Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before.
Let me listen to it again.
Gratitude is so much more than a polite set of words.
It is a mind-set, an attitude, and a viewing angle that directly turbo boosts my baseline abilities.
In martial arts, I learned how to place my feet and position my body for maximum impact in any given manoeuvre.
My stance was vital.
Gratitude is also a stance.
The manoeuvre I am presently performing is sobriety with all its ancillary mini-moves.
Being thankful is a powerful weapon in my arsenal of life tools.
It is efficacious.
Thankfulness draws my focus to what I have instead of what I have not.
By being grateful, I shift my perspective from negative to positive.
Game-changer.
Succeeding in endeavours so often comes down to mind-set.
Gratitude kicks my ego out of the driving seat and replaces it with appreciation and humility.
I can be thankful for anything. It doesn’t have to be significant.
- Warm socks
- Electricity
- A passer-by’s smile
- A biscuit
On the other hand, it needn’t be insignificant:
- 151 days sober
- My beautiful wife
- My home
Big or small, the magic works the same.
Am I being silly?
Being grateful is no more silly than being ungrateful.
I will be either one or the other because there isn’t a third alternative
So I will choose the option that will boost my efforts.
I also call gratitude honest because it acknowledges and validates much that ingratitude kicks under the carpet as worthless.
There is an advanced class for gratitude.
Thankful for the shit, horrors, difficulties, and trauma that inevitably pervade our worlds for a time.
Trial and tribulation.
How could I possibly be thankful for this stuff??
- Thank you that I will get through this.
- Thank you that it could be worse (it always can).
- Thank you for the silver lining, though it is still out of view.
- Thank you that I will grow and be made stronger by this thing.
- Thank you that this has an end.
The opposite of gratitude is shrieking, wailing, kicking, and crying out the pain.
There’s also a time for this.
It is cathartic, but it takes one downwards into the gloom.
Don’t stay in that place too long.
Gratitude helps transition back to the light and possibilities.
To life.