Be grateful for what you have... Seriously???
How to be grateful for seemingly "ordinary" things
I can’t tell how many articles I see going around these days, suggesting being grateful for what you have is the key to an enjoyable life.
Following such articles, I should sit every day in the mornings and evenings listing or thinking about the things I’m grateful for.
How can I be grateful for the situation I’m in?
Broken relationship, no job, no money and a lot of bills to pay!
While the suggested practice aims to direct the focus on the positive elements, I’m missing some guidance about how to identify them in our lives when everything seems so negative.
Here’s my take on it…
I remember in my twenties; I experimented occasionally with meditation and spirituality.
Following a guided meditation for 40 minutes left me impressed with how I felt. Calm yet electrified, like floating through a parallel universe, observing my known reality through some sort of windows.
As the years gone by, my practice came down to almost none. It all has become ordinary.
Okay, yes, I could still calm down a bit, but the experience faded to grey and lost its colors.
We’re getting used to it…
Yet, this “it” is never the same. We’re making “it” the same and so is our experiencing; As expected, so to say.
I bet you agree that finding excitement in situations where we already “know” the outcome is impossible. We’re bored before it begins.
It’s difficult to be grateful for something we’re used to.
Nothing in this life is like the first time!
First time driving a bicycle, a car, the first kiss, the first time out with friends, first travel or first time becoming a parent.
Every first time bore a moment of magic, filling our memories to which we’re longing for whenever we’re out of balance.
These first times are gone a long time ago and there’s no way to go back.
We don’t have to go back, but to bring them back to life.
How to make the ordinary extraordinary?
Start with dwelling through your memories about all those things you did for the first time and how enjoyable it was.
Perhaps you loved to paint in the past… Get back to this and identify the details of what you enjoyed while painting. Take a blank sheet and dive into those details. Experience them anew.
I remember how I enjoyed driving a car when I got my license. I think I was pretty much driving every day, even if I had nowhere to go.
What makes it ordinary are thoughts like: “I’ve driven so much in my life, I don’t want to anymore” or “These traffic jams everyday make me go nuts!”
By releasing all this while directing my focus to the experience itself now, I can sense the initial excitement again.
I laugh about these predicaments and indulge in the g-forces affecting my body when taking a turn.
I notice how I love the smell of warm leather, unleashed by the sun heating my skin through the front window, along with the caressing wind.
Long story short…
The key to be grateful for what you have is to face it with a beginner’s mind.