It’s American Thanksgiving and that got me thinking about gratitude, I came to the realization that it is very easy for me to be grateful for all of the wonderful things in my life that have been going great … But what about those things that are not going so good? How can we expand our gratitude to those wonderful lessons that can teach us so much?
This past weekend I found myself getting angrier and angrier at an individual who had dropped a proverbial hot potato into my lap. Now this person and I have quite a history of one being on the end of helping and one receiving, in the vast majority of cases I have felt that I am the one coming to the rescue and I admit after doing so for many years I have grown a rather big chip on my shoulder. As I was busy dealing with the consequences of some one else’s actions and feeling resentful,.. Fate decided to teach me a lesson…
I had the Tom Waits song “Come on up to the House” playing in the car as I drove and the line…“Get down off the cross we could use the wood.” interrupted my venting session…
I just had to laugh as I realized that perhaps I needed an attitude adjustment. I had climbed up onto my self created cross and was quite content in seeing myself as a victim.. It was time to look at the situation differently… This person is going to act the way they always have… And I will most likely initially feel dumped on.
However if I am fortunate I will have many years of these type of situations for if the world is good we will continue on this path thankful knowing how each one of us is going to act during difficult times. Grateful that this relationship is constant and never changing…
I’d love to hear from you … Have you had a moment or a situation that made it difficult for you to have gratitude for them? Or not… What about those?