Talk
Brother David Steindl-Rast: The Essence of Grateful Living | Super Soul Sunday | Full Episode | OWN
A Super Soul Sunday conversation on gratefulness as a daily practice.
About the teacher
David Steindl-Rast
Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, spent decades teaching gratefulness as a contemplative practice grounded in Christian monasticism while remaining in dialogue with Buddhist and other traditions, work that earned him the popular title 'grandfather of gratitude'. His TED talk and the Grateful Living network he helped found carried this teaching to a very wide audience.
Having turned 100 on 12 July 2026, he lives in contemplative retirement at Europakloster Gut Aich in Austria since 2021, still writing (a new book appeared the same month), but no longer teaching publicly himself; a jubilee colloquium in his honour was held in July 2026, and the Grateful Living network continues his work.
“If you think it's happiness that makes you grateful, think again. It's gratefulness that makes us happy.”David Steindl-Rast
Talks & videos
Watch.
Short introductions and longer conversations, to hear this teacher in their own words.
Talk
Want to be happy? Be grateful | David Steindl-Rast
Brother David's widely watched TED talk on gratefulness as a practice, not just a feeling.
Path
The wider context.
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Prayer & contemplation
Christian mysticism
Silence, prayer and direct experience within the mystical traditions of Christianity.
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