Feeling Grateful
“Gratitude
is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what
you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”
Zig
Zigler
I feel
grateful this morning to wake up in an America that will be, in January, led by
a person who has the capacity and desire to put the pieces back together. These
last four years, and especially the last ten months, have been excruciating.
The pandemic alone has caused all manner of misery and outright fear but having
a fractured approach to it has made bad matters worse. I woke up this morning,
and even though the pandemic has worsened in the US, I feel calm for the first
time in a while.
I feel
grateful too that someone with decency and respect for all people has won the election.
That someone who will greet our neighbors and allies as peers and fellow world
leaders, will be at the helm. And, on the other hand, I am sad for the people—also
American citizens—who have worked hard to reelect Mr. Trump. I well remember
the feelings of loss and apprehension after the 2016 election; they felt
ominous. I truly hope that bridges can be built that will allow all the people
of this country to come together in peace so that we can work out our real
problems—racism and climate change and entrenched poverty.
Gratitude
is solid ground. It is the necessary floor on which to build a happy life. When
we feel grateful to be alive, grateful to be free of fear, even the worst life
events take on a different meaning. I have friends right now who are losing a
child to cancer. Even in their horrific grief, they express deep gratitude for
her life and for the time spent with her, and that makes all the difference. Being
able to express gratitude is essential to wellbeing. William Arthur Ward said, “feeling
gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
I am
grateful today for you. I hope you know that. I hope that right now, today, you
will make a long list of all life’s blessings that you are grateful for.
Gratitude makes the world feel like a better place—because it is. It is better
because you are in it.
In
the Spirit,
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