2012 ~ To Live In Gratitude

Another year has passed and we are greeted by yet further political strife in the first week of the new year. How we wish the new year would be brighter than the previous, colourful and with less dark shades of grey. With the impending general election comes with it; the hope for a positive change for all of us. On the personal-front, most of us would take the opportunity to invoke our list of resolutions to close the chapter of the previous year and to hopefully achieve betterment for ourselves in the year ahead.


Being rational-thinkers, well,  I would love to think we're it at most times; we don’t think we are perfect and we don’t always get it right but we try to be as good and to live life as decent as we could be. And how could we be so perfect when ever so often we mutter the words seeking divine intervention, “Dear Lord, pray for us.” I think that being not able to manage to live up to our own words and actions all the time without the support of a Higher being; it invokes spirituality in us not to seek miracles in life, but rather to encourage ourselves to think about our attitude, about the way we look at life. It’s about having a positivity of life. Rather than letting the door to our heart get choked up with the weeds of worry, of bitterness, fear, hatred, anger. Giving in to those strangling weeds would make us like the poor characters in a tropical paradise where it is always sunny but never perpetually joyful. Thus my resolution for the year ahead would be “be patient... rejoice always... have gratitude in all circumstances, not quenching the spirit”. This is a bid for a non-cynical attitude, a positive outlook as we greet the Water Dragon. Being the emotional and sometimes highly irrational human beings that we are, we might think that there are some circumstances where there is nothing that we can give thanks for. With the world and country's finances where they are and personal finances plus the ongoing political clout for many people giving concern, we might think it is all pretty bleak – how can there be any cause of thankfulness?! We certainly need inner resource to counter all the negativity.


To live in constant gratitude, I am always reminded by a story that I once heard and now hold dear in memory of a group of prisoners who were imprisoned in a camp during World War Two in China. One day they found a small berry plant growing through the fence of the prison and one of them suggested that the person who counted the most blessings in that day would be privy to the first small piece of fruit. The next evening, people in this horrible environment came together with dozens of blessings including moments of wonder and small kindnesses they had been shown by others. These lists of blessings encouraged them all in the toughest time.


To live in Gratitude is to live in appreciation of the blessings that we are constantly given. We ought not the need to make a great show of our lives. The light in us need only be testified through the appreciation of situations around us. We don’t need to do that in a blaze of glory but in our own humble way; well aware that we determine our karma/destiny. In giving up our seat in the Lrt to someone laden down with bags, to letting a car out at a junction, to smiling at someone who bears a worry-frown, stopping for a cup of tea and a chat with a loved-one who doesn’t get listened to, making a small contribution whenever our pockets are less deep to a homeless charity, will augur postively to the wellbeing of our divine-self.


Whatever your resolution(s) for the year ahead is,
I wish you well.







"Walk on a trail of loving kindness
Walk on a path of compassion
And all else around you will be beautiful."
Every Blessing