I despise feel good claptrap like this.
I read The Secret once in high school and I guess it helped me through the week I took 13 AP tests, because reading it was preferable to cramming my AP Bio text into a blender and consuming the contents orally.
Still, I resented the fact that something like that could be so *easy*, and that people would ceaselessly share inspirational quotes from that damn book as if they were gospel.
However, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts lately (Caucasian alert!) and the host (Joey Diaz) spoke about how he’d wake up early in the morning and write a gratitude list, starting with expressing gratitude that it was a beautiful day to be alive.
The guy’s survived prison, divorce, and years of traumatic life setbacks, so when someone like that provides advice, you listen.
And as if the synchronicity wasn’t real enough – The Secret popped up on my Twitter feed (we are just going full-on country club this morning) and sure enough, the recommendation was to write a list of what you’re grateful for, starting with the most basic, banal things (roof over your head, etc).
I guess it’s a good a time as any, because I have everything I could possibly want in life (a place to live, family, friends, love, car(s), and so on) and the future will just be continuing, growing, and multiplying upon those.
I’m grateful I have a roof over my head, grateful I have family who cares, grateful I have meaningful and helpful friendships, grateful I’m loved and in love, and grateful I have enough cars to start a regional dealership. I’m grateful I have good health, and I’m grateful to be alive.
It feels so strange and silly to say those things aloud, like sketching in an adult coloring book.
But remarkably, I do feel better. I feel centered, I feel a little less anxious. I feel like the unyielding string of thoughts springing down my mind’s highway has reached a comfortable stop. I’m not living 30 minutes or 3 hours ahead, I’m here and in the moment.
And it feels good.
Maybe if I did this more often, I’d have happiness to be grateful for.
