Hey readers, currently I'm reading a book by jay Shetty named “Think like a monk”. At starting it seemed too dull, I don’t know why, but I wasn’t enjoying the book while reading. So, I thought I should read some more pages in case I could get what I expected from this book. And after mere reading 200 pages, I got that chapter which makes me love this book.
In this article, I will share my favorite chapter from this book.
Chapter 9: GRATITUDE
Gratitude is one of the most powerful drug in this world.
Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast defines gratitude as the feeling of appreciation that comes when “you recognize that something is valuable to you, which has nothing to do with its monetary worth.” It could be anything like words from a friend, a kind gesture, an opportunity, a lesson, or anything else.
Gratitude is good for us:
Once in a research scientists have measured the benefits of gratitude was to asking 2 groups of people to keep journals during the day. The 1st group was asked to record things for which they felt grateful, and on the other hand, 2nd were asked to record times when they felt hassled or irritated. The gratitude group reported lower stress levels at the end of the day.
Gratitude has been linked to better mental health, self-awareness, better relationship, and a sense of fulfillment.
Everyday Gratitude:
Here, jay tells his story of when he visited India for the 1st time with his parents, he was around 9 years old. When they were on the way to the hotel, their taxi stopped at a red light. Out the window of the taxi, he saw the legs of a girl, the same age as him. The rest of her body part was bent over deep into a trash can. It looked like she was trying to find something, most likely food. When she stood up, he realized with a shock that she didn’t have hands. He really wanted to help her somehow, but he looked on helplessly as his car pulled away. She noticed him and smiled, he also smiled back at her.
After finding their hotel, they all set for a restaurant to have their lunch. And there he heard another child complaining that there was nothing he liked on the menu. And then jay was thinking, here we were with our choice of meals, and the girl I had seen had only a trash can for the menu. From that moment he realized how much the universe had given to him and that he should be grateful for this.
After becoming a monk he got to know that, monks also begin their every day by giving thanks. Literally, when they wake up on the mats, they flip over to their fronts and pay respect to the earth, taking a moment to give thanks for what it gives us, for the light to see, the ground to walk on, the air to breathe.
Practice of Gratitude:
Making gratitude part of our daily routine is the easy part but we should be grateful every time and in every circumstance. Even if your life isn’t perfect, build your gratitude like a muscle. If you train it now, it will strengthen over time.
Brian Acton exemplifies this conscious practice of gratitude. He had worked at Yahoo for 11 years when he applied for a job a Twitter, but even though he was quite good at what he did, he was rejected. When he received the news, he tweeted,” Got denied by Twitter HQ. That’s OK. Would have been a long commute.” He next applied for a job on Facebook and they also rejected him and he too posted about this on Twitter. He didn’t hesitate to post his failures on social media and never expressed anything but gratitude for the opportunities. 5 years later Facebook acquired WhatsApp, the app Brian Acton cofounded, for $19 billion.
Instead of fixating on the rejections and adopting a poverty mentality, he just waited gratefully to see what might be in store for him.
Hellen Keller, who became deaf and blind as a toddler after an unidentified illness, wrote,” When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
When something doesn’t go your way, say to yourself,” There’s more for me out there.” That’s all. When you say,” This didn’t work out, but there’s more out there,” the energy shifts to a future full of possibility.
So, whenever you have setbacks in your life, try to ask yourself,’ What’s the opportunity at this moment?”. You look for it and then take advantage of that opportunity. It’s as simple as that.
Basically, this is my favorite chapter from this book. You could be interested in the whole book. You should definitely give it a try.
Thank you for reading💖
