Gratitude over Contentment
I practice gratitude every day. I have a separate journal for it. I write a daily list of persons, places, things, situations I am grateful for. Gratitude practice is evidence based and supports mindfulness and presence, but it can also sometimes foster resignation, a belief that “I have so much, so much to be grateful for, more than many others, I should be content and not want for more.” When the truth is, I can be grateful AND want more. I can want to accomplish my unrealized dreams AND be grateful for what I have and am right now.
Resignation not the same as acceptance. Resignation is passive. There is no agency in resignation and likely little hope. Resignation comes from the ache, the anxiety, the fear that if I’m not grateful (content with) what I have now; something worse will happen or it could be worse, so I better be grateful.
Do these sound like Momisms or Sunday schoolteachers or other adult figures from my childhood? Maybe. Their echoes are still present decades later. I am grateful, I have abundances to be grateful for, my Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is fulfilled AND I still have dreams, I still have goals, experiences I want to have before I transition from this body and world. Having a gratitude practice reminds me daily that I have enough in my life, and my daily list of what I am grateful for usually demonstrates my values, family, love, health and joy.
My list is also reassuring to me that I am enough AND no matter the outcome of my current “chasing” of goals or dreams I will still be enough. AND it is my choice to have and pursue goals AND my choice to change them whenever I want or need to. Remember we forever get to recreate our desires and womanfest anything we want (Amanda Hanson).
So, if I desire to someday adventure an ultra-run that sounds unsafe to others or write another book while being grateful for what I have already written and who I am. I can.
Breath in gratitude,
Breath our resignation.
Breathe in trust,
Breathe out self-judgement.
Breathe in desires,
Breathe them out into the world.
