satisfactory encounters between art and life to be able to express my inner world through song, dance, painting and poetry, thus knowing for the first time the love of a couple and fraternal, giving me bittersweet flavors that are part of what I have had to live to know the world of opulence, erudition, violence, love, nature, humility and simplicity considering that with these last three I have been very happy.

@zeleiracordero-2

Being grateful fosters positive emotions and, at the same time, increases the satisfaction of those who express them, as well as vitality, hope, and optimism. Gratitude gives meaning to the past, gives us peace in the present, and a positive vision for the future.

They say that giving thanks is the best form of prayer. The most important thing is not what we say, but how we live it. Instead of praying for things, we should give thanks for what we already have. Recognize that the good things in our lives are the essence of our happiness.

Thinking with gratitude helps us discover the positive aspects of life. Often, we forget that the greatest miracle is not walking on water, as Jesus did, the greatest miracle for us is walking on earth and living in the present moment, appreciating it, and living it to the fullest. We hardly realize that we receive much more than we give and life cannot be full without gratitude.

We must learn to let ourselves go, to relax, and to walk the paths that life has in store for us. To experience something new, to get rid of fear, but above all, to polish our best self, to bring out the best in ourselves. Clearing life of unnecessary expectations. The greatest joys in life are those that are not expected and happiness is in the little things that we often do not appreciate.

@nainaztengra

There are countless things in life that I feel Grateful for. As such this whole life in totality is something that I feel most Grateful for. The beauty around us makes me feel Grateful to the Universe for creating such a wonderful planet and giving me life here.
The family and friends that I have is a blessing for me and I am Grateful for that to my Source. The beautiful life that I live, the home that I have, the work that I do, everything comes as a blessing to me and I am so much Grateful for it to Life.

The one thing that I feel utmost Grateful for in this life is my Son.
If he would have not been a part of my life, I do not know how life would have been, but for sure, it would have not been as beautiful as it is right now. There would have been a hole for sure in my life without him.
As a young child I never had a healthy childhood and a healthy family, so it was always on my mind, that when I have a family of my own, I will give them the best.

I became a mother at a very young age of 22 and my life started very early with my Son. Because of that the bonding with my Son, goes much more than just a mother and son relation. He is sometimes my friend, and sometimes my mentor, sometimes he behaves so protective just like my father or a brother, and I see so many relations with him.

@mili280170

Considero que aveces nuestro cuerpo nos dice de manera indirecta tomate un descanso... Asi que hoy lo hice, el almuerzo fue perros calientes y la tarde de ver películas y comiendo chuchería por la tarde noche comencé a sentirme mejor, así que puse a lavar y comencé a doblar la ropa seca, poner en orden el reguero de mi bebé por supuesto revice Hive y vi participación grandiosa de @yolimarag quién da repuesta pregunta de la semana de @ecotrain ¿Qué es lo que más agradeces en esta vida? Y dije participaré.

Respondiendo a ello, mis últimas dos semanas han sido muy movidas por ciertos problemas familiares problema entre mis tíos maternos no entraré en detalle pero respondiendo a lo acontecido en mi vida en los últimos días.

ENGLISH

Welcome today, my day has been upside down, I woke up with an allergy that you can't even imagine, so my state of health was not optimal and my desire to do or fulfill my itinerary at home was not the same as usual.

What I thank God the most to life for giving me the parents he gave me, having them was winning the lottery and twice, I see them and I feel so proud of them, you can't imagine the crazy families they come from, talking to my husband one of these days I told him wow my parents are certainly the best of each family, they are not perfect but there is such a palpable difference between them and my uncles that fill me with pride without doubt applies the saying "if you don't come from a happy family, make a happy family come from you ".

@actioncats

Gratitud , una hermosa palabra que implica mucho, pero no vale nada sin acciones, todos tenemos algo o alguien por lo cual agradecer, así sea un simple gesto o detalle, o ese apoyo que nos brindó algún desconocido cuando estuvimos en algún apuro, el amor de Dios, la familia que tenemos, el techo que nos cobija del frio y nos da un lugar seguro al que podemos llamar muchas veces hogar, la comida que nos llevamos a la boca, el empleo y así podría continuar alargando la lista, pero siempre hay algo por lo que podemos estar mas agradecidos que por cualquier otra cosa y precisamente vengo a compartir con ustedes mi respuesta a la siguiente pregunta

ENGLISH

Gratitude, a beautiful word that implies a lot, but it is worth nothing without actions, we all have something or someone to be grateful for, whether it is a simple gesture or detail, or that support that a stranger gave us when we were in trouble, the love of God, the family we have, the roof that shelters us from the cold and gives us a safe place that we can often call home, the food we put in our mouths, the job and so I could continue to lengthen the list, but there is always something for which we can be more grateful than for anything else and precisely I come to share with you my answer to the following question:

This brings to an end Season 7 of the ecoTrain Question Of the Week. Its been really good to focus on gratitude and its been such a pleasure to see how many of you are ready to show it! There are challenging times, but im happy to see that we on Hive are not only strong, but also very beautiful and open hearted! Let us together make this world a better place!

Season 8 will start very soon! Can you guess what the theme will be next season? Please do share what you think it will be in the comments, and you can even suggest one if you like. Im always open to ideas ;)

Have a beautiful week ahead everyone, much love <3

oh And.....
The Medicinal Cooking Competition Launch!🎁 $250 in Prizes! WEEK 1

In case you didnt spot it we have started a new medicinal cooking based competiton! It will run for one month and each week there is a theme. For this first week the theme is SOUP and there are $250 of rewards each week up for grabs!