ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the proposition of the unconscious holdover that has gripped many of the current approaches to the conceptualisation and study of gratitude, the potential that is heralded in these areas is limited. In the spirit of the methodology that the chapter argues is most effective for accessing the personal domain, it takes a narrative inquiry approach in relating his experience of measuring and defining gratitude as a researcher and educator. The chapter aims to draw attention to the difficulties in ascribing to fixed definitions, the author acknowledge the possible contradictions in offering his own construct of gratitude here. It explains some of the challenges found when trying to conceptualise gratitude in the field of education, exemplifying the Heidegger 's stance that the people need to deeply consider or, in the language of Gemma Fiumara, 'dwell with' and deeply, philosophically listen to how people's core concepts live within the contexts that we are researching.
