Choosing Gratitude: Finding Light in the Midst of Life’s Challenges

A client, who is struggling with the challenges of being a caregiver, said it was impossible to be thankful. I have struggled with this myself sometimes. Recently, I read a book by M. J. Ryan, Attitudes of Gratitude. The author relates that she was a confirmed pessimist in her early life. According to Ryan, “Gratitude helps us notice what is right in our lives.” Studies show that our brains are designed to track success when we notice it. The author offers the example of a baby learning to walk. She stands and, boom, she falls. Her balance was not correct. She does not blame the floor, or her foot, or her shoes. She keeps trying, discarding what doesn’t work without obsessing, and incorporating what does. Fall, fall, fall, fall, walk, fall, fall, walk, walk, walk. (the picture is me when I was just learning to walk outside. )

As we get older, we develop the habit of examining our mistakes, identifying what is lacking, what is inadequate, and what is painful. Gratitude reminds us to be like plants, which turn toward, not away from, the light.