Why Gratitude Is Best
Monday, January 7, 2013
I do not know about a lot of things, but one thing I do know - from personal experience - is that Gratitude has been my Greatest Virtue. That is, when I have practiced it.
Like so many, I was brought up to be taught that the main virtues of life are Faith, Hope, and Charity. That was the list of virtues that Paul of
When one thinks about Faith, one has to ask - faith in what? Having faith does not really say much at all as I see it now because one can have faith in all sort of things - and one's faith may not be that of another. The same with Hope. When one "hopes," one has to define further an object of hope - or subject of hope. I can hope for something entirely different than you. Hope as a virtue, then, is not very clear.
Then take Charity - the last of Paul's great virtues - the one which Paul considered to be the most important of his three virtues. What is "charity"? Again, it is too general to be a basic virtue - as far as I can see now. Being kind to others should be what charity is all about, but if practiced to please another and not oneself, I wonder just how efficacious a virtue charity really is.
But Gratitude says it all for me. I really don't need Faith or Hope or Charity to practice it. It is, I think, the most overlooked and underrated of all virtues - and yet I think it is the single most important virtue of all. I think if all the other virtues were dismissed, Gratitude would be sufficient for what might be called "salvation" because with it, one almost has to be kind - and I do believe that kindness to all is the greatest conduct possible for any human soul. If I am grateful for my life, then kindness follows almost as a natural adjunct. With gratitude, I cannot pretend faith, hope, or charity. I have to live them. As one person said in a song long ago about love and marriage - you can't have one without the other. Well, it is that way with graitude and kindness too. I really believe that you cannot have one without the other.
Like anyone else, however, I have not always practiced gratitude; but when I have, it has taken me from feeling low to feeling just fine. When I get up in the morning and I catch myself feeling a bit sad - probably thinking about what I might be lacking in life or some such negative meandering, I simply take a look at myself - and just like that, I take off. Personally, though, I always sleep without clothes. So waking up and looking at myself is to see myself in that same mode - without clothes.
It is a bit of a misnomer, however, to say that I look at myself when I get up in the morning. What is self? Personally, I relate "self" more to "soul" than body. So when I am looking at my body, I am not really looking at "myself". I am really looking at Nature - and the Natural Expression that is mine to have here and now. Importantly, however, when I look at myself in body, I am not really looking at myself. I am looking at the GIFT OF LIFE; and when I see it that way and believe it that way, there is no way but "up" for my soul - in terms of feeling up about Life. Feeling up about Life is just another way of saying BEING GRATEFUL FOR IT.
Now, the person laying next to me - if I am lucky enough to have had a bed mate for the night - might not assume the same profile as I just did. That dear one might grumble and complain about how wrinkled her nightie looks from having slept in it for the night and she might be mindful of all the bills she does not want to pay or whatever. As she might sit across the table from me, sipping her orange juice and offering it is really bitter this morning , I might be drinking a toast to the morning light and looking forward to meeting the day by going out and about and doing whatever it is that I might have planned for the day.
I like to compare the virtue - or cheerful attitude - of Gratitude to a well fertilized garden. Starting with that well prepared patch of ground, everything grows nicely. It is like if you have Gratitude as an ongoing disposition, nothing can go wrong. Even when weeds come in between the flowers, it's no big deal. What does it really matter if there are some weeds among the flowers? If you have the proper attitude, all you will see are the flowers anyway.
Such as it is - it is for each of us to claim our lives for what we want from them. Two people can look at the same thing and each one might have a different perspective about that thing. One can look at a cloud and see mystery and wonder. Another can look at that same cloud and see doom. That is just the way it is, but it should also tell us that we can "Choose Perspectives" in life - and thereby define our lives accordingly. The really wonderful thing about life, I have found, is that it is up to me to define how I want to see it - and live it.
Central as part of my personal perspective, though, if I am wise - and I do not claim I am always that way - is that I will concentrate on Gratitude for what I have to start my day. I have found that when I do that, generally speaking the whole day goes just fine. Personally, I think my whole life will go that way too - if I just determine to "Practice Gratitude" every waking moment I can - or every moment I am awake; and then when I go to sleep without any clothes again that night, I will probably continue the day dream I have been having by making it a night dream. That, too, is the way it goes. As one goes in the day, one will probably go in the night as well - even when one is sleeping. Why? Because a night dream is only remembering a previous day or week or year or even lifetime - and maybe reconstructing it in bits and pieces to define a perspective.
So, why not go to sleep at night with wonderful day dreams - or with continuation of the dream you just lived that day? It is not hard. Just look around and be Grateful for all the Gifts you find in your life - starting with the Gift of Life you are living. You don't have to live naked like I try to do in order to be aware of the real life I have, but whatever is your choice, BE GRATEFUL for it; and I think you will find that your life is really a wonderful thing - that should not be wasted.
What is Gratitude, My Friend?
It is saying Thanks for God's Great Gift of Life.
It is Knowing that I am not alone
and that we are all the Same in the Light.
It is Opening one's eyes
and seeing God's Miracle of Creation
and Knowing that Life itself
should be our constant Celebration.
As I drink a toast to you, My Friend,
it is not just you I am toasting.
I am toasting all of Life
and for that I should be boasting.
Let me take a look at myself
and realize it is not me I am peering.
I am looking at All of Life
and at all of what Life is bearing.
So, why not be yourself, My Friend,
Knowing you are not only you
anymore than I am only me
as I search Life for Truth?
And let us All be Thankful
for all the Grace that is in us
Knowing that it should always be
for us in Life & God to Trust.
Until next time, Adieu!
Your Bella Vita host,
Will Bessler
(Francis William Bessler)