It’s hard to be thankful, especially when life whips into a tempest that pummels us mercilessly. When we’re surrounded by darkness and trials and an unjust world, it’s hard to focus on the good and be grateful for it. We give thanks on Thanksgiving, and George Washington (whom I recently learned was taught surveying by my ancestor; pretty cool), issued this proclamation establishing the last Thursday in November of 1789 as a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday in the United States of America.
Yet this is just one day. To be grateful every day, even in the face of despair, is a wholly different outlook on the world, and it’s life-changing.
Jordan Peterson said it best: “Gratitude can be an elixir for victimhood. Gratitude is not the naive insistence that the world is a perfectly delightful place and that everything is going to go well. Gratitude is a practice. It is a moral virtue. The virtuous part of gratitude is the courage to find light in even the darkest place that can guide you through. The willingness to and the understanding of that is a practice.”
That’s not the same as optimism. There will always be improvements to make, wrongs to right, and injustices to fight. At the same time, there is always something to be grateful for. Nurturing the ability to look for it, see it, and genuinely embrace the emotion of gratitude gives us a power, persistence, and ability to tackle the challenges of life in a way that’s just impossible without a mindset of gratitude.
I’m thankful for the ability to be thankful, to acknowledge, correct, and overcome the bad, while holding to the light of the good. And I’m thankful for the ability we all have, to improve even the good, and make that light ever-brighter.
I wish you a blessed, warm, and peaceful Thanksgiving.
