On Monday, we talked about the push to have "more" that seems so prevalent in our society, and how that push can drive us to acquire things we don't need or even really want. A similar force can drive us to take on projects and obligations to the point of being overwhelmed. And one way to stop those forces in their tracks is to practice gratitude.
There's a lot of pressure to do as much as we can, both for others and ostensibly for ourselves. We work at an office or for ourselves (or both), we go to school, we take care of family members, we pursue our spirituality, we socialize with friends, we take care of our own bodies—and most of the time it feels like that's the bare minimum of things we have to do.
And yet, there's always something more that we can add to our schedule. An exercise program "guaranteed to reduce those love handles in just 15 minutes a day" or a new social media tool we feel we have to use to stay current.
Some of our obligations are foisted on us by others (clients, bosses, co-workers, family members, etc.). But a lot of the additional stuff we take on, the boxes we stack way higher than we can possibly see over, is done of our own volition, and it's done out of a feeling of needing more.
When we examine our overcrowded schedule and finally start thinking of obligations we can cross off, there's often a twinge of reluctance. "But I need to do that," we think, even though we can't always come up with a good reason why. It's as if we worry that our lives won't be as full without every single thing we're trying to do.
That's where gratitude comes in. Gratitude allows us to recognize the fullness already in our lives and truly feel how lucky we are to have whatever individual permutation of health, family, friends, work and spirituality we already have.
Being grateful and having a sense of the true value of what we already do can help us resist the siren song of "do this and have more... something in your life." It can help us embrace the radical concept of "this is enough right now" and gain a deeper enjoyment of what we're doing, allowing us to be fully present in our lives.
What about you? When you think of cutting back on some obligations and you feel that twinge, does gratitude help? Let me know in the comments!
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