Expressing gratitude for that which we have, seen and unseen, is a practice used in many spiritual, religious and success trainings. Anyone who has subscribed to the process of consciously expressing gratitude and done so with any level of commitment knows the process works. Living in a space of gratitude makes life more enjoyable, we seem to have more clarity; it’s likely we will attract more of that which we are grateful for and our heart feels good.
However, there are times you just don’t feel grateful. The fact is there are those days you wake up feeling a bit off and just want to pull the covers over your head. And there may even be the days when thoughts of “I just don’t get it” come rushing in when you read yet another tragedy in the paper or hear something on the news or are in the middle of a tragedy there seems no explanation for. No matter how strong a spiritual and/or religious foundation someone might have, there are times when it just gets to be too much.
Years ago my life was not at all what it is like today. I seemed to be a magnet for trouble and tragedy. In search of a better way of life, I began reading lots of books on positive thinking. This was over 30 years ago.
As I recall, I was led to believe by numerous authors that all I had to do was think positive and nothing bad would ever happen again. Maybe this is what I wanted to believe, but I soon found out just thinking a positive thought didn’t make a problem go away.
Believing that these authors must know something my only conclusion was, “I must be doing this positive thinking thing all wrong.” So I tried even harder to be positive. Yet, life continued to happen. The more things continued to happen the more determined I was to figure it all out.
As I matured I have come to realize, accept and embrace that life happens. There are some things (many things) I cannot control. Actually, knowing this gives me a sense of peace.
What I can control are my responses to a situation and how I interpret an experience. Not everything that appears bad on the outside is actually bad. In reality, it can be a huge blessing. However, if we are blocked to seeing the blessing in a situation, it will never become apparent.
A recent case in point is when we had a small electrical fire in our home. This was a little over two weeks ago. There was some damage to the interior wall and the exterior of our home, but beyond that, the situation was an incredible blessing.
The greatest blessing is no one got hurt. All our pets were safe. We were home when it started so able to catch it in the very early stages. The fire departments (yes, there were two departments) were incredible as have been the people from the restoration company. We are still in the middle of repairs and will be for a little longer.
I am very clear that I could have viewed this experience completely different than how I chose to. I could have said, “Why did this happen to me?” “Look at all the stuff I have to do to get this taken care of.” “Won’t someone feel sorry for my loss?”
Yet, that would not have changed the fact it happened. By being in a state of gratitude I know I was more productive and in a position to respond to all that needed to be taken care of. In reality, I don’t feel the fire was a loss. If anything, it was an incredible gain. I gained insight into how my beliefs and my actions are very congruent. To me that was a great gift to receive.
So, does thinking positive and expressing gratitude work? Yes, it does. I also know, life happens. It’s not what happens that is the issue. It’s how I respond that makes all the difference in the world. At least in my world.
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