The Secret of Gratitude

I don’t remember much of when I was little.

I’ll remember things here and there, but I never know where they belong.  Sometimes I wonder about some of the things I forgot.  Did I ever have a moment when I had a talk with my sisters and we bonded over that?  It’s almost like life takes over and suddenly you are stuck wondering what you may have missed.  What happiness did you forget?

I seem to remember the bad things.  I remember a friend who never liked me, a teacher who seemed out to get me, and times when I wondered if I would ever get anywhere in life.  The good things like picnics, blowing bubbles, and playing games, almost are drowned by the bad.

Hope seems minimal when you can’t think about a positive thing that happened in your childhood.

What can you do when all feels lost?

At first, I wanted to give statistics and tell you about gratitude.  About the hidden meaning.  Or about something that you could learn from.  However, gratitude is more.

When you feel down when you want to give up and hide under the covers, how on earth can you look around and see all the glorious wonders of the world.  How can you see a  woman?

A woman with a twinkle in her eye, who seems soft around the edges but has seen too much, who lost everything has something that makes her keep on going.  To live with a head held high and a stubbornness that could make the mountians quiver.

How can you see a man? A man who has seen life and death, who sees the world as it is but imagines it as perfect, go and serve, to seem like nothing bad has ever touched him.

How can you see this and not try to become someone like them?

That is what Gratitude is.

It isn’t a daily task that you do to make you happier.  It is the walk through fire with your eyes only seeing those around you, seeing the blessings that have made you who you are.

Gratitude isn’t a task.  It is a feeling.

The feeling of getting 100 percent on 50 tests.  The feeling of reaching a peak of a mountain after a strenuous hike.  The feeling of feeling the sun on your face and feeling the warmth of a hug.

It is simple.  You cannot achieve happiness and not see the world around you and what it has given you.

When you have gratitude, you feel the warmth of your bed.  The road as you drive.  A loving voice and a listening ear.

You feel the blessings around you and they start to make a difference.  Suddenly you feel better about yourself.  You try to be healthier as you take on new heights.

It becomes magic.

Suddenly, bad memories fade, and you are only filled with hope.

The hope of a new day.

The hope of the people around you.

The hope of being better.

And it does make all the difference.