November 5

GRATITUDE MONTH: DAY 5: “Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.” ― Roy T. Bennett

This is a new quote for me this year. That is an exciting thing, because I wrote 2 books about gratitude and have done this blog thing for 7 years, so it is hard to keep fresh with quotes.

And this one, particularly, kicks me in the heart. Because it is SO true. If I am not happy with what I have, I REALLY will NOT be happy with more. That is the lie of our consumerist social environment…bigger, better, and more!

Those of us who are addicts can relate to the idea that more dope and more whiskey never solved our addiction. We may have believed that a lack of drugs and alcohol (or money, or sex, etc.) were the causes of our unhappiness; but none of that was true then, nor is it now.

Happiness IS an inside job. It IS ours without money, without a him or her, without the big house and that fast car and those killer shoes (me!) and without STUFF. We can be happy when our health is failing, because it is NOT dependent upon outside circumstances.

How does THAT happen? For me, it is the daily practice of WRITING (yes, writing) a Gratitude letter to the Universe…addressed to the Power that is out there and designing this amazing world and all that is in it.

It is for embracing those things that I believe are blocking me from my happiness and highest good. It is thanking the Universe for roadblocks, dead-ends, things that hurt my baby feelings, things that frighten me, and those things that send me over the moon with joy and ecstasy. (Like the Cubs winning a World Series…omg!)

Happiness comes because I see how rich I am when I have 17 cents in my checking account. Happiness is knowing that there is no reason I need to go when my friends are going somewhere and I cannot afford to go or I should do something I think is less fun. Happiness is seeing the good that has come from a life that was quite terrifying and painful as a child.

Happiness is understanding that I am NOT the Creator of what is good and fine in my life; but I sure have been responsible for the destruction of a great deal of it. I destroy those things by my fear and living in the idea that YOU got more than ME and hating and resenting YOU when I am feeling lost and inadequate and insecure.

Happiness comes when I work for it; when I do those things that produce happiness and walk away from those things the produce addiction.

Happiness comes from seeing the beauty in my life and not focusing on the icky shit my ego tells me to focus on each and every chance it gets. Happiness is the by-product of the shift in my perspective that gives a kick in the ass to my perception and then changes my life to an amazing event that keeps me alive and vital and full with gratitude and more gratitude. It is a feeding of the good, and it grows and it grows. Hooray and thank you very much!