By Ashley Lodato
Gratitude — it’s so in vogue at this time of year. Seriously, other than “holiday-blowout-sale” and “limited-time-offer,” is there any word used more around Thanksgiving than “gratitude”?
Here’s the thing, though — gratitude is no seasonal trend. It’s a practice that will actually add greater meaning to your life than that new $199.50 plasma TV, which not only sounds gross, but also apparently involves camping out in the parking lot of Best Buy for three weeks.
It’s hard to talk about gratitude without being preachy, especially coming from someone who has known very little serious hardship. Those of us who have our basic needs met all the time enjoy the luxury of being able to be grateful for what we have, if we are deliberate about taking the time to do so. Most of us, certainly, covet others’ lives from time to time — others who have more financial resources, more time, more talent, more beauty. That envy doesn’t negate the gratitude we feel, but it undermines it by changing our outlook from one of surplus to one of deficiency.
Gratitude, however, changes sufficiency into abundance. It’s that simple.
Incorporating gratitude habitually into your life ranks right up there in the list of winning health benefits along with eating right, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. A daily dose of gratitude, studies show, leads to a happier life.
A few years ago I made a small, seemingly trivial discovery that I like to think of as “The Taliban Experiment.” When times were tough (and that “tough” is relative, considering that I have been lucky enough to have always had my basic needs — and well beyond — met) I would say to myself, “Well, at least I’m not a woman living under Taliban rule.” Sure, I was working a couple of jobs, hitting the volunteer work pretty respectably, and losing sleep with two toddlers in the house, but hey, at least I didn’t have to worry about, say, being stoned to death (although I suppose with the legalization of marijuana in Washington, a lawful twist on that possibility now exists).
What I learned from my little Taliban experiment is that gratitude is a habit easily formed. It requires no expensive equipment or unflattering workout gear, it can be done in very little time at no cost, and the results are realized almost immediately. Best of all, no one is going to hassle you if you fall off the wagon and indulge in an all-out binge of gratitude, although I suppose you do run the risk of alienating others if you’re too Pollyanna-ish about it.
Despite its annoying kitschy poetic-ness, an attitude of gratitude requires little more than developing a willingness to indulge in an appreciation of the little things. The design the barrista makes on your latte. Stars, bright pinpoints of light on a black winter sky. Free books to read at the library. The fact that through no effort on your part, someone is going to deliver the mail and someone else is going to plow the roads. By cultivating a conscious practice of gratitude, the things we truly have to be grateful for — family, health, free education, basic human rights — come into sharper focus. It’s for thanks-giving, not just now, but every day.
