The secret to being grateful for all of it

One Big Idea - The secret to being grateful for all of it

Gratitude is good. Good for our psyche, good for our soul, good for our corpus.

It has become sort of a thing. Trendy. "You need to practice gratitude," and all that.

Which is true. We should. Heck, I do it or try to, every day.

Literally. I post a little gratitude reflection on social media every morning. It helps me. Seems to help some others, or so they've told me.

What’s the secret? The key to genuine gratitude is when we can be grateful for all of it, the good, the bad, and the meh. 

The Stoics call this amor fati - to love one's fate.

Amor fati is an acceptance of whatever is or whatever happens. It's an understanding that most of that, the good and bad, is out of our control, and facing it with unwavering cheerfulness and strength.

It's easy to be grateful for the good things that happen to us and the good people in our lives.

But what about all the rest of it?

What about when you're stuck behind some knucklehead for miles driving below the speed limit?

Or the @sshole riding your bumper?*

Or that promotion you didn't get? The presentation you bombed?

Or the d*ck who doesn't hold the door for you when you've got your arms full?

Or maybe that "friend" who only calls when he needs something?

Can we be grateful for all of that too?

Yeah, that's tougher.

We practice true gratitude when we can take whatever comes with the mindset, "If this is what I've got to do or put up with, I might as well not only accept it but embrace it."

Amor fati - the secret to genuine gratitude and the key to unlocking its physical, mental, and spiritual benefits.

*I've found that the best way to show this person my gratitude is to go even slower. ;-)

We are stronger than our excuses.