Hello,
I want to share a little bit today about how we look at gratitude.
We've all heard this before.
Be grateful for what you have because there are people living with less.
At first glance,
This sounds normal.
If you're listening to this on a smartphone,
You probably have more than most people.
There's a lot we can be grateful for.
But is relating it to others the best way to do it?
As a rule,
Anything that involves comparing ourselves to others is rarely healthy.
When we compare in the lens of gratitude,
We're practicing guiltitude.
We're consciously or subconsciously guilting ourselves to feel thankful.
During the pandemic,
I heard people say,
I should feel grateful for my job because others lost theirs.
What if they don't actually feel grateful?
What if their job is killing them and they hate it?
Gratitude is not an obligation.
Bypassing the feeling because they should feel grateful is not helping the underlying issue.
The real power of gratitude lies in feeling the energy of appreciation at the core of our being.
From there,
We know viscerally the blessing of what's holding our attention.
The thing with guiltitude is we can't know how others,
Quote unquote,
With less,
Actually feel.
Happiness is not measured by what we have.
Everything is relative.
Everything is subjective.
We might be suffering with depression,
Yet trying to be grateful because we have more money than some people,
While all the while,
Those people may actually be doing much better than we are.
If anything,
Our gratitude should be compared to ourselves.
In December and January,
I had a bout of insomnia which gave me a new understanding and appreciation for a good night's rest.
I could never feel the gratitude that I have now by just thinking about being grateful for sleep because others can't.
I needed to have the challenge myself.
Let's stop feeling the need to be grateful because of someone else's perceived suffering.
Let's be grateful because it's a beautiful emotion that leads to well-being.
Let's be grateful because each moment is precious and an opportunity for us to celebrate the fullness of life.
Let's be grateful for what we have,
Period.
While there's nothing wrong with practicing gratitude in comparison,
It's much better than being dissatisfied and resentful.
This way is more empowering.
But don't take my word for it.
If your gratitude practice has always been thinking about others who have less,
Try focusing solely on yourself,
Keeping the gratitude emerging from your own experience.
If you want a meditation to help,
One of my most popular ones on Insight Timer is called Morning Meditation,
Gratitude and Abundance.
And it's a nice shorter one from me to help you bring in that gratitude into your life.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this little share.
I know this might be different or you might have different thoughts around it.
So please feel free to share.
I love to read comments and get a chance to engage and hear different perspectives as I like to share what I feel is sometimes different perspectives.
As always,
Thank you so much.
One more thing,
If you're on Insight Timer and you use circles,
I'd love to invite you to join mine.
You can just search Lose Circle on the app and get to join a beautiful community of people that we have on here.
So I thank you again for taking the time to listen and as always sending so much love,
Support and guidance on your journey.
I hope you get a chance to connect again soon.
Namaste.
