Try living life with the attitude of gratitude

By Medicine Hat News on August 11, 2018.

“Summertime, and the living is easy.” Can you recall that lyric from decades past? Summer is the season in which Canadians slow down, enjoy the great outdoors and take a vacation or staycation. It is a terrific opportunity to stay in touch with family and friends that are all but forgotten in the hectic rush of work and activities that are our wintertime norm.

It makes sense to slow down in the sweltering days of summer, when the least activity results in heavy sweating. You don’t have to work out in the gym: just essential movement can be uncomfortable enough. Those who are accustomed to Canadian snowfall may look askance at tropical dwellers as lazy when they are merely responding to their environment. This past summer has been an eye-opener for many with constant high temperatures and dry winds. When it rains, mosquitoes attack viciously. There is rarely a happy medium. So we broil, burn, bake and swat until we can gripe about winter chill.

If these words strike a chord with you, chances are that you suffer from the grave syndrome of thanklessness. No matter how wonderful life may be, you can always and inevitably find something about which to complain. It is an awkward disease that infests our supposedly joyous moments with rhetorical questions. Why or why not? What could we improve? What’s wrong with this situation? Critical thinking is so ingrained that we can’t just let it be — we have to think ourselves into a paralysis of analysis.

One treatment for this syndrome is a radical reorganization and reorientation of our attitudes and perspectives. Instead of rolling over to doze, hop out of bed excited about all the new possibilities the day has to offer. Keep your eyes and mind open for surprises, not glued to a cellphone. When you are irritated, take 10 deep breaths before you react. Enjoy what is before you now, in the moment, instead of daydreaming about your next holiday. Appreciate the people around you, at home, work and play. They may not be perfect — but then, neither are you! Exert yourself to be positive in your outlook. Laugh as much as you can. Exercise your best manners at all times — this is your chance to be your best. Stop chasing unrealistic dreams and slow down to enjoy the present. After all, this is your only chance to do so.

Your life is not a given — it is a gift of grace. It is up to you to make the best of it. Nobody else can do it for you. Take up your life with reverence and joy. Live it out with diligence and conviction. Rest with quiet and tranquility. Sleep well. And you know what? If you do this intentionally your life will improve, because you have opted for thanksgiving instead of griping. Give it a try. What have you got to lose?

By the way, this attitude of gratitude is part of something called faith, a trust that the divine mystery we call God will prevail. Words of reassurance from 14th century English mystic Julian of Norwich: “He said not ‘Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be dis-eased’; but he said, ‘Thou shalt not be overcome.’ And “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

So, to quote another song, “Don’t worry. Be happy.” Sure beats the alternative!

Rev. Jan Stevenson is from Westminster United Church in Medicine Hat.

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