Life lesson 1: gratitude

 Good morning, 

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend!

I want to share some life lessons that I have (mostly!) painstakingly acquired on my life’s journey. Since I am hoping to share a few of these, I have entitled this one “life lesson 1”.

Gratitude. An attitude of the mind and heart that sees the good things, points them out, celebrates, and mulls them over. The journey I took to get there goes back a few years…

When I was growing up, I did not appreciate things. Most kids are that way, I guess. They just accept that the way they grew up is the norm. So, for me to have food on my plate every day, clothes to wear, and friends to play with was just how it was. When my parents gave me nice gifts on my birthday, took me on holiday, paid for my flight tickets to go overseas, and financed my education, I thought nothing of it. They were my parents after all.

While I certainly enjoyed all the nice things I had, I hardly took the time to acknowledge them. It was only when I was forced to fend for myself on the other side of the globe that I realised how precious certain things in life are. The value of having immediate family close by became quite apparent to me, for example. During the long dark European winters, I would come to realise how fortunate I had been to live in a sunny, mild climate for most of my life.

During a difficult period financially and emotionally, I started to pick my beautiful moments and gifts like raisins out of a hot cross bun. I would look for them purposefully, stare them down, and lift them up so I could see that life wasn’t all bad. This practice helped me to get through some grey, washed-out days in a place that often felt hostile and unkind. I started hounding those gems, celebrating them, and thanking God for them.

Slowly, my perspective on life started changing. Instead of noticing the grey smog that hung over the city, I would see the bird making a nest underneath my window. Instead of getting hung up on the train conductor’s rude comments, I cherished the uplifting coffee date with a close friend. As I did this regularly, the cogs and wheels started to shift in my mind. The dark clouds parted, and I felt lighter, more at peace and more blessed.

My life had not changed from an objective point of view, gratitude had just lifted out the lighter parts so that they shone that much brighter. Since those difficult days, I have tried to keep gratitude an integral part of my life.  I wouldn’t want to be so busy complaining about the bad stuff that I was missing out on a whole lot of good…