Early this week I got chatting with one of my friends on Twitter ( @SusanMarie_NY). The discussion started off on a quote by Bruce Lee and somewhere along the way we started discussing the quote by Aldous Huxley “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”
She mentioned about a day when she was feeling miserable waiting at the dentist for her turn and then her attention was suddenly caught by 5 children in wheelchairs being brought in by a school. She was thunderstruck that they were all so happy though they could not walk……
When you come across such meetings in life, don’t things automatically fall in perspective and you realize that we take many things for granted.
More often than not, many of us tend to moan about not having a good dress to wear for a party or not having enough time to be on Social Media or not liking the food since it quite didn’t match our expectation. But when we do so, have we ever asked ourselves what about those who wear torn clothes or have no clothes to wear or those who are fighting for life and or are in a vegetative state or those who have no food to eat.
When I travel, I learn not only about the city, the people, the culture but also realize how lucky I’m in many ways in the city I live in terms of the facilities and efficiency and remind myself I should stop complaining about the city I live in.
Gratitude, an act which we ever so often forget but need to keep it as part of our daily lives. Why Show Gratitude to people around us, things we have, people who care for us and many more..
1. Happiness – a heartfelt gratitude is pleasing to the soul. It reminds us of the positive things we have in our life.
2. Reminder – Many of us complain about Monday morning but have we ever thought there may be many who may not be seeing the Monday dawn. We complain about how stressful work is but what about those who have no work and struggling to find work to earn income. As I continued the conversation with my friend on Twitter, she mentioned something which brought tears to my eyes and I quote “When I begin to take things for granted, “I look at my arms and legs. I am serious.”
3. Peace – when we pay gratitude to the little things – each day that dawns on us, our eyes, ears, nose, feet, legs, hands, we surround ourselves with peace. If you are at peace with yourself you will find serenity and peace at the world around you.
4. Stronger – life to any of us is never a bed of roses. We face challenges, and some of these challenges could be nerve wrecking. But if we allow oneself to step back and think how strong we became from the last daunting task, we will be thankful. Let’s try to take every trial in life as an opportunity to get strong and be thankful that it makes us stronger.
5. Thank you – there is a God in each of us. Most of us believe in a higher power or God but have you ever realized that God could be in the form of a complete stranger who has helped you by holding the door open for you when your hands are full with loads of bags or someone who has pulled you back from getting knocked over by a vehicle whilst you were walking lost in your thoughts. Each of us have people in the form of parents, brothers, sisters, friends, acquaintances, spouse who care for us, support us and help us. A big Thank you to people who care goes a long way in making their day and makes you feel good. On Twitter, many of us follow others and vice versa and we strike a relationship with many of them. They become friends and some of them we probably have not met to date in real life. Many of them take time from their day to connect, retweet your posts or some part of your time line and yet I find many who on account of the several followers don’t even bother to acknowledge. You don’t lose anything with a Thank you or a smile as a form of gratitude.
Life has its strange twists and turns but let’s not forget the simple Thank you, Sorry and other forms of gratitude. Make sure when you show gratitude, let it be from within and from your heart.
I know I often complain and moan about how hard my day is or when I have aches and pains but when I see people who are possibly worse than me and still smiling and take life with a positive attitude, I remind myself to smile and look up at what I’ve got in life.
Charity begins at home and let’s start with those who make a difference in our lives each day, who care for us by thanking them
“It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start” – Mother Teresa
Do you have any experiences of gratitude that you would like to share?
Thank you for the wonderful conversation and enlightening article. I shared this with the world. You are a beautiful, compassionate soul.
Thank you Susan for providing and being an important part of the blog post. I enjoyed the conversation 🙂 and hope to continue on various other topics. Thank you for reading and sharing. I appreciate your gesture.
Thanks Lalita for writing such a heartfelt, honest article; ungratefulness becomes such a bad habit that we forget to enjoy and appreciate the good stuff that we already have.
Thank you Gulnaz for taking the time to read, comment and share. Yes well said, we often forget the good things in life and be grateful for. I tried to make myself consciously aware of some of the things I’m grateful for, and decided I should write about it. Thank you :).