AUGUST 16, 2020
Expressing gratitude is the simplest way to feel happy and fulfilled…
-Prabhsimrat Gill
Appreciation and gratitude are two very important and deeply embedded parts of human nature and being. But we often forget to consciously appreciate and express gratitude, depriving ourselves of innate happiness and bountiful abundance, which ironically are the basic needs and desires of every human being.
All of us want to be happy and all of us want to feel full and abundant every time, not fearful and anxious. Then, why do we reject and not use the simplest and the easiest path that we have to attain this happiness and abundance? And why do we accept the fear and the anxiety that is the by-product of rejecting the happiness and the abundance that can always be ours?
The reason why we choose fear and anxiety over happiness and abundance is because we don’t understand the value and importance of gratitude and appreciation. We mostly measure our success in monetary or material terms because of which we make temporary and perishable things as the basis for our happiness instead of strong and permanent things. To find that innate happiness and that bountiful abundance, you need to follow three steps: –
- You need to understand that being appreciative and grateful for all you have is the first step towards achieving this state of innate happiness and abundance. You need to appreciate every person you feel has done a good job and you need to let them know that. This way, you will be giving out happiness to others which will in turn give you happiness. You need to express your gratitude about every single help you receive, and with that you will inspire others to stay positive and grateful themselves, making you and other people feel abundant and fulfilled.
- No matter how much money or wealth a person has, if that person is not happy with the life that they are living, the money and the wealth become worthless because they don’t really make that person feel content and happy in their life, which is the most important and the most powerful feeling of all. Once a person is happy and truly content, then the wealth and the money in the realms of the physical world are considered as a blessing and as a reward for that person’s hard work and the reason for the happiness and contentment is not the reward for the hard work, but the hard work itself. The reason why the happiness is based on the hard work instead of the reward is because if there was no hard work in the first place, then how could such a great reward be manifested?The hard work is the core reason and the core foundation of the reward and it is important to be happy for that, not for the reward because when climbing a tree, we don’t clutch on to the branches, leaves and fruits, but to the trunk which is firmly rooted into the ground and becomes a foundation for the branches, leaves and fruits to prosper on. The leaves may fall and wither, but the trunk will always remain strong. This is the reason why being happy about the hard work is true happiness while being happy about the reward isn’t. The reward is like the leaves; it can vanish anytime. Thus, making the rewards of hard work the reason for your happiness will only lead towards dissatisfaction when they vanish away. And, making the hard work your reason for happiness will not result in dissatisfaction with the disappearance of the rewards because you were never attached to it but considered it as a blessing. Now, when you see that your blessings have depreciated instead of appreciating, you will realise that the reason for this is the depreciation in the amount of hard work and dedication that you put in, because the returns that you get in life will be equal to the amount of efforts that you put in with full dedication and involvement. This way you will not only learn to appreciate your blessings, but you will also learn to keep your dedication and your ability to give at hundred percent all the time!
- Give and provide through your hard work. By giving and providing other people with whatever they need (on a material or an emotional level) will help you feel happy because with every kind act even in situations of scarcity within yourself, you will feel truly happy when the smile on the other person’s face overpowers your doubts and fears regarding anything, even if for a moment. And by knowing that you are still able to provide for others, you will feel your sense of scarcity withering away like leaves in the fall, and you will feel abundance shine through you. This insightful line by Ben Carson sums this step up beautifully, “Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.”
Be appreciative, be grateful, be helpful, be dedicated and abundance, happiness, fulfilment and success will flow like a river right into the ocean of your existence!
Thank you so much for reading!
Well wishes,
Prabhsimrat