What does it mean to be grateful?
I know we hear it all the time. We hear people talk about “being grateful” and “how grateful they are” how they “aren’t grateful and that’s the reason why they’re not happy.” We hear this all the time. But what does it mean to you, what does it mean for you to be grateful? What does it mean to have things for which to be grateful? What does it mean to not be grateful?
Does it even matter?
Asking what it means to be grateful is the same thing as asking what it means to be able to walk on two feet at work; what it means to use two hands to do what you want them to do, what you need them to do, and often more than what you deserve them to do; it means to ask what it means to have a voice.
Those who are not grateful, merely have not stopped to see that they are, that they exist. No matter what form you exist within, for every misery in life there is something to be grateful for. Sometimes in the midst of those miserable moments there is something to be grateful for in and of that misery.
This is not about rationalizing the difficulties of your life away this is not about comparing yourself. This is about seeing yourself for who you are and finding excitement, contentedness, courage, strength, confidence, and joy in it. Finding all of that in who you are.
Deciding to be grateful is the same thing as deciding to acknowledge who you are and not just acknowledge but come to accept and not just come to accept but come to be excited by, not only who you are now, but who you can be, who you will be. In a sense realizing who you could be is the first step towards becoming that person.
Being grateful is not just about what has happened or what is happening but also about what is going to happen. All of that comprises who you are. gratitude is not just a list that we write in our notebook, it is a way of existing, it is a way of choosing to see what already has passed, where we have already existed, it is a way of realizing and influencing and shaping what is yet to exist.
Each day we transform another day of the future into the present and then out into the past. Gratitude is a line that connects all three of those things, our future, our present, and our past and can define who we are in any of those moments.
Perhaps the cliche comes into play and distracts people when it comes to actually sitting with yourself in quiet in order to find that gratitude that were talking about, in order to find the courage to be grateful for who you are. Just because a lot of people do it, just because many people sit still in order to find it, just because a lot of people are quiet in order to find that space does not mean that it is wrong, it does not mean that it does not work.
If you don’t understand gratitude, if you don’t think that you are as grateful as you want to be, start with silence, start with seeing yourself. Really see yourself, as if you were naked in front of a mirror looking at yourself. Don’t stop until it’s uncomfortable and then keep going.
To be grateful is the beginning of a continuous decision that you make which essentially enriches the soil from which your life sprouts every single day. Gratitude is more than just the word that we use to describe it. Gratitude is a state of being. Gratitude is a choice. Gratitude is an option. Gratitude is attainable and gratitude is you.
