Renew Your Gratitude

I recently read "The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)" by Hal Elrod. This quote at the end of the book struck me. "Could it be that the best moments of our lives are determined by the depth of presence and gratitude that we allow ourselves to experience in and for the moment at hand, and thus, you can choose to experience quite literally any moment as the best moment of your life?"

Think back on the things in your life you really wished for, dreamed of, and worked so hard for. The things that wormed their way into your frontal lobe and your chest and just wouldn't let go. The spouse you dreamed of, the child you longed for, the degree you worked desperately for, the bigger house you imagined, the job title, the remission, the fresh start.

Now think of the exact moments in time that best represent obtaining those greatest desires. The day the acceptance letter arrived, the day you got engaged, the days your children were born, the day you closed on the house, the last day of chemotherapy. Go back to those specific moments and really feel the joy, anticipation, excitement, love, and relief.

Now look at your current life. You likely STILL HAVE many, if not all, of those things!! Can you even believe how far you've come? Can you even believe your great luck in this life?? Yet most of us spend much of our days thinking of the next thing we have to do, stewing about things beyond our control, or allowing ourselves to get upset by minor things. We have short attention spans, and a world constantly wanting our attention, our time, our help, and our money.

We live in a time in history and in a society where acquisition is the focus. We are bombarded with constant messaging about how we need to buy more, own more, accumulate more, attain more, do more. Acquire degrees, clothes, cars, houses, titles, status. This treadmill of desiring and acquiring is never ending. Without presence, attention, gratitude, and purpose, it is very easy to have an almost instant turnaround from acquiring something to just wanting the next thing. The more we do this, the less we appreciate and value the material goods, the income, the career, and even the loved ones we are so lucky to acquire.

It would be impossible to spend each day in total celebration of all the things we have that we have longed for and worked so hard for. If we treated each day as monumental as a wedding day or graduation party we'd never get anything done. However, it is totally possible to take a couple minutes today to sit quietly and really deeply feel joy and gratitude for your precious humans, your station in life, your warm and beautiful home, your favorite jeans. As the opening quote states, the depth of presence and gratitude for the moment at hand is what separates a tear-filled speech from an average dinner of crockpot soup with your family.

Again, not every day can or should be treated with that much reverence. But every day can benefit from an infusion of a bit more presence, and a mindset of gratitude. Remember that the children you so longed for are the very ones sitting next to you as you scroll endlessly on your phone. The very spouse you felt was your perfect puzzle piece is the one you get irrationally annoyed with for doing a household chore differently than you. The very job you worked years for is the one you complain about. The beautiful sweater you opened two Christmases ago is still perfectly soft and warm, and probably at the back of your closet.

So take a moment today to say a silent or very loud and robust "thank you, how did I get so lucky?!" Because you HAVE the very things you wished for. You have at least some of the things you dreamed of, which now make up parts of your very lucky, normal, everyday, mundane, perfect, beautiful, messy life.