GRATITUDE MONTH: DAY 6: “The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing.” ― Hannah Whitall Smith
Our souls seek peace and comfort more than anything. When we are content, we are peaceful. There is nothing missing from our lives.
As addicts, the term “chronic malcontent” is the byword of our attitudes about everything in life. When I discuss gratitude with people, I watch their eyes glaze over and they begin to back away from me. They mumble things like: “Oh sure, I am grateful for being sober…or something like that.” Then they go on to share their litany of grievances with me about how awful their lives are, citing all the reasons they believe this is true.
And quite often, the next thing they say is: “Well, I would be more grateful if I didn’t have a stack of bills I can’t pay, if I knew that I was going to get a job, a better job, win the lottery, on and on…or that they knew the outcome of their current health issues, or could pay off their mortgage, or had a better car that didn’t break down, or had a relationship, or could get out of their relationship, or if they could travel more, or …” (you fill in the blanks!)
And this is diametrically-oppositional to how it works! Oh, yeah, remember when we were told to quit drinking and drugging and go to meetings? Well, the same is true here. We were NOT asked to go to meetings until we wanted to quit drinking. A drunk or loaded individual is not going to get anything from the meeting…they cannot process the content. It is useless to go to meetings drunk.
The program begins to work when we go to meetings without being under the influence and can begin to process what we hear.
Same with Gratitude. We don’t wait to practice when we are feeling happy. We practice when we are miserable and it begins to create a crazy shift in our conscious mind that creates happiness, optimism and a positive outlook. Trust me, I didn’t buy mine at the market…too broke to buy any extraneous things like “HAPPY”.
This is the outcome of the action of writing the gratitude letter for many years, every day, no matter what. Even when NOTHING changes on the outside of my life, I have a totally different attitude about it. Oh! And, what needs to change for me to have a better life? ONLY MY ATTITUDE about it.
Yep, that’s it. Nothing else needed here. Not more money or better health or anything…just my attitude. I was richly blessed in being with an amazing man while he died from a horrible form of cancer. He was so happy for every moment of life he got while that process was ravaging his poor body. We loved and laughed and played every single day.
From the time we were first together, we greeted each other every morning by saying “It is a good day to die.” And we lived like that for all duration of our life together. Sadly, it was much shorter than we knew, but it was good.
And we understood that dying is the thing we ALL get to do. Living is the thing most folks I know do very little of. They are so busy waiting for the money, the time, the person or people, the this or the that to happen so they can live. And one day it is their time and they are not prepared, because they did not embrace life at all!
So, breathe deeply, it might be your last. Look around and thank the Universe for the breath, for the blood in your veins, for the things that are working (or not working) in your body and care for them as if they are precious (THEY ARE! Trust me, it is very hard to replace them!)
Thank the Universe for this moment of life, and this one, and this one. And thank it for all the amazing things that are occurring RIGHT NOW! And do something to show how blessed you are to be alive just this moment. Pay attention to the world and people around you…write it down…10 things or 15 or 100 that are gifts you got without doing a damn thing…it will change everything, because it will change your attitude…and that will change your life!
Dolphin Hug 