Gratitude transforms life
A glass contains water till the middle. Though the quantity of water does not change, your perception determines if it is half filled or half empty. Similarly, whether you remain cheerful or stay negative in life, depends on the state of your mind.
Ordinarily, parameters to be successful are material objects like a good job, bungalow, car or enough funds with which you buy inconsequential contraptions to make your living comfortable? But well, is that all! Perhaps, not! Had it been so, the affluent and ‘rich’ would have been the happiest lot. But it is really not so?
There is more to life other than money and power and all material things associated with them. You are not what you are on the outside but who you are from the inside. What is inside your head and heart matters to the seeking mind and not the things in possession.
Being rich is not about wealth but your ability to empower yourself with inner strength to deal with temptations and desires and continuing your journey seeking greater heights. And then maintaining your equilibrium with determination which requires tremendous grit. If you succumb, you’ve lost the battle to vices that surround your mind. The game is to win the war.
Gautum Buddha possessed everything possible but gave up his kingdom for one single thing he was not able to find, Truth! Looking for the whys of life, one of the greatest saints on earth found the righteous path in meditative self but by giving up all that he had.
Your satisfaction level is determined by the desires you pursue and how contended your mind is! Nature has catered for your necessities but for your luxuries, you will have to struggle. Once again, opulence is not entirely confined to the four walls surrounding you, but the sky above and what is inside you.
Nature or God has given you so much and yet a large part remains ungrateful.
There is so much in life to be thankful that it takes a life time to understand the power of positivity. Being grateful is really empowering your life happiness, peace and satisfaction. Gratitude is the one virtue that can empower you to reach greater heights. However, it is easy to espouse but difficult to follow through if you acquire it superficially.
It enables you to remain calm, blissful and gives your personality a positive aura that multiplies manyfold as it spreads. So, what is gratitude? If I tell you that just one word can change your life. What will you say? You are about to open the sluices of your revolution. Embrace it open heartedly.
Gratitude in the simplest term is a Thank You!
Saying ‘Thank you’ for being grateful for the acts people do means you appreciate their time and effort. And if you want to unravel the real power, don’t just say it but mean it.
Genuine gratefulness is found if you remain perpetually in the state of thankfulness. This can make you a true influencer and drastically transform the entire ecosystem. Sure-enough this can trigger a chain reaction in the world. The world will be one if all the people remain in a state of gratitude. It is not an utopian dream.
Remaining thankful is a mental state of being grateful for everything you have. Shouldn’t you thank your spouse, children, colleagues, peers, subordinates, or random people for their contribution and the things that they do. In fact, thank everyone you know or don’t, for just being there and all the things they do or don’t. Shouldn’t you thank the air that you breathe or the water you drink. The Corona pandemic was the challenge we faced but we should also use it as an opportunity of learning. What you take for granted is what you should be thankful for.
On a different level, you should be thankful to yourself also; for being you. But this perhaps on a metaphysical level which some may find too abstract or theoretical.
Nevertheless, let the ‘Thank you’ enter your dictionary. It’s your true and powerful weapon to fight your real enemy, ego! Knock down the wall of ego which is stopping your growth and unleash the potential of your personality. Ask yourself, if you acknowledge someone, do you become inferior? On the contrary, by embracing negativity, you become positive.
Practice thank you in your day-to-day life. Magical “Thankful for your help” with a bow and smile, can do wonders. Being grateful makes us humble and positive and less anxious and less apprehensive. Truly humble people have a natural and easy way about them.
Bow down and be the fruit tree that branches out and bends with the weight of the fruits it bears and gives shadow under which many can rest. The Eucalyptus tree stands tall but alone.
The trick to finding meaning in existence is not to worry about what you don’t have but being grateful for what you have. Remember, if you crib for a shoe, there is a man without a leg also.
However, it also doesn’t mean you give up on your dreams or worldly duties and become a hermitage by going to the Himalayas. You can be a saint in the madding crowd as well.
Change your life, here and now. True gratitude is being meditatively calm in your journey and remaining truthfully happy. It is not a matter of keeping a record of what you receive and consequentially return in equal measure but maintaining an extraordinary minus in the book keeping entries that makes you on the credit side of the balance sheet.
Appreciate not only the finer aspects but even the mundane things. When you do so, you are giving back something more, much more to the community.
Humans are perhaps the most gifted species on earth. At a period of time, when darkness was all pervading and subjective qualities of humans had fallen to the nadir, God manifested on the earth to make human species ‘realise’. Krishna was an ordinary person. What makes him special? He lived in a state of perpetual gratitude and humility that endears Him to our hearts and makes him Lord.
Lust, greed and power surround your thoughts and cage your personality to the soiled burrow.
Appreciation will empower you to flow from narrowness into the ocean of freedom and happiness. Srila Prabhupada says, “Gratitude is the condition of the heart that enables spiritual growth to take place.” Religion guides on a certain path but spirituality allows you to seek the highest point, and beyond.
My religion is better than yours, my house is bigger than yours, my bank balance is bigger than yours will be meaningless in the end. You have delayed my cup of coffee, or have not added enough sugar or not been served properly in a pristine chinaware will be meaningless in the end. I don’t have enough money, you have cheated me or not returned what I loaned will be meaningless in the end.
End is not the end per se but the end of the moment, the day or year. Time is all that you have and when it slips, and it does very easily, it won’t come back. And neither will the glory of Time. Repenting tomorrow is not going to change your existence but gratitude today will. How much effort does it take to say thank you? How much energy does it take to appreciate your spouse, children, friend, neighbour or the man on the street?
You can start trying by just flipping the page for once.
Remaining calm, start with a smile and keep acknowledging things and people as you go along each day. Notice the difference. And if you desire to take it to the next level, believe your body is a temple, and you will have more love, compassion and kindness.
Being a state of gratitude is a life changer. Start by starting a religion of love and gratitude. Appreciate your journey. Life is beautiful the way it is. Be grateful for everything in life and for life itself. Practice thank you every day and moment! Thank you for reading this and sharing the thought.
By Capt M K Tayal
