How Far Gratitude Can Go?

 How Far Gratitude Can Go?

How Far Gratitude Can Go? OR taking a step back, do we need to talk about GRATITUDE?  As they say, it is DAMN EASY to feel GRATEFUL when LIFE IS GOOD but WHEN disaster strikes, GRATITUDE is worth the effort.  This CAN'T be farther from the truth.  THAT when life is going well, GRATITUDE allows us to celebrate and even magnify the goodness.  BUT what about when life goes on a downturn and goes badly?  The recent pandemic is a classic case and we can count through our fingers as to HOW MANY people were ever [IF AT ALL] manifesting GRATEFULNESS as that pandemic persisted for three years📗📙📘

Under such dire circumstances, I am quite certain we will be drowned with 'NAYs' but hey, according to psychologists, it is precisely under those 'CRISIS CONDITIONS' when we have the most to gain by a GRATEFUL perspective on life.  In the face of demoralization, GRATITUDE has the power to energize us💎💎💎

In the face of BROKENESS,  GRATITUDE has the power to heal.  In the face of DESPAIR, GRATITUDE has the power to bring hope.  In the shortest word, GRATITUDE can help us cope even or especially in HARD TIMES.  A quick clarification though.  I'm not implying here that GRATITUDE will come easily OR naturally in a crisis.  On the other hard, it will be DAMN HARD because human nature tells us that it is EASY to feel GRATEFUL for the GOOD THINGS.  No one feels GRATEFUL that they lost a job or a home or good health  or has taken a devastating hit in his business forays💊💊💊

Now, before we get mixed up, please allow me to make a distinction between FEELING GRATEFUL versus BEING GRATEFUL.  And let's face it, we DON'T have total control over our emotions.  We CAN'T easily will ourselves to feel GRATEFUL, less depressed or happy.  Feelings follow from the way we look at the world, thoughts we have about the way things are, the way things should be, and the distance between those two points.  BUT BUT BUT, being GRATEFUL is a choice, a prevailing attitude that endures and is relatively immune to the GAINS & LOSSES that flow in and out of our lives.  When disaster strikes, GRATITUDE provides a perspective from which we can view life in its entirety📌📌📌

TRIALS & SUFFERINGS can actually refine and deepen GRATEFULNESS if we allow them to show us NOT to take things for granted.  We have a family friend who went through the ordeal of her breast cancer illness and endless rounds of chemotherapy.  Long story short, she has 'miraculously' survived her health ordeals and when we ever spoke to her these days, her GRATEFULNESS was so consistently manifested all over her life till now.  Indeed, when times are GOOD, people take prosperity for granted and begin to believe that they are invulnerable.  In times of UNCERTAINTY, though, people realize how powerless they are to control their destiny.  This is HOW FAR GRATITUDE CAN GO, dude✅✅✅