Summer has shown its true colors in this corner of the world a little early this year. Arizona summers are famous for their excessive heat and dehydrating nature. But this year, June started with a full-on tormenting heat wave rather than letting us ease into the sweltering hot weather. Air conditioners working 24/7 without a break to keep us cool and the availability of water to replenish our parched body are a couple of things I am grateful for at this moment as we cannot imagine spending even a second without these two.
I had quite a few interesting conversations in the last couple of weeks. All those conversations led me to accept, once again, the importance of gratitude.
Even in the darkest hour, gratitude is possible. Gratitude will guide us to happiness and peace. But, this is a conundrum that many among us are not able to understand. People need to know that certain columns are checked off and then they will accept your happiness. However, if you are happy without fitting into their reasoning, then they will question you – no big house?, no huge salary hike?, then why are you okay, how can you be happy? And if you are someone who has everything they believe someone of your age, gender, education, or status has achieved, then you have no business to be sad.
There is no point in trying to educate them that a person can be happy and content with what little they have or a person can be far from being happy even after getting everything that society has labeled a must-have.
If you are one of those people who can’t understand how can a person be happy without having anything of significance, then let me tell you one thing – gratitude is what you are missing. No big car or house would make you happy as gratitude would.
For me, the little joys of life are a must to live my life.
- The smile on my little one’s face when he sees me
- The morning rays of sun decorating my couch
- The quietness that fills up my mind in the morning
- A stroll in our neighborhood
- Kisses my little one plants on my cheek when I take a nap
- The tiny gestures by my husband and kids to help me rest when I am unwell
- A moment to pause and reflect
- The understanding that gratitude is more important than status
I can go on and on. My list of gratitudes might not be an exciting one for many out there. I catch myself cherishing the little moments of joy more than anything else. That doesn’t mean that I don’t value materialistic things. I do. I love the things I have. But I don’t equate my happiness to the materials I own. I don’t equate my worth to the amount of money I am earning or not earning.
Life is simple when one starts to replace their wants with gratitudes.
Joining Esha and Shilpa for #SoulfulSunday with this gratitude post.
It’s funny how people assume how we should be happy and satisfied with all we have. It’s truly up to us, isn’t it? While gratitude does keep us from giving into despair, there’s always some parts of us that long to do certain things, especially when it comes to work, creativity etc.
Glad to see you are practicing gratitude in the everyday things that are a part of your life, Vinitha! It’s easy and simple, when you have a mindset that believes in gratitude, right? People have all sorts of assumptions about what we should and shouldn’t do. Brushing it aside like it never exists is my policy for the past decade or so. Of course, I have to thank my grey hair for teaching me that. 🙂
Happy to hear that you practice gratitude regularly. People are idiots. They judge without knowing it understanding your life circumstances. I have started casting less and less about them. Kudos to you and keep going.
Your posts on gratitude make me take stock of what’s happening in my life and find things that I am grateful for. Though I do not write in a gratitude journal, every morning and night I mentally thank the universe for all that I am blessed with.
Vinitha, this is one of the best posts. I practice gratitude on a daily basis. I literally write on my gratitude journal everyday. As I am growing old, I have started finding happiness in little things. The ray of sunshine, an uniterrupted cup of coffee, a book, a phone call and even coming across this post. However, it is very difficult to make some people understand gratitude. Without gratitude a person can never attain happiness even after achieving everything. The more grateful you are, happier and calmer you are. Thank you for this amazing post.
This is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in life and I’m forever grateful 🙂
I agree with you Vinitha. You’ve nailed it. Why, how and why not, the most haunting questions when it comes to explaining one’s life. Why or Why not still makes me nervous sometimes and there’s a lot of unlearning that’s happening to ignore them and live life in my beliefs. I’ve missed reading gratitude posts as well as writing them. 🙂 Sort of back now.
These little things together make our lives so wholesome. Everyone has different definitions of happiness and success. The least we can do is to judge others or try to impress our believes on others. Being grateful for what I have got has brought a lot of peace to my mind.
Well said Vinitha. if we wait for big things in life to be grateful we’ll wait forever. It’s the little things that make life worth living. Gratitude brings so much peace.