The fact that you are reading this article means that you are already privileged enough to have an internet connection and a device (mobile, tablet, or computer).
All the information you need is free or inexpensive. And the number of lucrative ways to make money has grown like bamboo with all these technological advancements.
Heck. Nowadays, you don’t even need to spend your energy on boring, laborious, and repetitive tasks. Just ask an AI to do it for you.
Say this to a person living just a century earlier and he will laugh it off. However, what’s more laughable is how, despite all these, we manage to feel empty.
We have more resources at our service than ever did to humans in our history and yet it feels like something is missing.
What’s more? What’s next? – The more we answer these questions with our greed and emptiness, the more we come back to ask them again and again.
But you know what’s actually missing? It’s G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E. Not another privilege or gadget, but simple old-school gratitude for what we already have.
What does gratitude mean?
I get it. You may have heard this word a lot of times and yet you are unclear of what it even means.
- Is it to always be satisfied with whatever you get in life?
- Is it to always be counting your fortunes rather than creating more of them?
- Does it have to do anything with always being positive?
No, no, and no. It has nothing to do with living with contentment forever. It doesn’t stop you from going for more if that is what you want. And it certainly isn’t about always looking at the brighter side.
Gratitude simply means being thankful and appreciative of what you have and what you get.
In other words, you practice gratitude so that you don’t overlook your fortunes believing that getting more and better is the only key to happiness.
Here is a paradox: If can’t appreciate what you already have, then what difference getting more will make? Once you have more and the momentary happiness rues off the same lack of gratitude continues forever.
But does it mean you should never strive for more? Of course not. With gratitude, what changes is the purpose of having more – for growth and development instead of happiness and satisfaction.
Why do we overlook our gifts?
Let me tell you a story I read for the first time in the book “The One Thing.” It’s called The Beggar’s Bowl.
Once a prosperous king was roaming the streets of his kingdom to see how his people are doing. At the corner of one street, he saw a beggar in a pitiful condition.
Since he was in a good mood, he went to him and told him to ask for anything. Upon this, the beggar doubtfully confirmed, “Are you sure?”
The king in his ego said, “Yes, anything you want.” So, the beggar requested the king to just fill his bowl. With a laugh on his face, the king ordered his minister to fill the bowl with gold and diamond.
However, just as it was filled, it immediately disappeared. The king ordered again to fill the bowl till it was full. But anything that was put into it vanished just as soon.
The king in his ego of not being able to accept his defeat to a beggar, ended up losing his whole kingdom.
In the end, he asked the beggar about the secret of his magic bowl. The beggar replied, “There is no secret. It is just made of human desire.”
Our desire is a two-way sword – it has helped us advance to become the most dominating living specie in the world. But, on the other end, it also has left many of us just as empty as the beggar’s bowl.
This demands a question to be answered, “how to practice gratitude in our lives?”
Grateful first, greedy never, and growth always
This is the motto I want you to embrace – grateful first, greedy never, and growth always.
The thing with greed is that it feeds upon itself – the harder you try to put it off with more stuff, the bigger it gets. But there is a difference between greed and growth.
Greed is like forever chasing a mirage believing there lies all I want. Growth is about being a better and more-giving entity in the world believing that I already have a major portion of all I ever need to be happy.
Here, I won’t overwhelm you with a list of 20 ways to practice gratitude. Instead, I will keep it simple and share with you one single method that I found good enough – journaling and meditation.
Note: Wouldn’t it be ironic if I give you a long list in a blog post about gratitude instead of being content with one single method?
So, take a page and brainstorm whatever you feel is going good in your life – no matter how small or big. List out all the good things that you possess.
Are you healthy? In. Are you born into a well-to-do family? In. Then, meditate upon those points every single morning to feel a surge of gratefulness.
Doing this won’t solve all your life problems. But you will definitely be better equipped to overcome them upon embracing all your privileges and fortunes with gratitude.
Read more: How To Beat Instant Gratification
Conclusion
Just think about it. How much having a little gratitude can benefit all of us? Not just it shows our obvious but overlooked gifts but also brings the feeling of happiness at the moment rather than the vague future.
Again, gratitude isn’t about satisfaction. It’s about appreciation. It is anti-greed and pro-growth. So, what do you have to be grateful about?
