Thursday, August 06, 2009

Boldly Grateful

A wise friend recently told me he feels gratitude is the key to success in life.

I already knew that genuinely feeling grateful does a lot for one's health and happiness. But as I thought about it, I realized how effective a focus on gratitude could be for making alliances, working with people, recognizing opportunities, and so on.

And it does feel better than griping about what's not right.

Probably it cuts down on self-consciousness, fear, and irritability as well. Anyone who is in the midst of reveling in the wonders of what she has been given probably isn't simultaneously in a swivet about the oppressive to-do list, money pressure, how the meeting this morning should have gone, and so forth. Anyone feeling that kind of ease is likely nice to be around.

Even my computer is more cooperative when I don't swear at it for taking 8 seconds to do something.

It's pretty easy to feel genuine gratitude (nothing's more annoying than the fake pious lying kind) Feeling grateful happens simply by remembering what's good: an 8-second delay in getting into a website is miraculously easy research compared to the old days of driving somewhere to pore over microfiche archives. And so forth.



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7 comments:

Debra said...

So often we forget how much we have to be grateful for and when we get caught up in the minutia, it's even more difficult to exude an attitude of gratitude.

I love your friend's philosophy on success. If I walk into a business and the person who helps me is gracious and inviting, I am much more likely to return. It seems that if someone treats us with gratitude, we are much more willing to mirror the same back to them. Hence, a successful business, a successful relationship, etc.

Lovely post, Peggy! Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I am always grateful knowing that I can just click over to you and find something stimulating and thoughtful to think about!

Mamie said...

"nothing's more annoying than the fake pious lying kind"

Now that's a bad kind of gratitude for sure!

Greta said...

Peggy, "A wise friend recently told me he feels gratitude is the key to success in life." reminded me that "gratitude" was an oft-used topic for some (can't speak for all)Alcoholics Anonymous groups.

I was always in the other room at the church with those who cared about someone with an alcohol problem, but always thought all of us could/should focus more on gratitude than resentment.

Thump! Sound of me jumping off the soapbox.

Anonymous said...

I, in a foul mood, told my therapist that all g words were banned from a session. They included gift, god, gratitude and any derivatives thereof, grace, great, etc. She burst out laughing and agreed on the promise I would abide by the same rule. Guess who
caved in first?

Peggy Payne said...

Thanks for these comments. Debbie, your blog always seems to be to give off real gratitude.

Good point about Al-Anon picking up on the gratitude message of AA. I've visited Al-Anon myself and did so rather irritably and righteously.

Mamie and Anon, I like the "attitude." Just shows that a person can be grateful without being goopy. (I get tired of the terms "compassion" and "giving back." Though I favor the concepts._

Debra said...

Thank you, Peggy. I am extremely grateful for the life that I have been given. It may not be perfect, but whoever said it was supposed to be? I can take most of the junk, as long as I can learn from it and move forward.

Micah wears a collar that says, Life is Good. I have to agree with that.

Happy Friday!

Peggy Payne said...

A philosophical dog collar is almost as good as an instructive toothbrush.