Happiness And Gratefulness

Isn’t it strange? We’ve all experienced gratefulness. We understand how increasingly nice it feels. Certainly it must be a simpler way to happiness than running round trying to make the outer world fit a checklist?

I could pen down a whole long article on this. But do I really need to?

I might assume most of you have been living grateful and therefore joyful lives all along.

But just in case …

There’s a tale told of a Tibetan monk on a plane. When the meal was served, the other passengers immediately started the job of eating it, as you might presume. Possibly some of them genuinely loved it, but for major part it was probably just a short bland-flavoured break from boredom and hunger.

The monk did something unique. Bringing to mind that this food came from farms, he took a few moments to silently thank the unknown farmers. He also thanked the earth for supporting the plants and animals in the food. And the sun and the rain, for nurturing them to grow. And certainly the plants and animals themselves, for making themselves obtainable.

Then, remembering that the food required to be transported from the farm to where the meal was to be prepared, he expressed gratitude to the unknown driver of the truck. And the people who had built the truck in the factory, the marine geologists and engineers who had drawn up the plans to drill for the oil that fuelled the truck, and the trees that had lived and died and now become the oil.

And, personally, those who had supported each bond in the chain: the parents, wives and husbands of the so many different people, the teachers and instructors who had given them the talent needed, perhaps even the winds that had blown the rain-clouds above the farm.

The monk was very intensive in showing thankfulness to all those who had worked to give him the prospect he saw in front of him in his life.

Eventually the plane started its descent, and the tray was removed. The monk had not yet had time to touch his food, but by the custom of gratitude he had enjoyed his meal enormously, and felt wholly nourished.

Where in your life can you learn to really get pleasure from something as simple as an airline meal? Or as significant as a parent, your job, or the home you live in?

What would you most like to feel more gratefulness for?

When will you begin?

An exercise: Write down the name of a person you feel grateful for. It may perhaps be a parent, a friend, a teacher, a fan, a person who helped you out once when you really wanted it. Write down a couple of sentences about why your life is good today because of what that person has done for you. Now write that person a letter or email of gratitude. And if you wish to, you can send that letter or email. Note how you feel at each stage, recalling, writing your appreciation, and, if you made the decision to go for the (perhaps scary?) star prize, dropping the letter in the post box or pressing “Send”

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