Raising my hands in gratitude

I am thankful for this opportunity to capture and blog a few thoughts everyday. And, I am thankful for the people who read it, share it, and offer their feedback.

Thankfulness is popping up quite a bit recently.

During my journey practicing mindfulness with Sam Harris’ Waking Up meditation course, I chose a three minute extra-curricular lesson on gratitude.

He said something that caught my attention. It’s a reminder of how truly blessed I am, and how little time I actually spend thoughtfully thankful for it.

“My family was sitting at the dinner table. It was a normal day, and looking at the faces of my family everyone appeared to be in a mediocre mood.

But, then I thought, what if I was dead. I would do anything and everything I could to get back to this moment with my family.

And, then I thought, there are at least a billion people in the world right now who would consider their dreams had come true if they were in my situation. With a house, a family, and healthy food.”

His detail is lost in my paraphrasing, but this point captures why thankfulness is so powerful.

My mediocre is someone’s pinnacle. This could be a thought of almost everyone, in every situation.

Our culture trains us to focus on wanting and needing more. The script running through the back our minds tells us we are not good enough. Instagram confirms it for us.

Our culture does not focus on the benefits of gratitude. The feeling of comfort that this mediocre moment with my family is indeed a moment that I may never get again. And, when it is in that context, perhaps it is a little easier to honour it as much.

Practicing gratitude

So, at the end of each day my little family sits down with a notebook and captures ten things we are grateful for. Then, we share them with each other.

A lot has changed for us since we started this practice. I wonder what could change for you if you did the same?