In 2008 Elysia and I were in the Philippines and on one particular day, stranded by torrential rain in our tiny hotel room on an island called Bohol.
Resorting to our only option for passing the time, we were flicking through channels of local cable, between soap opera’s in Tagalog (the local language) and low quality American cable shows…
We happened to stop the channel surfing at an interview with the musician and pop singer Alanis Morrisette.
I watched only half interested until she was asked a question, and gave an answer so profound that it has stuck in my mind right until this day.
They were discussing being happy in life and in your work and the question came up:
“Are you a religious person?”
She answered, to paraphrase (as I recall):
“I’m not really a religious person, but I do have a code, or a religion that I live by… and it’s just something simple, but over time I’ve found it’s the surest way to happiness…
And that is… I live by the religion of gratefulness”
How profound.
Gratefulness to me is the simple recognition that every day, each one of us has so many things in our lives to be happy about, and thankful for.
Every day you get to wake up, and DO things!
You might think that’s not something to be happy about, but remember there are people in hospital beds everywhere who are praying for the ability to take this simple action.
If you’re reading this post, you live in a place so wealthy that you can have your own computer and internet connection!
Fate could have just as easily seen you born in another part of the world where such a thing would never be possible.
Every day you wake up with unlimited OPPORTUNITY! It doesn’t matter what job you have, how much money, what your circumstances are, you always have OPTIONS. No one holds a gun to your head to make you go to work or live where you live, or spend time with the people you do. You’re free to live your life in whatever way you choose and to CHANGE your circumstances if you don’t like them.
Yes, that lmuch opportunity is rare but YOU have it.
And these are just the little things!
You might have a loving family or a really inspiring group of friends, plenty of savings in the bank, you might have traveled a lot, you might be starting a business online thats on it’s way to setting you free from having a job forever…
EVERYONE has these things.
Gratefulness is just about recognizing them and focusing on them.
It’s easy to focus on your problems, we’re all good at that.
But if you can do that so easily, why not spend a little time focusing on what’s awesome too?
It might not be popular… you might not win many friends by going around telling everyone about what’s amazing in your life (which is a real shame and a flaw of our culture) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.
Because the thing is, it’s pretty hard not to be happy when you’re rattling off all the things you love in your life on a DAILY basis!
It’s hard to be sad when you’re thinking about everything that is fantastic in your life!
And really, happiness isn’t much more than that. It’s not something that you wait around for, it’s something that you just decide, not just today, but every day.
Try it this week, just allocate 15 or 20 minutes each day to sit and do nothing but think about everything that’s great about your life. Do it for a week and tell me how it feels.
If you need even more reason to be happy and grateful, think about this…
Did you read my post yesterday about Reticular Activating Systems?
The little secret is: the more time you spend thinking about the things that are awesome in your life, the more sensitve you become to awesome things showing up… the more you focus on awesomeness, the more of it you see… the more of it happens in your life!
Make gratefulness a part of your daily routine and watch how your life improves.
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Yep – you’re right!! Gratitude is my secret weapon in my arsenal of happiness tools.
I defy anyone to feel unhappy when feeling grateful – it’s just impossible. I am The Happiest Person I Know……and now that I think about it, probably the most grateful as well.
We all have so much to be grateful for……let’s start a gratitude epidemic.
Live Life Happy!
Here here Jacqueline!
Thanks for your comments
Andrew
Just side-tracking a bit…
There was a writer, whom I hired, was very devoted to his religion.
So, I told him, “It seems you are very religious and devoted”. It was meant to be a praise for him. But he was offended by the word “religious”. He thinks it’s a negative word! Gosh…
Yeah… I am truly grateful for what I have now. There are so many people in the world right now more unfortunate than I am.
Anyway, any chance for you to drop-by South-east asia again for a vacation? Singapore is very near Philippines.
Andrew Hansen is one of the few guys in the IM game I know who sees beyond the desire to “make money online.” I think Andrew realizes that the things we do ONLINE are only being done to develop our sense of gratitude in the real world…for the long haul, the life vision. We earn money for lots of reasons, but ultimately money is a tool which assists us in making choices. For me, gratitude must be accompanied with something else (and perhaps some of you will agree) along the way or else gratitude becomes–> “thank goodness I am better off than that guy.”
In Greek, the word eucharistos is the word we use for “thanksgiving.” As a pastor (can you tell:)?) I love seeing how the original New Testament language helps us understand what it means to give thanks. Literally it means “good grace” or “good gift.” When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we are giving thanks (Eucharist) for the good gift of Jesus who was willing to give his life so that we might share sacrificial love with others. Gratitude shared with others, through love, is what makes life so “happy” (blessed).
Alanis had it partially right in my opinion. Gratitude can be treated like a religion, but religion in itself is stagnant and institutional. But when gratitude is coupled with RELATIONSHIP, then you get something amazing. Relationship provides you with presence, companionship, growth, love, sharing, and encouragement. Relationship is dynamic and life-changing! Here is how I relate this to Andrew’s story:
Notice that Andrew was with Elysia in the Philippines. Why is this significant? He took his favorite loved one to share in that experience! We only know gratitude when we share it with those we love. We are born for relationship! We are born for thanksgiving for the love given to us through sacrifice.
So we do affiliate marketing, blog flipping, PPC, SEO, upload plugins, put up adsense ads, and live in the Clickbank Marketplace. We love these things! They help us make choices to serve and help others. The key is that all of this exists so that we can share our lives with OTHERS! So I have to say this in closing…gratitude rises from our hearts the moments we know we are loved.
For me, I know I am unashamedly and graciously loved by my Heavenly Father through his Son, Jesus Christ. Because he has chosen a relationship with me, I am forever grateful…and this knowledge doesn’t just keep me happy (which is fleeting) but joyful (which is eternal)!
I respect everyone’s thoughts regarding Andrew’s post and in no way am trying to proselytize other than to share my heart and my reason for the overflow of thanksgiving in my heart to God, for giving me his Son, a loving wife, a congregation to serve, and internet marketing to learn from, grow with, and to continue to become the person I have yet to be. I hope and trust what I have said will serve to encourage each of you in your personal lives as we all seek to say “thanks” not just on the4th Thursday of November but every day of our lives!
May God bless each of your days!
“Thank” you!
Just found this blog by luck and will be adding it to my feed. I’ve also discovered that being grateful is one of the keys to happiness and have written an article called 10 things to be grateful for and who you should be. Being grateful is simple, free and effective – I wish everyone would do it!