It’s easy to forget about things to be grateful. I used to go on a morning walk, like an old man, and go through a list that I’m grateful about in my life. Life goes on and I forgot all about it.
Last week, I met with my primary school teacher, Mr Au. Over the years, he had a couple of bad accidents. He is now in the midst of recovering from a surgery. He mentioned that every time that he moves his arms – pins and needles will be sent down his entire arm.
I asked him: “How do you feel now?”. He answered: “Much better”.
I replied: “Well, that’s great!”. He responded: “but I still feeling a little pain and I have to stretch every now and then”.
I noticed how he kept focusing on the pain. Why isn’t he happy with his progress? Wouldn’t he be healed with time?
It got me thinking that it is easy to forget about the good things that happened. My health, my relationship, having no debt, air to breath and so much more.
The easiest way to gain happiness is to want the things I already have. Yet, how easily I get used to the good things that happened and feel annoyed by the constant challenges that life has thrown at me.
My solution is a new habit: A Gratitude Practice. (For now, I go through a list of things that I’m grateful for and write them in the morning pages.)
I also feel that gratitude allows me to stop the hedonistic treadmill. I’m not saying to not to grow at all because I believe that growth is closely tied to happiness. The gratitude practice gives me space to think about what will truly make me happy and if that is sustainable.
One example is good food. I love to eat sweets. I can eat an entire tub of Ben and Jerry in an evening along with drinking all sorts of alcohol. If this continues in long run, I would fat ass. Hence, this way of living would be unsustainable.
Thank you for taking your time to read what I write. If I know you in real life, thank you for being part of my life. Let’s remember to be grateful every day. Thank you for the challenges I’m facing, and the lessons I will learn from it.
Thank you, Tynan for inspiring this post.
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Let this post be the start of my gratitude experiment. I will check back in a year time.
The photo is the van I’ve bought for USD$1,500 and spend a month converting it into a camper.
