Expressing Gratitude: Easier Than You Think?
Posted Jun 27, 2022 at 12:54
I’ve always found the question “What are you grateful for?” as quite condescending.
But while meditating last week using the “Smiling Minds” app, I listened to a guided meditation on this very thing. Now I'm not sure what brought my attention to this specific one as like I said I'm not normally a fan, but this day something did.
A couple minutes in the guide asked me to “Think of everything I'm grateful for”. And, I drew a blank…
The only things I could think of were quite broad and obvious. My family, my loved ones and my work.
The guide then went on to give some examples which really opened my eyes and mind to the bigger picture. These examples were “My life, my breath, my body. The people that grow the crops for the food that I eat.”
This really made me think about how much has had to happen both in the present and past which has led to me being here, in this exact spot today. And what a waste that would be of thousands of years of hard work for me to squander it and not appreciate it.
Think about all those days we’ve wished away, “ I can’t wait for this week to be over”, “This holiday can’t come soon enough”, “only 30 months and 12 days till I retire”. We are willingly wishing away our time for this “better” point in the future when the real gift is the time we have itself.
How about the fact, we are one of the 1st generations ever to become sicker than the one previous. With all the technology, knowledge and science developments, the absence of war and mass poverty yet as a population we are becoming sicker.
Death by heart attack and stroke has risen steadily for the last 30 years, prevalence of diabetes has doubled globally since 1990 and rates of lower back pain have increased in all age groups from 1990 to 2017.
Being truly grateful for things can’t just be mental right? We can’t just think I'm grateful for it, our actions have to show as well. After all “actions speak louder than words”.
So what needs to change within society to reverse our current trajectory?
What can your family change today to ensure the generation is healthier and not sickier?
What can you change right now, to improve your current health state?
Who can facilitate that change? Chiropractor, Personal Trainer, Counselor?
