Behind Closed Doors: Attitude of Gratitude

No matter what happens today, you can choose your reaction to it.

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

To me, that quote from Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher who lived from AD 55–AD 135, really gets at the heart of what it means to practice gratitude.

It’s amazing how much our attitude has to do with our level of happiness and contentment. Have you ever woken up in the morning, looked out and saw gray skies and lamented, “This day is going to STINK!”? Chances are at the end of the day, we wryly take note of this self-fulfilling prophecy with the thought, “I KNEW this day was going to stink!” How much of our lousy day was a result of the circumstances of our day versus our attitude about those happenings? I contend that it is how we view our circumstances that determines whether our day is “good” or “bad.”

A GREAT-day mindset

Let’s try this for a change: When we wake up, regardless of the weather or how we feel, vow to have a GREAT day before our feet ever hit the floor. Decide that no matter what happens, we will choose to react in a neutral or positive way. Reaffirm this decision throughout the day. I bet at the end of the day, we will have created a pretty darn good experience! What if we could do this every day? How about if we control our days rather than our days controlling us?

We also need to vow to refuse to be influenced by the negative people all around us. We all know the type. They will find the dark, gloomy lining to every pink cloud. You could excitedly share the news, “Guess what?! I won the $50 million lottery!!” They would just sadly shake their head and say, “You know you’re going to have to pay taxes on that. You’ll be lucky if you end up with $25 million.”

Somehow, I’ll make ends meet!

If I were to turn this GREAT-day mindset into an Epictetusesque quote, it would read as follows: “It’s not what happens to us, but how we view what happens to us that determines our level of happiness.”
—Kay Frances (none of your business-present)

We should all have the above quote embroidered on a pillow. Or etched on our bathroom mirror. We may not have a lot of choice about what happens during our day, but we can always choose our reaction to it. Life truly is a series of choices. At every moment in time, there are an infinite number of choices laid out before us. Most of the time, we’re barely conscious of what we are choosing on a moment-to-moment basis. It’s important that we live our lives with mindful awareness and be conscious of our decisions, no matter how small. Like the acorn that becomes the mighty oak, we can make our small day-to-day decisions blossom into a thriving, robust life. Let’s start today because, as the great Johann Wolfang von Goethe (another brilliant dude from a bygone era, 1749-1832) put it: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. OSM