“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” ~Albert Einstein
“Who is rich? Those who are happy with what they have.” ~Jewish scripture
It’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day challenges of our life that we forget to open our eyes to the myriad gifts that surround us. It’s easy to let our attention become so sharply focused on the future and what we want to acquire, achieve, accomplish, that we neglect to look in the periphery of our present and acknowledge what we already have. At any given time on our path we could be standing triumphantly on a peak, mired in a deep valley, or walking steadily somewhere in between. No matter where we find ourselves, whether the path seems clear or hazy, it is exactly the right time to practice gratitude.
There is something quite profound in regularly giving thanks for the simple blessings in our life. The practice of gratitude helps us shift our focus to the unsung heroes that support us on our journey. We can give thanks for the love of family and friends, for the roof over our heads, for the technology that allows me to share these words with you and enables you to access them from virtually anywhere. We can give thanks for the gifts of hearing and sight, of taste, touch and smell that allow us to connect to the world around us and marvel at its beauty. Even in the throes of despair or disease, we can give thanks simply for the breath that nourishes us and gives us life in that moment.
Gratitude can offer us a refuge from our inner and outer struggles. It shifts our gaze away from our challenges and helps us cultivate a sense of contentment, balance and perspective. We are reminded to appreciate the simple joys of life, the gift of being alive, and we begin to recognise that this too shall pass – whatever ‘this’ may be. We remember that change is our constant companion and with each moment arrives new possibilities, new opportunities to grow, to learn, to heal, to stand rapt in awe at the simple blessings this moment brings.
Gratitude can be practiced anytime and anywhere, and like any skill, the more often we practice, the more adept we become. When you awaken each morning, ask yourself: what am I grateful for on this day? When feelings like frustration, anger, loneliness or pain arise, invite yourself to pause and bring to mind one thing for which you are grateful in that moment. The more often we pause to wonder and we acknowledge that we are truly rich, the better able we will be to find contentment within ourselves and the world around us.