Harvesting Our Greatest Gift: Gratitude
We are quickly approaching autumn and for some of us, the resolutions we set at the beginning of the year are ready to harvest. For others they are unfolding at this very moment. Yet for most, the more frequent cloudy days keep those resolutions out-of-sight – you can’t see the goals and the dreams and therefore you can’t realize them. For the formers, I am so happy for you. However, this letter is mainly for the latter. To those stuck behind the clouds, waiting for “it” to happen, continue to be grateful.
It is easy to feverishly get lost in your to-do list. Jotting down all that you want to accomplish as if you own the morrows. The mind wants to keep you wandering from hither and thither, oscillating from depression to optimism so that you lose sight of just how fortunate you are right here, right now.
Recently I visited the website of Penn State’s Department of Positive Psychology. If you haven’t noticed by now, I am more of a realist. I blame it on the study of Jnana Yoga, it requires you see things as they are. Needless to say, on this day, I needed a boost of the positivity that is overabundant in today’s society. On their website they have several questionnaires. I took the popular VIA Survey of Character Strengths. The output from the questionnaire was long, so I will not bore you with details. However, the gist of my results was, my greatest strength is gratitude, my weakness is contentment.
The very mention of the “C” word contentment used to give me such negative vibes. But I must admit, after seeing the results of the questionnaire, I was a bit surprised. I’m not in my twenties anymore, my 40s have brought on some appreciation for the C-word, I didn’t realize it was still a weakness. Naturally, my mind wanted to know how to strengthen contentment, it is a virtue in Vedanta. Yet, the psychologist at Penn State knew the mind would go there.
They gave lengthy advice on how to tame this mental activity. Don’t focus on strengthening your weaknesses they advise, keep doing what you’re good at and find ways to practice it even more. Your strengths are your weaknesses used. And so, I realized that in those moments of deep gratitude, I am present and I am content. It is when I move out of a gratitude mindset, that feelings of not being good enough or doing enough weaken my contentment.
So, this month, join me and acknowledge your “I have done list.” Acknowledge all that you have done to get here. If you are reading this letter, you have come so far spiritually. Without judgment and with eyes of compassion, think about all the lost souls that have no interests in spiritual growth. You have done great things (divine and not so divine) to realize you need to be here, and here you are. Harvest this gift, it is the greatest gift of all. Then say thank you.