The state of being thankful
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was “Thank you”, that would suffice.
~Meister Eckhart
GRATITUDE (n): the state of being thankful (Merriam-Webster dictionary).
I like this definition. It tells me that gratitude isn’t something that I feel; it’s something that I AM -a state of being. I can be disappointed that my desired outcome was elusive -or I can be grateful that I got the chance to try and learned some valuable (one day they will be) lessons along the way. I can be angry that someone I trusted lied to me over and over -or I can be grateful that it never went on longer than it had to. I can be resentful of a lot of things and people that test my limits every day -or I can be grateful that they teach me more about myself.
I know…a lot of waxing lyrical, this. It is easier to talk about gratitude than be grateful, a lot of the time. But it’s true what they say: it is fairly impossible to harbour gratitude and any kind of negativity in one heart. No matter how dire a situation, there is always, always, always something to be grateful for, however small, in the midst of it -you just have to look for it. And looking for it forces your focus to shift away from the negative and onto happier thoughts. And the better you get at gratitude, the better you get at holding onto faith, and keeping hope alive.
Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words, never stops at all
~Emily Dickinson~
