Gratitude is a phenomenal blessing to the person who feels that gratitude. It magnifies the appreciation and joy in the thing we feel gratitude for. It increases our general sense of happiness and contentment. And it helps build relationships with those around us.
And yet, all to often, when we have an opportunity to feel gratitude we let it pass us by.
We tend to find it easier to take what we have for granted, and to focus instead on what we have not. Part of the reason for this is that there is a massive advertising industry geared to ensuring that we are generally dissatisfied with our current lot – and sometimes they seem to be very good at their job.
One of the most explicit examples of this was an advertising campaign for a new mobile phone in which all those using the older models walked around with paper bags on their heads with embarrassment. To be fair, they are usually more subtle than this, but the result is the same – after all, why would we choose to buy Y if we are blissfully happy with X.
The thing is, if I allow myself to be swept along by marketing campaigns, I don’t have long to appreciate what I have just bought from the last one before they convince us that me that I cannot be truly happy because I am still ‘missing out’. But the reality is, compared to the vast majority of the World population, we are not ‘missing out’!
Somebody described the secret of happiness as “not having all we desire, but desiring all we have”. Gratitude provides a huge lift to our spirits and our relationships. This is beautifully reflected in Robert Hastings’ poem below.
For an exercise in gratitude, try out Adventure #008
The Station
A poem about appreciating ‘now’ by Robert Hastings
Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. We’re traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting spring and docile fall.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing, and flags waving. And once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering … waiting, waiting, waiting, for the station.
However, sooner or later we must realize there is no one station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
“When we reach the station that will be it!” we cry. Translated it means, “When I’m 18, that will be it! When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz, that will be it! When I put the last kid through college, that will be it! When I have paid off the mortgage, that will be it! When I win a promotion, that will be it! When I reach the age of retirement, that will be it! I shall live happily ever after!”
Unfortunately, once we get it, then it disappears. The station somehow hides itself at the end of an endless track
“Relish the moment” is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more riers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.
For an adventure related to this poem click here.