Chances are, at some point in your life, you have had someone tell you to be thankful, you have had someone suggest that gratitude is the answer to living a life full of more love and joy. Especially around Thanksgiving, I feel like I am surrounded by countless people telling me to be grateful, telling me that it's important. Well, call me a broken record, but I'm here to show just how much gratitude matters.
When I was younger, whenever my siblings and I weren't getting along or dinnertime conversation turned into arguments, my mom would stop us and ask us to list five things we're thankful for. Reluctantly, we would all list out those five things. We still do this, and my brothers often give answers in a joking manner, but the tradition remains the same.
I point this out because the moment at which my mom calls for us to show gratitude is often when things aren't going right, when we can't seem to get along.
She calls on gratitude as a form of bringing us back to ourselves, of reminding ourselves what is important.
When I say my brothers give answers in a joking manner, such as saying they're thankful for the chair they're sitting on or the fork they're holding instead of digging deeper to other points of their life, I think it's important to recognize that perhaps, these things are pieces of our lives that go unnoticed and that we ought to be thankful for. Why shouldn't we express gratitude for the fact that we are able to sit in comfort or are able to eat?
These things that we might deem silly to express gratitude for, the things that often go overlooked, are exactly the things we ought to remember to be thankful for.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't also express our gratitude for the bigger things in life, but I often find that when I pay closer attention to the little things in my life, such as the fact that I have a bed to sleep in each night, receive so many smiles every day, etc., my life expands itself in that I realize that my life should not be taken for granted and that I have been blessed with so much.
Using gratitude as a means to come back to ourselves is crucial in developing a greater appreciation for the life we have been given and are living.
When we recognize that life is a gift and there is so much beauty in each day, that even when things don't seem to be going your way at all, you can always take a breath and list five things you're thankful for, our struggles in life feel further away. We are able to approach life in a different manner. With a mindset of gratitude, we may find that when obstacles come into our lives, we are better to equipped to handle them, because we are grounded in our sense of appreciation for life, an appreciation that I'd dare to say leads to greater joy.
In this way, when problems come our way, the joy that comes from gratitude makes them seem smaller and more manageable.
It might be cliche to preach the importance of gratitude around Thanksgiving, which is why I'm suggesting that we extend the spirit of gratitude beyond Thanksgiving. Approach every day with a sense of gratitude, not just the ones where we are constantly reminded to. The next time things aren't going your way, take a deep breath and list five things you're thankful for. Even if they're seemingly little things, you'll find that just taking that moment will realign you to appreciating the world around you, because often times, it's the little things that make life worthwhile.
Here's to using gratitude on our pathway toward happiness because in the end, it's gratitude that leads to happiness, not the other way around.
Talk soon,
Sam
