“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arthur Ward
It’s the time of the year when Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in a grandiloquent way. Hearts open up as they look back to count the blessings and reap the bountiful and well deserved harvest. Lights and baubles adorn the churches, cornucopias, the horn of plenty and abundance is overflowing with flowers and nuts. It’s a time to relish pumpkin pies and roasted turkey in the family feasts.
My friend who lives in Ontario loves to send me fresh pumpkin squash churned by his mother. The delight anha
pleasure of an open hearted exchange is splendid.
No matter we hear the quotes on being thankful thrown all around the social forums, blogs, books, we are asked to maintain a daily journal for gratitude but often our heart dries up and we become mindless and unappreciative of things in our life. It is like living in a perpetual duality.
Why do we become ungrateful? I pondered over this awhile and realized three important reasons that shift our grateful mindset.
- Being Around Whiners
When we are constantly surrounded by people who have endless sorry-stories to tell and who crib and complain about everything and everybody who walks on the face of earth. For them life is black or white. They love to add insult to the injury and whip a stimulating tale out of nothing. For them being grateful is out of question because they save their appreciation for a utopian world.
Remember it takes two to tango so never be a part of the grumpy lot and cultivate gratefulness and optimism by acknowledging the little good that is happening in every moment of your life and soon you will come to appreciate the greater good.
- Your Happiness Is Dependent On External Factors
How many times have you waited for a compliment, an appreciative look or pulled over a beguiling veil to impress others? Your heart is not satiated until you hear those words; your happiness is dependent on many conditions. You cannot be glad unless you know that contentment comes from within and is not an output of external happenings. It is a state of mind. The moment you take the controls in your hands, you become thankful and appreciative of others and their contribution towards bettering your life in their own ways sans expectations.
- Do More, Have More And Be More Syndrome
We often feel dissatisfied with what we have, it is never enough and we keep flapping our wings to get more out of life. Our picture-perfect life is always in the future. We are craving for more and more and never pause to be here in the now and take stock of all the good that is happening in this moment. We hanker upon a falsifying dream without being glad in the moment when blessings are showered generously upon us. We refrain from recognizing and being present. We hold ourselves from being mindful.
Be flexible notice the colleague who shares his frappe with you on a stressful day. Just when you were stuck upon something and flipped open a journal, the perfect words stand out to guide you. You were full of complaints when you called the customer service department of the telecom company and you were heard patiently despite your insolence. Don’t jump on the band wagon to criticize your boss, look at him as the perfect Zen master who is there to teach you the ways to flourish and grow.
Be grateful and a golden door of opportunities will soon open up and you will start believing in magic and fairy tales once again.
