Counting our blessings and saying THANK YOU!

"At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by the spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." - Albert Schweitzer  

GRATITUDE is derived from the Latin: 'gratus', which means: 'grateful'.  Gratitude is evidenced by thankfulness. It is a sure sign of humility and maturity. Gratitude is one of the most powerful tools for creating joy, healing, contentment, spiritual growth, and lasting relationships.  Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn an ordinary meal into a sumptuous feast, a house into a love-filled home, and a stranger into a trusted friend. 

It was as the last hours of year 2013 were lingering on, that I experienced a rare moment of deeply disturbing, depressing and distressing news, which seemed to shake the very foundations of my emotional being.  A news of betrayal and denial orchestrated by four persons whom I had all along looked upon as my 'friends' !  ... a web of concerted conspiracy of denial, brewed by the 'Gang-of-Four', in their own concocted back-biting agenda of deceit, the 'shock of which', seemed to drain the bright promise of the new year which lay in wait only hours ahead .....  

Feeling emotionally drained, seeking strength and solace to life my spirits, I sought counsel by making phone call to my former mentor, Senior Advocate: Supreme Court Lawyer: Shri. Mathai Paikeday, who, after hearing me through, pondered awhile, and then poured fourth his simple advice, which later seemed like a magic potion, bringing sunshine into my darkened world. 

"Sebastian", he said, "... in moments like this, when one is so devastated and down, it is even difficult to think rationally, as we become subsumed by negative thoughts and negative energy",  ..... "what we should do in moments like these, is simply to blot out all current vexing thoughts, and FOCUS ONLY on JOYOUS MOMENTS of the past, moments for which we should be THANKFUL FOR .... i.e., as one would do with the beads of a rosary, JUST COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS,  .... re-collect them from the cupboards of the past, count them, re-visit them, celebrate them, and be thankful for them ...... when we start counting our blessings, our whole life will turn around in remarkable ways, like we never imagined!"  ........

While all round me, air filled colourful balloons waited to be released to mark the start of the new year, I seemed like a 'deflated balloon'!   ...... So, I decided to follow my Senior Advocate's advice:  ... started to count my blessings, one by one, even using the fingers of my hands!  .... and since I am a 'quotographer' : a collector and lover of quotations, I thought it would be a good idea to look up wise sayings of the wise, to see the silver lining in the clouds and to catch the rainbow ....  "Like your body your mind also gets tired so refresh it by wise sayings" - Hazrat Ali.  ....    And, in a quick search, I saw many of them QUOTATIONS get tangled in my net, studied them and sought to be inspired by them, all the while, focusing on the singular idea of GRATITUDE.  .... I list them, 16-of-them, in fact, here-below : 

1.    "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."  -  William Arthur Ward
2.    "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." -  G.K. Chesterton
3.    "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." - Robert Brault
4.    "Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." -  Charles Dickens
5.    "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." -  Eckhart Tolle
6.    "If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."  -  Gerald Good
7.    "Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy."  -  Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
8.    "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."  - Epictetus
9.    "Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." -  Oprah Winfrey
10.    "You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."  -  Ralph Waldo Emerson
11.    "Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out."  -  John Wooden
12.    "No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude."  -  Alfred North Whitehead
13.    "Gratitude also opens your eyes to the limitless potential of the universe, while dissatisfaction closes your eyes to it." -  Stephen Richards
14.    "Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices." - Robert Braathe

 Once done with reflecting on these quotes,  what first started like a wave of positive energy, soon turned into an avalanche of 'feel-good' emotions sweeping inside of me.  My worries and negative feelings simply vanished as the year 2013 faded into the sunset ....  leaving me to look with new eyes on the bright promise of the new year ahead ........ 

On an introspection, I realized that Gratitude, like Faith, is a muscle, ... the more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf.  If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed and your capacity to draw upon its gifts will diminish .... If ever you feel so bogged down by negative feelings and emotional hurt, and wish to see the silver lining, ... to catch the rainbow, ... to fly like an eagle ....  all that you would need to do: just start to count your blessings!  .... Let's have the quote of Neil A. Maxwell, leave a final lasting imprint:  "We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count."   .......  Be blessed, abundantly, and become a blessing to all !  .......  :-)