Living with Gratitude

Why Gratitude is Worthwhile

Nobody needs to be grateful. You can live every day of your life either as a complainer, as someone completely indifferent to what life is bringing to you, or as someone who embraces everything that life brings to you whether "good" or "bad".

How are these three perspectives different, and how? Are there any benefits to being grateful? Any ramifications for not being grateful?

Lets start with the complainer. Life is tough, we all know that. No sense in sugar coating all the s**t that comes at us. It's hard to get out of bed some mornings! (Wait, you have a bed? Isn't that an OK thing? Just curious) By complaining, we don't have to mask our feelings, just be honest and get on with life. Easy.

How many complainers do you rush to embrace? Can you not wait to see? Look forward to meeting again? (I'm waiting....) That many, huh? Thought so. Complainers are easy to spot, and best to avoid. Their attitude can drag everything down. Why, they'd probably complain if there was nothing to complain about? Are they happy? NO, NO, a thousand times NO. And when someone is not happy, it affects the body emotionally as well as physically. Not good.

What if you were someone completely indifferent to what life throws at you? Doesn't seem so bad, no effort involved, no reward, no punishment. It's OK if you want to be just OK. Bought a new car? Awesome!

New job? Great! Not too high, not too low, keep everything close to the chest or under wraps, no need to get excited about life, really. REALLY?

What if you decided to be grateful? Not just saying "Thank you" or "I appreciate that", even though that should be a required minimum investment. What if you understood that what separates you from not even existing is a mere three or four degrees of body temperature to "game over" status? A couple of missed heartbeats? The one sperm and egg fertilization out of 50 million to one?

There's no point dwelling on how close to the edge we live every minute of our lives because for most people life is a given, daily. There will be a next breath, another heartbeat. The sun will rise and set again. Sleep, work, play, repeat. All taken for granted.

Until....

You decide whether or not you want to celebrate your phenomenal deal:

Life: free

Next breath: free

Friends, family: free

Sensory perception: free

You get the idea. We are all here benefitting from gifts bestowed upon us, and there is absolutely no obligation to return any kind of thanks.

So next week we'll dive a little deeper....

Until then, have a blessed week! And I invite you to practice some gratefulness.