Gratitude – thoughts, some practices, and loss of precious thing(s) in life
Introduction
One day in a talk on gratitude, I heard the speaker mention that we can be grateful for small things in our life. For example – having readily available water. The vast majority of people in the world – do not have access to clean water. I started to think what are the things we can be grateful for. What happens when those things are gone from our life?
Grateful for things we can relate to
We can be grateful for things we can relate to. For example, only those who have suffered from back pain can be grateful for being free from it. People who are born in a free country or have never experienced bondage – can never appreciate the joy of freedom. To be grateful for something, we need to feel the pain or suffering of the opposite experience.
That is why people who have come close to death appreciate life. This is the reason – for the vast majority of us – we will probably never feel gratitude for being alive.
To deal with this, I developed a practice for myself. I would try to imagine myself being on my deathbed. I would imagine that I am unable to do a lot of things, or go out of bed. This has helped me to create an image in my mind where I could truly feel grateful for being able to do my own work, being healthy and pain-free, and being able to enjoy walking in nature.
I like to think of this as focusing on the things we can lose in our life. I try to imagine my life if I lose some of my closest friends or family. This practice really makes me see the transient nature of life and I feel a sense of gratitude for the things in my life now.
What about being grateful for what is gone / or something precious is lost
I think we deal with such situations by looking at positive things in life. We can always switch our focus to something positive in an event. We could look at the loss of a job as the opening of a new door of opportunities. When one loses a vital function like the ability to see, we may look for all the new options in life. What about the loss of a dear one? Can one be grateful for that? In all such situations – I think – we do not feel grateful. We find a way to deal with the situation.
Gratitude for life itself
Ultimately, when we look at all the ways and things, we feel grateful for, – in some ways are related to something positive or favorable or at least represent a better option in our mind.
This inherently means that we are trying to leave out what is negative or painful in life.
The reality is we cannot be on the positive side always. Things we don’t want or like will happen. Life is not complete without these so-called negative aspects. This means every event of our life is sacred.
In this paradigm – we don’t reject anything. We appreciate life itself in its entirety. We are able to appreciate life from an altogether new viewpoint. We are grateful for everything about the wonder of this life. We do not run away from all the suffering.
I used to think of the pain and suffering of old age as problems. I would try to think what would be the best way to avoid such a situation. However, the reality is that it is just a part of life. From this perspective, old age or pain is not a problem. For me, I want to be grateful for what is – embracing life and being grateful for each and everything in life.
