It's the little things: Everyday Gratitude as a Booster Shot

Gratitude and indebtedness are differently valenced emotional responses to benefits provided, which have implications for interpersonal processes. 

We contribute to the party of gratitude that we receive throughout the year. Our heart is filled with gratitude, with a radiance of kindness, wisdom, empathy and tenderness. We feel happy, in the encounter with nature, with family and friends. While the river runs, the mountains make shade and there are stars in the sky, the benefit received by being alive, feeling, loving, being grateful, must last in our memory,

Gratitude is a prayer, which emanates from the depths of our soul, which acts as a messenger that transforms ambitions and personal requests into a blessing.

Gratitude requires that there be a system of ethical values, as well as a renunciation of the egocentric vision of life. The grateful are also people, who do not coexist with negative feelings such as bitter, guilt, envy, greed, selfishness, revenge, superiority, pride. Also, they are more generous.

Human beings not only experience gratitude, higher animals, they also have this virtue, even if they express in a special way. A dog, for example, pays its allegiance to those who care for and love it.

Gratitude opens the fullness of life, converts what we have into enough, and more, converts denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity, gratitude gives meaning to our past, brings peace for the present and create a vision for tomorrow.

It's one thing to feel and express gratitude in words - however - taking one's gratitude to a higher level requires ACTION - like random acts of KINDNESS. The simplest gratitude "action" - a kindness - anyone can share is a SMILE.

“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 Appreciating and valuing the things we have is something that few people know how to do. We all complain that we are missing something, it is like a permanent satisfaction. It takes a lot of humility in this current world, we have the consumerist fever, and we do not know how to value what is really important, which are feelings for people and things that we can do and feel. Being happy with what we have is the greatest wealth.

Most of us living a western industrial life style today, live rather “plastic" lives. Away from nature and away from natural social assimilation in society. Almost a "false" life. Living on a remote farm for example, is quite different from living in a town with a fence between yourself and a neighbour. On top of that, humans were not really evolved for the 8 hour work days life style we seemed to have developed for ourselves.

We need to enhance gratitude. Cicero said that gratitude is the mother of all virtues, and 20 centuries later studies show that without gratitude, we will not get very far, at least as far as our happiness.

In today's world flooded by technological processes, stress and inequalities, gratitude has difficulty leaving our hearts. The demands between people have to be reciprocal, reciprocity is a criterion of justification, which we can translate into a principle of social criticism.

We must express a critique of current society, based on knowledge of universal anthropological conditions of individual fulfilment, such as fundamental rights and recognition.

In today's world, no one can develop as a human being without certain basic conditions of freedom, socialization and satisfaction of needs. People deployed in personal relationships, a valued activity in social coexistence, we all want to be respected and recognized in our merits and virtues, and well advised in our shortcomings as a good friend does. .

The virtues and personal gifts give rise to gratitude, which is the basic feeling in social valuation. Recognition is the basis of social relationships, when we receive help, attention, service, support we must show gratitude. What most oppresses people who are in marginality or poverty is not being able to reap gratitude,

We need a moral model of relationships that guarantee necessary conditions of individual development, because their appearance is rather a symptom of the crisis of the way of life. The darkened and disfigured lives are enhanced by the systems of accumulation of competitive advantages, inequalities, poverty and hunger in the underdeveloped countries. The world must be recomposed to avoid such inequalities, solidarity must emanate from the leaders, a new world order must be reborn, so that gratitude is the basis of relations.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional  advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensue discussion or debate.

Thank you …. My heart fills with countless blessings: food, shelter, clothing and friends to be encircled. Looking back, I see how my stumbling steps have become a path and how, on this lonely road, I have never been alone. The kindness of many has been like a spring rain, bringing new life to my heart, as a "Blade of Grass" ever emerging from the ashes of the Past, I stand, Amazed at my blessings, grateful for His Wonders!

Dennis Prager's video: "The Key to Unhappiness" here: www.prageru.com/.../key-unhappiness  In this video, from November 2017, Prager says, "You can’t be a happy person if you aren’t grateful, and you can’t be a good person if you aren’t grateful.

Almost everything good flows from gratitude, and almost everything bad flows from ingratitude." and later on, he says, "in America and much of the rest of the world, people are becoming less grateful.

Why? Because people are constantly told that they are entitled to things they haven’t earned—what are known as “benefits” or “entitlements.” And the more things that people think they should get, the less grateful they will be for whatever they do get."

Want to add word or two?

Negativity is the other side of the coin of gratitude. The old aphorism is true that says "Regardless of whether you look for the good or the bad in any person or situation, you'll find it." You should always look for the good in things. It has become a challenge for me to find the good in even the worst situations (and people). I could give you dozens of examples of this, and tell you the effects of doing so.

Your comment ….?

Always bear in mind the ancient Chinese saying, "Sow a thought, and reap some speech. Sow some speech, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny." Which essentially means the best way to control your mouth is to control your thoughts; if you control your thoughts, you control who you are. 

When asked why I am so happy I tell people that my name is DAYAL and that I am living up to my name. For some reason (I call it grace) I have the good fortune of seeing a silver lining. I agree with your WATCH YOUR MOUTH alert! Yes, what we say is what we get because it's our heart talking.

Why would we want to say something negative to a negative person who is hurting?

Why would we want to rub salt in their wounds and hurt them more?

Our Mothers were right when they told us if we could not say something nice about a person to say nothing. Yes, yes, yes for developing an attitude of gratitude cuz discipline is the shaper of the soul.

Expressing thanks during prayer or meditation is another way to cultivate gratitude. Practicing "mindfulness" means that you're actively paying attention to the moment you're in right now.

A mantra is sometimes used to help maintain focus, but you can also focus on something that you're grateful for, such as a pleasant smell, a cool breeze or a lovely memory.