Grateful Again

Grateful Again

A lofty goal indeed, but a worthy one. How though? How can we live gratefully, when there is so much negativity surrounding the earth and humanity? Well, it all starts with you. It starts with conscious choice and intention.

Do you focus only on the negative, allowing it to overwhelm you, to collapse in on you, to weigh you down with its unrelenting pressure and darkness? Do you ignore it all, and try to put a positive twist on everything to keep you from ever feeling anything bad?

The former has potential to spiral you into a deeper negative prison. The latter, an unrealistic and unobtainable goal, that will likely leave you and others around you feeling frustrated.

To truly live gratefully, we must first realize something. Of all the guarantees in life, it is inevitable that at some point in time, you will be faced with hardship. This is a message that is driven home all to clearly in Viktor Frankl’s Mans Search for Meaning. Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist, relates the hardships and suffering forced upon him, to his discovery of a recipe for happiness and gratefulness.

To make meaning of life’s hardships and suffering. Frankl notes that if you are to succumb to life’s hardships, then the hardships win. Rather, if you can find meaning in the hardship, and persevere through to the other side, than you can find meaning (and therefore happiness) in any difficulty. Basically, when the going gets tough, we must get tougher. If not, then the hardship wins. What better way to defeat said hardship, than to smile at it, and thank it for the lesson it has granted you?

So, try not to get swallowed up by negativity, but know you don’t have to make everything out to be positive either. Rather, accept that sometimes, life can present you with some unfavorable circumstances. We are all going to face challenges, and some of us more so than others. Ultimately though, be grateful for the difficulty that is bestowed upon you. It is a gift in disguise that will force you to grow in some way.

So next time you are faced with some immense adversity, take a moment to simply accept it. Allow yourself to sit with it for a short time if need be – grant yourself that. But don’t stand by and succumb to it forever. Find the silver lining, make that the meaning of your harsh condition. Then, make every attempt to drive forward. Know that every moment in life is not going to be positive, but those negative moments are what make the good that much sweeter.

That is how we live gratefully.

In the wise words of The Grateful Dead “once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”

~Tyler