Live Each Day With a Grateful Heart
Hello, we are nearing the end of my blog series
10 Things I Would Tell ANYONE
#2: Live Each Day With a Grateful Heart
This is nearly at the top of my list despite being a pretty simple concept. Why? It’s important! Embracing this idea can dramatically improve your overall attitude, and that can radically improve the quality of your life!
In my book Atheist. Agnostic. Skeptic. Believer. (that’s right, we’re doing a shameless plug again after a brief break, but it’s relevant to what I’m about to say which is:), I described portions of my life where I was angry and/or depressed and/or semi-psychotic. It’s safe to say I did not have a glass-half-full outlook or that I was in a grateful state of mind. Quite the opposite. You can see how those things go together, yes? It was more like, “I have no control. Life or the world is doing these terrible things to me. I am a victim of these circumstances.” And so on.
It’s very easy to live like that. It’s very easy to take that path because it is the one of least resistance. But that doesn’t serve one well. Stop it.
Life takes effort. I suppose these are just clichés but they are the tools I need in this moment. It’s so much better to go through life with a positive attitude. It’s so much better to have rosy disposition. It’s so much better to focus on the sunny side. It’s hard to get there, but once there it’s easy to sustain.
This is a tangent but it relates: yesterday I skimmed an article that encouraged smiling and greeting people you meet every day such as the delivery driver, someone at the storefront door, your cashier and so on. The reason was new to me, and to paraphrase, it’s that our brain is constantly on alert for danger. When we smile and say hello, generally we receive the same back and when we do that sends a signal to our brain that we are safe. It’s a very small way of soothing ourselves. So that should be something we do naturally, right? Think on that; I’m going to.
Grateful You’re Here
One way to have a positive attitude towards life, no matter what life is throwing at you, is to live with a grateful heart, to greet each day with a grateful mindset. Here’s the example, and this is true. I am always thinking how grateful I am:
– to be alive and able to participate in my daughter’s growth
– for hot water
– for food and shelter
– for air conditioning and/or heat (sometimes on the same day because I’m a hedonist)
– for my ancient car which is more reliable than your 2024 model (oh, snap!)
– for good health
– for electricity
– for delicious yet highly addictive sugary snacks
– (but seriously, a good donut is something to be thankful for)
– (practically everyone would say coffee (to go with that donut, am I right?))
– (that guy knows what I’m talking about!)
– and on and on
– damn I want a donut
– well that really went off the rails quickly…
That’s not to say that I run down this list every day at a certain time. But I think about these things. When is the last time you thought, “Man, I am really grateful for hot water.” If you’ve ever had to go without electricity for an extended period of time, you can appreciate that.
It goes a loooonnngg way when you are thankful for literally everything good in your life, from the smallest things to the big things, too. Put this into practice.
“Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.”
– Émile Coué
The above is another way to adjust your state of mind. Tell yourself that you are getting better and better, and that will encourage you to take steps to become better and better. I would say it’s inherently true, if only because as we age, we gain knowledge through our experience. You are constantly improving without even trying. Just imagine if you also work to improve in small (or big) ways, too.
I think it was in November last year when I heard my grandmother use a twist of the above quote. She says to herself each day,
“Every day in every way, God is making me better and better.”
Open your mind to that. What a wonderful idea, that not only can we work on ourselves but that God is continually investing in us, continually interested in our welfare, continually working for and wanting the best for us. (Guess what? All of that is true. If you can believe that and let it sink in, isn’t that a wonderful feeling? Isn’t it great to know that?! Isn’t that uplifting and empowering?!)
It was in High School when I started to hate clichés and our reliance on them. I hated hearing and reading them constantly. I thought they were cheats. Cheats in writing. Cheats for use in brainwashing, indoctrinating, programming people. I kind of thought of many of them as propaganda that the adults used to control us, or to veil the truth from us, or something.
Half-full, not half-empty. Look on the sunny side. Look for the silver lining. Life is what you make it. Seize the day. Make good choices.
But as it turns out, we use these expressions because they prove to be true. To resist them is futile. To embrace them is to have useful ideas to put into practice as we toil in our daily lives.
But you might be reading this right now and thinking that your life is a dumpster fire and that I’m full of it. I get it, because who hasn’t felt that way? Would it surprise you to know that as I write this, I am unemployed, running out of money and worried about everything in my universe right now?! I’m kind of freakin’ out! But it will be alright. I’m worried but worry doesn’t solve anything. Everything will be alright, one way or the other. Best to stay positive and work earnestly towards a solution.
I encourage you regardless of your circumstances to always work on your general attitude, to live each day with gratitude, and to know that you are always getting better and better. If you need to recite clichés to do so, so be it. And by the way, if you happen to believe in God, then you know just how grateful to be, and who to be grateful to. (Which is awesome!)
That “make good choices” though – that is a pretty good one, huh?…
Your friend,
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