Attitude of Gratitude

In a world that has got you counting calories, wealth, achievements and failures, be a rebel and count your blessings!

When was the time you felt grateful? Do you think gratitude is the right attitude in shaping your life? Has thankfulness ever resulted in getting what you want or ever wondered how do things just happen magically the way you thought? Welcoming you all to this post which throws a light on why we should be happy for what have.

“What is wrong Preeti? Is everything okay?” Preeti’s manager questioned her sensing her unusual behavior. She hadn’t been so quiet and aloof before. She was hitting a rough patch cladding the roller coaster ride of her emotional content.

“Nothing Sir. I am … okay.” Preeti responded gloomy faced.. Her eyes fixed at the desk swirling her chair lightly.

“No.. you are not okay and that’s for sure. You were never like this earlier. Where has the chirpiness gone?” her boss re-questioned her out of concern.

It was true that she had changed. In fact, deep within, she knew that she wasn’t as lively as she was before. What was irking her? Why the dullness? She had lost the spark of working and that was pretty noticeable.

On reaching home, she heaved her office bag over her bed and sat with her palms covering her face.

“What’s the matter?” her mother approached her with a glass of water rubbing her back.

She narrated everything. What was the matter? She wasn’t just okay with the job routine. She had been working there since a few months. Preeti had it all any ordinary job seeker would dream of, a convenient working time, a big fat package, weekends off and a very congenial manager and team. That’s all she had desired for. Now that she had it, it was the job routine she wasn’t happy with. Monotony had crept in and the rat race which seemed so much exciting in the beginning now began to tire her off.

Also she disliked the time of travel. It took her almost three and a half hours to travel to and fro from office which consumed the entire day. Loss of work-life balance. It seemed like home was a shelter for the name sake.

She hated it when she couldn’t get time for the ladylove of her life, her mother. She hated it even more when she was missing out on her passion for singing! She complained about how exhaustive it is to wake up by 6:30 AM in the morning and run to the gym only to hurry and return in 45 minutes so that the office bus shouldn’t be missed! Everything was grey for her. The monotony had sucked the energy levels out of her. She was losing the connectivity with all around her and eventually, she was all by herself. Not being a part of anything in the office like a child punished.

“I feel like a prisoner! The only difference is.. I come home to eat and sleep! I don’t know how people can love being rats for their entire lives! Like slaves of time and fate..” she lamented to her mother palely.

All this while her mother heard her, silence was the only response from her. She listened to her daughter with patience and got back to the kitchen patting her shoulder.

The next day on her way to office, her eyes were drawn to a mango seller who was beating the heat on the roadside at a signal. Preeti observed him as her bus halted at the signal. He sat there, hawking the product continuously as the sun continued tormenting him with its harsh rays. He put up the umbrella and continued marketing his mangoes as he wiped off the sweat with his handkerchief which occupied his tired sedulous face.

She smiled unknowingly as the bus moved.

The entire day passed by and she was on her way back.

She received a call from Shreyas, her old pal on her way back home.

Shreyas - “What’s up!!”

Preeti - “I am doing okay. You say! How is life?”

Shreyas - “Life.. haha! Sucks man! What could be worse than coming to work on Saturdays! ugh!! I hate it.”

Preeti – “Really? Saturday working too? Part time?”

Shreyas – “Haha! Our company doesn’t love us that much sadly. No. For the whole day. We have Saturday’s working sweedy!”

Preeti didn’t respond over the phone. She stayed mum and for a moment she found it delighting that it was a Saturday the next day and luckily, she didn’t have to go to the office.

Lost in her thought process for the entire journey, she returned home all quiet by herself. Something had cannoned into her that day which she wasn’t figuring out.

Post dinner, she was speaking to her best friend over the phone.”

“How was your day sweetie?” Mohit spoke from the other end.

“Good. Tiring as usual.” She replied in a foul groan.

She narrated him the day at office, the usual wearisome happenings.

“What about you? How was your day?” she questioned him after she was done.

“Mine was ok. Went for the 43rd interview... Failed to impress them.” Mohit sounded cracked up from the other end.

“What?!? Like you are literally counting? And gosh!! 43rd time!! Are you serious??” Preeti shrieked from the other end unbelievably.

“No option! Feels like giving up sometimes. The rejection is a pain. I doubt my own capabilities sometimes. You are lucky Preeti.” Mohit quoted anguished. One could sense sarcasm and pain in his voice.

That was when she broke down.

“What was I up to??” she shrieked abashed at her own sorrow drain she had been projecting.

The instances throughout the day had melted her and challenged her thoughts about her job.

As she sat back, she recollected the instances, the old man who sat in the ruthless sunlight selling mangoes, whose efforts were crystal clear as he challenged the sunlight burning with heat. Somehow his efforts had made an ever lasting impression in her heart. Shreyas has to work on Saturday’s too. Only a Sunday off? How could anyone just need 24 hours in respect to a 6 days tight schedule? So unfair! Lastly, Mohit like a cherry on the cake didn’t have fate knock at his doors even after repeated efforts and being ‘horribly good’. He failed every time, yet he never gave up, even when his frustration swallowed up his chunk of motivation and all he was left with is tiny bits of hope.

‘I am grateful!! I am grateful and I am blessed for everything! I am lucky to earn. I am lucky that I have such a great boss and colleagues. I am lucky that I have my weekends. I am lucky to be receiving money for my work. I am lucky to have transport to and fro my home. Thank you!’ from that day onwards, she never cribbed and lightened each day with a broad smile.

The point here is, it is okay to not be okay. It is ok to have problems and think of the hurdles we face daily. Things might not always be in your favour and they will be troublesome! But using the right attitude in tackling it is a skill. The instances Preeti faced came like a blessing to her, a teaching, a reminder of the gratefulness she lacked from within. It’s alright to be bored of having the same meals every day, the tact to it is to unravel a path of new recipes combined with thankfulness of the fact that you at least got some meal with you as the basic. The situations can be ruled out only when we see how fortunate we are for the things we already have. Abundance is attracted only when you feel abundant about everything you have and not complain about the lack!

Gratitude is the key to a majority of the problems in our life. Hurdles occur, hurdles go. Whenever challenged by any situation or a thought, one should feel blessed thinking about the less fortunate. We all fail to realise at times, that we are gifted, we are blessed with all the things we need. It’s only through gratitude and the way we perceive and handle things that you can fill the rest half of the pot. Next time you feel dreadful about something including your own self, think about the times when people are deprived of the basics, think of those who try so hard yet carry failures on their shoulders, about those who have never been lucky with love or luck, those who are struggling to keep their families healthy and happy, a mother who always wanted to make a career but had no option other than the house chores, those with medical ailments and how they wish they had healthy bodies like you and about those who had the abilities, are brilliant but never got a chance to be in a position you currently are at.

"Thoughts become things. You have to feel thankful to harness its power" - Rhonda Byrne, author of the book 'The Secret'

Art by: @Abhilash_Logan

I insist to think of 10 things you are thankful as an everyday practice and extend all your gratitude towards those. Then you will see the change coming the way you always wanted. Slowly, gradually. I am sure! Patience and faith are the medicines to the cure we always look for. When was the last time you felt thankful about what you have? Let me know in the comments below!