Levels of Gratitude

Photo by Donald Giannatti at Unsplash.com

Gratitude has entered the chat. In the last blog I spoke about levels of joy. I maintained that while we are in a chaotic time in the world, joy can feel like something we shouldn't necessarily be pursuing; but that is the entire reason that we should pursue joy.

Today I want to build on that and talk about gratitude. It's a word that has sometimes been overused by new age folks, meditation and yoga teachers, and self-help authors. We've all heard it so much we may be inclined to do an internal eye roll about the concept. And that is real. Also, when so much is going wrong in the world it's easy to think, "gratitude for what, exactly?"

This is where you might expect me to say that we should experience gratitude for the fact that we woke up this morning, the fact that we're able to breathe air, or some other lofty and grandiose reason. But as I said, I want to build on the last blog. If we can see the pursuit of joy as an act of resistance, then it's not so crazy to think of gratitude in the same way. Gratitude can start small, it can start sarcastic. You may react by saying, "I'm grateful that I haven't thrown this phone across the room just reading your words!" And if so, congratulations, you've experienced gratitude and that is an act of resistance!

With this concept of gratitude, I want you to think of it in a new way. Try experiencing just a small level of thanks for the fact that you made it through another week of work. Or celebrate that you've been able to successfully manage your emotions in this year of turmoil. You may be grateful that you are getting through this year without consuming a giant tub of ice cream every single day!

Your gratitude can truly start small, it can be cheeky, it can be whatever you want it to be. Because even if you start out with a practice of gratitude that is somewhat sarcastic, and has a hint of resentment, something glorious can grow out of that. I think I've said before that our brains are all about seeking patterns. If you start a pattern of gratitude, even a tiny seed of it can grow into something so big you hardly even remember the small start from which it grew. So please, consider starting a new kind of gratitude practice and see where this simple act of resistance can take you.