2021-01-31 21:15:21
Be thankful for what you have, you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey
This is a quote that deals with what we focus on, and how that impacts how we perceive the world. That perception, in turn, helps to determine our attitude towards life in general.
Specifically, if you are grateful for what you have, your focus is gratitude, and you will more easily see other ways to be grateful, and you will find more opportunities to express your gratitude. You may not get a lot more ‘stuff,’ but you will most certainly appreciate it more, and enjoy your life.
On the other hand, if you are not so grateful, if you are always complaining, even if only in your head, about how others have it better, and you have it so bad, no amount of ‘stuff’ will ever satisfy you. That is because you will always be able to find someone with more, and the complaining will resume.
Being grateful is a happiness-multiplier. On the flip side, as the quote suggests, those without gratitude will find their happiness diminished. Jealousy, and all the other the related feelings, will suck the joy out of what you have and leave nothing but bitter feelings behind.
Let's reflect on what parts of our life do we still have trouble showing gratitude? And are we willing to put forth the effort to change ourselves?
We can make a start on the little things. Take a moment before each meal, no matter how meager or bland, and be glad for what we do have, and be glad that we are not without. The other half is to break the habit of bitterness and jealousy.
We can all find reasons to be grateful for what we have, for there will always be those with less. We can also find reasons to be jealous, for there will always be those with more. The question is to choose which of these help us feel better about life and about ourself?
Where do we want to live, where do we want to spend the rest of our life? In the house of gratitude, or the shack of jealousy?
The choice is ours. Choose wisely.
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