GRATITUDE IS AN ATTITUDE

"Be humbly grateful, not grumbly hateful"

...Whatever you say Granny!

My Grandmother's favourite phrase didn't land so well when, aged seven, I was offered a spoonful of Marmite at tea, instead of a second sugary biscuit. Now I realise, that gratitude is an attitude, which is not merely a response to good fortune but a choice in how we live our lives. Gratitude shifts our attention from what's missing to what is already present.  

Like movement, it is less about intensity than consistency - a quiet discipline that is rooted in how we live, rather than how we perform. 

If called upon, you could list a thousand reasons to be discontent. If called upon, you could list a thousand reasons to be content. Which would you rather put your mind to?



To be fair to anyone who finds it hard, our brains are hardwired with six primal emotions. Only one of these is positive. They are; fear, anger, sadness, disgust, joy and surprise. Joy is the only innate emotion that encourages cooperation, bonding and optimism. Surprise is a funny one, as it is neither negative nor positive - it is neutral. Surprise is the unexpected, so it causes a brief cognitive reset. Surprise is also where humour stems from; when someone slips on a banana skin, we laugh. We did not see that coming. 
Given our evolutionary inclination towards cynicism and negativity, it is even more important to cultivate a mindset of appreciation. 



Gratitude is not an emotion - it is a conscious disposition. We can take the view that life happens to us and is overwhelmingly unfair. Or we can accept that life happens. While we cannot always control our circumstances, we can influence the way we perceive these circumstances. The quality of our lives is inherently shaped by what we choose to notice. 

Oscar Wilde famously defined a cynic as "a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing" in his 1892 play, "Lady Windermere's Fan". Comparison measures our lives, while gratitude helps us appreciate the value in them. 

Gratitude is an attitude.