Arriving in my inbox this week was a music video about gratitude which invited me to be “grateful for it all. I believe that our healing does not end when we can manage our flashbacks, recover from our addictions and free ourselves from shame and secrets. All these are important steps in our journey to become fully all we are meant to be. I believe there is more to life than simply surviving. Thriving is possible for each one of us.
One way to thrive involves choosing how we orient ourselves to the world. Do we let our painful experiences shape the way we move through our lives or do we actively choose another way? While we did not choose our abuse, we can choose what we do now. We can choose our attitude toward life.
In my experience gratitude orients me to the world in ways which allow me to be my best self. When I find things in my life for which to be grateful it lifts me up and keeps me humble at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, I am not grateful for everything in my life. But rather than focusing on the hurtful, the failures, the fearful and the tragic, gratefulness redirects my attention to that which is good, beautiful, unexpected, loving, and hopeful.
Practices of gratitude can start really small. Ending each day listing those things for which you are grateful is a simple practice and a good start. As our practice grows we will see more to that is good, around us, in others and in ourselves. In time we find more and more reasons to be grateful.
“Grateful: A Love Song to the World,” by Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod was the unexpected song in my inbox. The chorus goes like this:
All that I am
All that I see
All that I’ve been and all that I’ll ever be
Is a blessing
It’s so amazing
And I’m grateful for it all, for it all
Here is the video which inspired me this week to remember gratitude. May it inspire you as well.
Be well. Stay safe. Take good care.
Mike
