Gratitude is an Attitude
Posted By Kathleen David on September 26, 2007
It amazes me, and perhaps it shouldn’t, how many articles I have been reading recently about showing gratitude or expressing gratitude or making lists of things you are grateful for so you will love longer. It seems the new buzzword is gratitude which apparently, if expressed correctly, can change your life, fix your hair, and many other amazing things.
I think some of this comes out of some of the other current self-help trends. I have been told I should read “The Secret” to which I say no thank you. I have read enough reviews and short bits to know what the book is about. If it changed your life for the better, I am glad but it is not for me. Not all self-help tomes are for everyone no matter what they say on the cover.
I have been signing off my web log with the phrase “I am grateful” for a number of years now. Some mornings are harder than others to come up something to be grateful for but I always manage to find something. Which is a good thing. It gives me a moment to reflect on my life as it is and find something that I appreciate and am thankful for. It may be something small or it may be a universal truth but there is always something there even in the worst of times. I’ve tried to avoid repeats but I am betting I have some, which is fine. It means that I am super-grateful for that.
A number of people over the years have told me that they read this web log for my moment of gratitude that makes them stop and reflect on their own lives and find something that they are grateful for. I feel good about that. If I can make people happy or at least feel better about life then I think I have accomplished something to humanity as a whole. And maybe those people will past it onto other people who will feel a little better too.
It is such a simple thing to do. Just sit for a moment and reflect on what has been happening to you or the world around you and I bet you too can find something to be grateful for because there is so much in our lives that is good and sometimes the signal to noise ratio of our daily lives makes it hard to remember that.
I am grateful for the ability to read and write.
This is an intriguing topic. I would go so far as to admit it is beneficial to find something for which to be grateful, and I am in the same situation as you: So far there has always been something I could find for which I should be profoundly grateful – most of my family is still living, my health is good, and I have been given many opportunities not available to others. I don’t know whether I understand you correctly in the larger picture of gratitude, however. If you mean that everyone can and should find something for which to be grateful, I must disagree. There are those (neither of us is so unlucky, thank God) whose suffering is so profound and total that gratitude may be unthinkable. This is probably more true of those suffering physical or mental disease than of those in abject poverty – No matter how poor one is, friends can still be a blessing, but a completely blasted mind or infected body can be completely hopeless.
I have no idea why that multi-posted. Sorry.
(Jeffrey-
I fixed it. That happens sometimes and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it
Kath)
Anytime I need to feel grateful about anything, I simply step outside, take deep breaths, and raise my face towards the sun, sky or moon. I marvel at the miracle of nature and at my ability to appreciate it.
It works because it relieves stress. Go ahead, try to really appreciate anything while you’re stressed out. You can’t do it. It’s kind of like trying to hold your breath until you die.
Well, I’m very grateful indeed that Kath cleaned up my mess. I don’t want to dismiss anyone who can consistently find something for which to be grateful – The feeling just shouldn’t be extended to an expectation or requirement for others. Life can be bad enough that some cannot find that gratitude, even with great effort, and it can become smugness if one insists others must find their gratitude.
This all reminds me of the old novel and movie “Pollyanna.” As long as Pollyanna insisted that everyone play the “glad game” and did the same herself, it seemed like a sunny and optimistic – but perhaps not entirely realistic – approach to life; When she suffered new misfortunes and went into a funk the neighbors rallied together to dispel, it gave the lie to everything she had previously said, if she could not find the goodness she had told everyone else was there to be found. (I know this is massive over-reading of a children’s book…)
Just let me say that at times in my life I have needed serious reminding that I have so much to be grateful for… and Kathleen, “hearing” you express your gratitude for things both large and small so often serves as a reminder for me. Thank you!