The thing about gratitude

Hot cup of coffee

I am in the middle of a self-imposed Facebook status gratitude challenge. For the past 10 days, I have been getting up in the morning and thinking about what I am grateful for – not to sound like a Zen monk or new-age weirdo – but because it is hard and I am trying to grow.

I decided to use Facebook for this process because it is such a nice blend of public and private. It is just a little scary to be weird and thinking about gratitude where my family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and old school buddies can see what I am doing. It would be safer and not as scary to just try to be honest and observationally funny. Here’s the deal though, when we stay in our comfort zone we don’t grow. I want to grow – so here I am. My soul is stripped just a little more bare, and I am talking about what is great in my life.

I have come to realize that complaining about life is just too easy. Don’t believe me?

Do this with me for a second, think about what sucks about your life right now. How many things pop out of you head? Now, think about what is great in life right now – in this moment. How many can you think of?

I hope you have more items in your great list, but if not – don’t despair – you are not alone. Turn on the news, look at your last investment statements, or feel bad about not having investments. Feel like crap now? Me too!! That was easy.

You know, I really sense that so much of our outlook on our own life experiences, as well as the general human consciousness, tend to be bounded in fear. Feelings like fear of the future, fear of being broke, fear of death, fear of failure just to name a few are shared by many of us. The truth is, fear is not something bad in itself (shout out to my man FDR), it’s a compelling force in our life and it makes us human. Fear and our body’s stress response to it can actually make us more productive and more inventive. Sadly though, these feelings also sell products. If I am scared of aging and being ugly, I better buy that good skin cream and make-up. If I am scared of being fat and unaccepted, I better buy those diet pills, shakes, and cellulite cream. Sigh. Making your customers afraid of x so they will buy y is such an effective marketing technique, it is no wonder there are so many fear messages we see every day. It is no wonder that “I’m afraid of…” becomes the way we think of life.

If it is so easy to feel bad, then how can we feel good? Well, for me it is really about gratitude and finding what is wonderful about my life – right now – in this moment. A hot cup of coffee, clean drinking water, a cold beer, a full tummy, a warm blanket, a child’s hug. When we can see it, there is a lot of wonder in this moment. This exercise tends to stretch the brain a bit – you can look on my Facebook profile and see when I was kind of pulling at straws to find something good. Yet, when you do it every day, for 30 days, all research indicates you will create a habit. You will actively change your brain functioning to look for the good in life more than you used to. Sound good? It’s on! I challenge you to do it too – because it feels so much better to look for the good instead of focusing on the crap. There are more spiritual benefits regarding gratitude as well – but this is enough for now.

Have a great weekend!