Firstly, are you thinking why did I chose the above dog’s photo to feature this article?
Well, personally it is because this dog’s attitude is a perfect example of gratitude. Whenever, I pass across her she wags her tail. And at times, I feed her a little snack and sometimes I do not. However, she never fails to acknowledge my presence whenever she sees me. The other thing is, whenever I feed her something, she does not eat it until I bid goodbye and pass. You know, until I disappear out of her sight, her eyes are on me. Can you believe that level of patience! That’s a very strange attitude for a dog, but that is how grateful she is.
Dogs can be pliable with our emotions. They sense it. Perhaps they demonstrate gratitude, greatly based on that fact. To be honest, my heart overwhelms reading their emotions when receiving love and concern than reading our own species. These animals communicate mostly through their body language, and what comes from them is purely honest. Thus, that gratitude is in its purest form.
Sometimes, animals are fantabulous teachers and inspires us way better.
Gratitude. How do you feel about the word? Sounds royal, firm, and poised? We often hear about it on social media posts, coaching videos, hashtags, and even in profile bios these days. What’s so big about this gratitude?
Google defines gratitude as, ‘the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness’.
Quality. Thankful. Readiness. Appreciation. Return. Kindness.
The keywords. A lot of us have the quality to become readily thankful, but lack the appreciation to return kindness. That is the issue. The magic is in the latter part. Gratitude is not just about being thankful, BUT about retaining that, kindly. It is why I used the above example to exemplify its meaning.
Gratitude or being thankful is not that easy either. We can easily be thankful for all the good things that happens to us, but how come we become thankful for the bad things that happen to us? To all the misfortune, trials, tribulations, losses and all whatnots.
Gratitude is challenging. The trick to surpass this challenge, to be thankful for things you don’t feel to be thankful for is to find something, something positive out of it to be thankful for. There’s got to be something. At least some microscopic detail! Find it, thank it, appreciate it and be kind to it.
In life, we meet contrasting experiences every single day. Including the emotions. I believe, gratitude becomes more prominent and fulfilling when we start appreciating the little things in life. All it takes is a change in perception!
Little things such as, sweet gestures, sweet reminders — be it a friend who texts you a “good morning” “be safe”, the air you breathe, the birds you see chirping, finding food, flying in the evening back to their homes, the green trees that never fades their color to the morning mist or rain, the natural fragrances of flowers that never need an artificial scent, the irresistible warmth of the sun that kisses you, or the glow of the moon that you can’t take your eyes off.
Those could be few little things that brings the essence of gratitude little by little to our life. Mostly, appreciate the people around you. Sometimes we might be too egotistical to not notice how they mean to us, how precious their care is. Hence, it is time you realize what and who’s important to you and start appreciating them because this life’s tenure is pretty short than expected. Life doesn’t wait for us. It never does. You just gotta go for it!
Finding the little things that bring gratitude to your life — is totally up to you!
Find it!
