Yesterday we in America celebrated Thanksgiving. A Holiday about giving thanks and having gratitude for what it is we have.
I’d like to write about giving thanks a.k.a. having gratitude. Gratitude is one of the most beneficial states of emotion for a human being, there’s plenty of evidence showing so, and lucky for us– it’s easy to conjure within ourselves.
If you have the ability and free time to read these words it should be easy to find things to be grateful for. Taking the time every now and again to sit back and look around is a incredibly intelligent thing to do and gets easier the more you do it. The more you do it, the better it is for you too.
What I do when the pressures and negative ways of life begin to weigh too much on me, for example maybe my tensions are high about something not going well, maybe my train is delayed, or I’m just running late in general, maybe I’m worried about something possibly going wrong, I lost my chance at something, or when feelings of hopelessness begin to overtake me;
What I begin to do is think of all the ways it could have been worse, “I could have crashed”, “I could have been sick too”, “I could be without a roof over my head/food in my belly/clothes on my body”, “I could not have anything”, “I could be out fighting or caught in a war”, “I could have cancer”, “I could have been born blind/deaf”.
Once I think of all the ways I could have it worse, I then think of all of the people on Earth who do have it worse, worse than I can even imagine. I imagine what it would be like to be them. I imagine that if I were them, with their problems that are so much worse than mine I would absolutely LEAP at the opportunity to be myself again, with my own problems. A delayed train, a broken phone, running late, but really without any true problems at all.
There are so many times, even in just generally spending times with your loved ones where you/someone for some reason or another is letting something get to you/them. Taking you/them/those around you away from the time you have with each other. There are a plethora of things on everyone’s mind and stressing them out and taking their focus away from the beauty that site right in front of them.
Don’t let this thing distract you in this way. Just imagine if you knew you were going to die tomorrow and had no chance of preventing it, how much you would savor the moment you’re currently in? It’s morbid, but if you actually do the visualization and hold in your mind that this very well may be the last time you ever spend time with another in your life you will find that it will make the present moment all the more sweeter and it will completely transmute your mood and pull out your absolute best self for the occasion, and for the ability to have this moment with your friends/family/loved ones.
If you practice this thinking you can always have it at the ready, or change the natural inclinations of your mind. You can do this in any situation, no matter how mundane or boring, and it will be so easy to do so because you know exactly what it feels like to be filled with thanks for what you have in your life.
Like I said above, if you have the capability and free time to read these words then you are in a situation that you should absolutely have appreciation for; with little problems like being late, spilling coffee on your shirt, getting fired, or a broken down car.
As we speak, there are at least 40 million people (the number of people in still in slavery as of 2020) on Earth, who would never pray or ask for anything else again if they could only trade places with you. I have to tell you though, the number is much bigger, think of all the people who are suffering in some sort of pain, have no access to food/clean shelter/medical facilities, or have no freedom under a tyrannical government… To be healthy (even a little) and have access to healthcare, to have your family and friends, to have the freedom to pursue happiness and freedom from danger or some sort of unfortunate circumstances— to have all of these things is to be fortunate.
Really, if you’re feeling down about life, all you need to do it look around and take a moment to really think about how fortunate you are– you could easily be dead, and yet you get another day to experience oxygen filling your lungs, the sun/wind kissing your sin, the stars shining their light upon you… you get another day to walk the Earth.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, open your eyes, and take pleasure in your existence going forward. You are such a magnificent and special happening in the world, realize it. If you can’t realize it for yourself, at least realize it in others.
All the best,
FCP 🙃
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