Being able to practice gratitude in your daily life can be one of the most challenging acts to master. We live in a world that is constantly trying to make us upset or angry. We are constantly being pitted against our true selves and each other. We are kept distracted from the true meaning of life. We watch TV that is geared to make us angry at someone or something, we doom scroll on TikTok and Instagram seeing a very curated algorithm that allows us to stay comfortably inside of our own echo chamber - angry at someone or something. Even people I know who claim to live happy lives, or would describe themselves as a positive person with an optimistic view of the world fall into the trap of posting political infographics to their social media stories - without even realizing it, they are feeling anger and hate towards someone or something. They let a 5.5” screen and a stranger distract them from the life around them. The absolute truth is this: Earth is a miracle, simply existing on this planet is a miracle. Being able to see with our eyes, hear with our ears, feel with our fingertips are all extra extraordinary. The odds of you being born into this world as a human being are 1 in 400 trillion. Yet, in my day to day, I encounter so many people who are absolutely miserable. They hate their job, they despise themselves for choices they’ve made in the past, and they just hope the workday goes fast so they can go home. While it is easiest to spend your day in a constant state of distraction, anger, and resentment. There exists another way to be.

You can choose to spend your life feeling, and expressing deep gratitude.

The human brain suffers the most from complaining, when we are constantly negative, our brain is literally rewired to be that way. We cannot enjoy anything because our brain doesn’t know how to anymore. The human brain will see the bad in every single thing, even when it is good. Just like anything, we become what we practice. If you practice negativity, hate, and anger, your brain will think that’s how it is best to operate to survive. Most people probably would still describe themselves as positive or optimistic, but then go on 20 minute rants about work. Ranting does not help, at all. Ranting simply trains your brain to complain and then to think negatively. I used to rant all the time, I confused ranting with talking about my feelings, but these two things couldn’t be more different. When we rant, we are just replaying negativity over and over again, we are verbalizing dissatisfaction with something. We are speaking into the universe and telling it we are upset, and the next time anything similar happens, we are instantly snapped back into negativity mode and rant mode. We’re not actually coming to any solutions, we aren’t working through a problem so that we can solve it, we are just being negative. What I’ve learned is that instead of ranting about work, I should offer solutions in my head silently before I ever speak a word. So, when something arises that makes me upset, I pause, just for a moment and observe the emotions rising in my body. I observe the physical senses like my cheeks and back of my neck getting warm, I feel the lump form in the back of my throat. Once I have observed these physical characteristics of anger, I take a long deep, almost painful breath, and very slowly exhale.  Then I say two words: Thank You - because I know I am lucky to feel the human emotion of anger. Now, I am in a place to find a solution to the problem, calmly. Later when I tell my wife about my day over dinner, I will offer the problem that I faced, or the situation that made me upset immediately followed by the solution that fixed said problem. 

Now, I am training my brain to know that even in situations that feel impossible to overcome, I can overcome them. I don’t rant, I talk, and explain. I feel, and then release. I practice, and then teach. Practicing gratitude has radically changed my life. I no longer see my existence as a burden, but a privilege. I know I am so lucky to feel - everything. The full range of human emotion is not meant to be suppressed, but it can be controlled. The tiny screen in my hand does not control the way that I think. The news does not tell me what to believe, because - I still believe, deep in my heart and soul, that the world is a good place. Humans are good people. This is a good life.

If no one else tells you today, I will: I believe in you. I am proud of you, and I know you will achieve your wildest dreams. The work you are doing matters. 

Keep Going.