Such a simple word if we go for its literal meaning, but do we really actually understand it. For me this word started having its first impact 3-4 years back. Its not that prior to it I was an ungrateful or thankless person. But the profoundness of this word… the importance of being consciously thankful came in recently. It is important to be thankful for things however small or big impact they may have in our lives. We are blessed with innumerable things which are at times not in our conscious realisation. There is an old saying “always count your blessings”. But we generally forget to do so and end up thinking and complaining about things not in our life. Why do we do so? I think it’s a general human nature. We always think the grass is greener on the other side, and put a blind eye to the greenery around us.
What I felt or discovered, gratitude is a virtue that should be imbibed in kids from a young age. You can’t just get up one day and have that in you. As we are taught to be fair, honest, kind, compassionate … we should also be taught to be thankful. After reading about it more and more I at that time realised it is so very important to be grateful. It took some time, conscious efforts to start feeling gratitude for things around me, relationships… my family. And believe me one feels better if one feels grateful…you feel a different kind of peace inside you, the world seems a better place …you see less faults in others, the whole perspective of seeing things change.
I still have a lot to learn, understand and absorb. But yes I want to reach there. Today when I wake up and go through the day, I find so, so many things to be grateful for. We just have to look around ourselves and we will start feeling so blessed n fortunate and thankful. Being grateful will bring in a inner peace, a kind of joy that is difficult to describe in words, it has to be experienced.