“When happiness seems elusive, choose gratitude instead.” ~Suzie Eller
Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving today, Monday, October 9, 2017.
Me? Not so much; no family north of the border and too long inculcated in the U.S. end of November Thanksgiving traditions.
But I think of all my friends, all my clients and students and colleagues, celebrating with their families, and I am filled with a sort of diffused warmth, gratitude by proximity and osmosis.
This year, in light of the Las Vegas massacre (and all those which preceded it) and the host of other ills with which our planet and its inhabitants are trying to deal; in light of the dissembling of our very ideological foundations and the increasing divisions in perspectives; in light of man’s increasing displays of inhumanity, I say this:
Be grateful. Anyway. Despite it all. Because of it all.
Choose gratitude anyway. If you’re reading my words, on an electrical device, you’ve got plenty to feel grateful for—you’re just being lazy if you don’t.
Feeling bad about the mass shootings in America will not end them.
Feeling bad won’t change a thing; it’s as though not feeling bad about the fill-in-the-blank tragedy, means you’re a “bad” person. I am constantly perplexed by the perversity of this argument.
Nope, feeling bad won’t help others feel better.
Feeling outraged might.
Taking action could.
But, feeling grateful will.
It’s a paradox. And that means becoming comfortable with contradiction and uncertainty.
No easy answers.
Figures…
So choose gratitude. Anyway.
What have you got to lose?
Only your anxiety.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
“My work is loving the world.” ~Mary Oliver, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
