Weekend Musings: Gratitude – Evoking a Positive Emotion

In today's challenging times, it is very difficult to stay optimistic. Tuning into the news day after day, I feel a sense of nervousness at times. It is, however, quite necessary to break away from this feeling of apprehension and maintain a positive outlook towards life. Only then will we be able to come out of these atrocious times, unscathed. This is where I believe our next principle of Gratitude comes into play. In fact, I had written about Gratitude and Positivity in the initial weeks of the national lockdown and today, as we move into the ‘unlock’ phase I find myself revisiting the same emotion from a slightly different perspective.

“We will act out of a sense of gratitude for all the benefits we have received, confident that this attitude will be a source of unbounded joy and vitality, enabling us to overcome any obstacles we encounter.”

The above defines our outlook towards Gratitude from an organizational point of view. Personally, if you ask me, perhaps because of my upbringing and now my profession, I hold this principle closest to my heart. By practising gratitude, we are able to focus on the good things in life. It gives us a chance to put more weight on the factors that bring us joy. This is useful because, more often than not, our minds are filled with stressful thoughts and the problems we encounter during the day.

Gratitude is an emotion that connects us with the universe on a larger level. It helps us get in touch with our community and the people who play an important role in our lives. There are people and instances we are appreciative of but in life’s daily rigmarole, forget to express it.

One of my mentors once shared an important lesson which he imbibed from his mentors. He said upon resuming a leadership role, a leader must decide which path he will take – the path of a king (signifying authority) or, the winning path (signifying responsibility)? Whichever path one chooses he/she must build capabilities accordingly. However, the common factor in either of these paths is to exude a sense of gratitude. You may or may not have control on your destiny but you can definitely control how you make others feel.

Without gratitude, I believe, we tend to become selfish without meaning to, thinking that we alone are the reason for the success we have achieved. However, acknowledging the presence of others – your fellow colleagues, business partners and key stakeholders – is more beneficial for ourselves than for anyone else. For instance, a positive outcome from this pandemic, if I may say so, is that there is an increased sense of connectivity with all the individuals who we might be in touch with for mere minutes of our lives, but without whom life as we know it will come to a complete halt. Similarly, it allows me to be grateful to not only all the people who thought about the ideas that would work and those who made it work but also the ones who analyzed the reasons why something might not work, thus saving a lot of the organization’s energy and resources.

And, if you think these reasons are not enough, the practice of gratitude comes with its own list of health benefits. It’s been proven to not only improve psychological well-being but physical health as well. It is a good sleep inducer, improves self-esteem, and also increases mental strength. Who knew something so simple can facilitate leading a long and fit life!

In our personal life, if you care to look closely, it is those little moments where happiness lies. What is life without that feeling of enjoying a cup of coffee or loving one’s pet? Our life is devoid of richness without our kids’ silly remarks or the words of care from our family we so often take for granted. Therefore, I like to take a moment every night to look back at my day and give a small token of thanks to everything that made me smile or helped me through the day. And, I encourage everyone from individuals to leaders, to entrepreneurs to have a sense of gratitude as it not only is food for your soul but, a positive emotion for the society too.