1. EVALUATE HOW PARTICULAR (SEVEN) SPIRITUAL EXERCISES TO CULTIVATE LOVE AND GRATITUDE CAN IMPACT YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE (BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES) AND JUDGE HOW SOCIETY MISHANDLES LOVE AND GRATITUDE. DLG 3.3 Maddie Orf - West

2. 7 Spiritual Exercises to Cultivate Love 1. Say Grace 2. Recall Helpful People 3. A Day of Thankfulness 4. Recall Loving People 5. I Will Receive What I Offer Now 6. All-Encompassing Love 7. Loving Kindness Meditation

3. Benefits of Exercises These exercises obviously offer many benefits to your spiritual being. They can help us appreciate our relationships with others. They help us be more thankful for the people around us. They help us take down barriers that prevent us from loving like we should. And they help us to think more positively about people around us and live healthier lives.

4. Challenges of Exercises Along with benefits that these exercises offer, there are also challenges that one may face. It’s always hard to change your views on something, so making a spiritual change that has to do with your mental state of mind is exceptionally difficult. I do not think that these exercises are hard when it comes to the exercise itself, but putting yourself fully into them is the hardest part about them. For example, meditating is not that hard, but concentrating on what you should be meditating on can be challenging when you have a lot on your mind.

5. How Society Mishandles Love and Gratitude LoveGratitude In our society today, there is a lot of confusion when it comes to love. This makes complete sense because of the different versions of love that there is. Sex, marriage and sacrifice can all fall under our society’s definition of love. Society’s definition of love has had an effect on the Catholic Church. Young Catholics are starting to follow society’s rules on sex and marriage, which contradict what the Church thinks. "They want to know the rationale behind the teaching. They do not settle for ‘because I said so.” So what is love? There is no right or wrong answer. It just depend on your own opinions. Society also does not have a good understanding of gratitude. People may know what it means, but that does not mean it is practiced. People see gratitude as a debt and a recognition. However, these two conceptions mean two different thing. Gratitude as a debt has a negative effect, making is sound more like a chore. Gratitude as a recognition makes it seem like one is actually thankful and really means what gratitude they offer.

6. Work Cited