33. Gratitude ⭐
I’d like to talk for a few minutes about gratitude. There’s now a lot of research to suggest that gratitude is good for us. No surprise there. And as an emotion, it is very easy to invoke. Unless you are living the worst possible life, it should be easy to find something for which you’re grateful. And it can be very skillful and wise to do this.
Now, one reflection I find myself doing, when I’m in some ordinary contracted state of mind, let’s say I’m stressed out by something not going well. I’m reacting to some hassle, I could be caught in traffic and late for an appointment. I sometimes think of bad things that haven’t happened to me, I might think that I haven’t been diagnosed with a fatal illness. I’m not caught in a war zone. And I think of all the people on earth in that moment, who are suffering, those sorts of dislocations in their lives. And then I reflect that if I were in their shoes, I would be desperate to get back to precisely the situation I’m now in, just stuck in traffic and late for an appointment. But without any real care in the world.
I noticed this at dinner the other night with my family, everyone seemed to be in a fairly mediocre frame of mind. We were all in some way disgruntled or stressed out, I had a million things I was thinking about. And I suddenly noticed how little joy we were all taking in one another’s company. And then I thought, if I had died yesterday, and could have the opportunity to be back with my familyб I thought of how much I would savor this moment right now. And it totally transformed my mood. It gave me instantaneous access to my best self, and to a feeling of pure gratitude for the people in my life. Just think of what it would be like to lose everything, and then be restored to the moment you’re now in. However ordinary. You can reboot your mind in this way. And it need not take any time.
The truth is you know exactly what it’s like to feel overwhelming gratitude for your life. And if you have the freedom and the free attention to listen to this lesson right now, you are in an unusual situation. There are at least a billion people on earth at this moment. Who would consider their prayers answered, if they could trade places with you. There at least a billion people who are suffering debilitating pain, or political oppression, or the acute stages of bereavement, to have your health even just sort of, to have friends, even only a few, to have hobbies, or interests and the freedom to pursue them to have spent this day free from some terrifying encounter with chaos is to be lucky. Just look around you and take a moment to feel how lucky you are. You get another day to live on this earth. Enjoy it.