INTENSE 365 MONTH 7: Grateful Much? (3 min Should do it)
The year being 2020, I doubt anyone would decide to call this their best year ever.
Even he has been worried.
Even Jeff Bezos , I'm sure, has worried about his friends and loved ones recently. If not that, he could then choose from the cornucopia of problems currently available: The state of our economy, politics, schools, civil unrest, climate-related destruction, or trying to figure out why Quibi exists.
While all the above is true, I'm sure we can agree the richest man in the world still has plenty to be grateful for, but the thing is, so do you and I.
If you are reading this for starters, you woke up, which I know sounds like a low bar for gratitude, but this year has definitely, put into perspective how much that isn't true.
In our quest for survival, situation notwithstanding, most of us are maintaining with a combination of determination and apathy.
Determined on one hand because
We gotta keep going, we can't give up!
We must persevere because people are counting on us, or we are simply counting on ourselves and if we fail us, who will help?
Apathetic, on the other hand, because there doesn't seem like there is an end in sight, so what is the proverbial point?
Dark turn, but stay with me.
Gratitude is the point.
We will forever speculate on why were are here, our purpose, and what the future holds, but we can confirm that we are here now. We feel things, we make others feel things, and neither are all good or all bad.
This may be the lowest point in your life to date, which of course, is hard to reconcile, but if this isn't even the worst you've been through up till now, then that is a beautiful thing to realize.
This feeling of gratitude I'm preaching has nothing to do with the passive-aggressive version where you are trying to tell yourself why you shouldn't feel like crap during these times because others have it worse.
No, not that.
Yes, someone else has it worse, but it doesn't mean it doesn't feel bad for you. The fact that someone out there does have it worse should only serve to show you that human resilience is powerful, and you have the capacity to deal with worse should it come to that.
The point here is not comparison; it is holding in the front of your mind all the wonder of just life.
So this month's challenge is about keeping that wonder at the front of your mind DAILY.
You may be getting some of this during the 10min walks outside you are already taking.
It can be very centering to see how large the world around you is, but this gratitude practice I am proposing is a bit more internal.
YOU have things going on in YOUR life that are great.
Some you control, some you don't.
Several that are neutral but change solely on how you view it.
#Perspective
To REALLY focus on all this goodness in your life, well, you have to actually focus on it.
Take 3 min a day to sit still, stand, lay, whatever position and think about every good thing in your life, all the things you could possibly be grateful for.
If you are feeling particularly motivated WRITE IT DOWN!
You may think you hate your family right now, but you are in love with your pillow; OK think of that.
Finally, tried that Popeyes chicken sandwich after the hype died down and was pleasantly surprised? That works.
You have people you care about that are alive and healthy, great!
Someone you love deeply is gone, but you still have others in this world who's safety you cherish?
Hang on to that.
Life is weird, and if you are lucky, long, and more bizarre than you could ever imagine so, you may as well start looking at the good instead of the bad.
The hope is this will shift you from looking down at the ground for cracks and up to the sky for stars (guess Stephen Hawking said it first).
Is this your DAY 1?
The rules are simple here; you make them.
Start today, start with gratitude, and let this be the first step in your Intense year.