About “A Grateful Day”

Beloved by many, it is used for daily meditation by individuals and groups, in schools, and in conference settings.

In 2006, we arranged to have Br. David Steindl-Rast record a short meditation about gratefulness which was used for audio promotion of A Network for Grateful Living, an organization he had co-founded several years earlier. The words that Br. David spontaneously offered that day were an exquisite outpouring of his heart. His spoken word and music montage was recorded, edited, and scored by Gary Malkin, it quickly became clear that the power and beauty of this recording could reach many more than the distribution of a CD would allow.

YouTube was barely a year old in 2006, but we could sense its potential. And so we carefully chose photographic images from all over the world to accompany Br. David’s spoken word, and A Good Day was released on YouTube in 2007. The video quickly developed a strong following, and has garnered well over 1.1 million views in the past decade.  Beloved by many, it is used for daily meditation by individuals and groups, in schools, and in conference settings.

The words of Br. David are timeless, yet technology changes rapidly, and what was perfect for 2007 does not necessarily translate to the best quality of imagery today.

In order to update A Good Day, while still maintaining its meditative, inclusive qualities, we worked with filmmakers Gnarly Bay and chose to go with hi-resolution video footage so it could be shown on both large and small screens, and so it would not “compete” with the original version. We slowed the pace and added a new soundtrack that also includes organic environmental sounds to enhance the film’s contemplative feel. We hope that you will enjoy, and share, A Grateful Day.  

8 Reasons the World Needs “A Grateful Day”

TopicBr. David Steindl-Rast

Resource TypesArticles