There are countless articles and TED Talks about how gratitude is the key to a happier life or even a longer life. Basically, we can be grumpy or we can be blessed.
Yesterday, I went to practice in my single scull. The wind was from the southwest and that was against the tide. The wind was not strong but being against the tide it was not my favorite. I thought, maybe I should just go to the gym. NOPE! Life ain’t perfect and the water isn’t always going to be either. I decided to take a bumpy ride in my single.
I launched my little shell under a blue Carolina sky and I set my intention to appreciate the less than perfect conditions of my practice. The gulls were laughing and the fish were jumping. They gave no thought to my concerns. In a few few strokes, I had fewer concerns. I rowed with the outgoing tide. That part was fun. I was moving fast.
At the end of our practice cove, I made my turn. My long skinny boat would have preferred to keep going with the current. The blades and boat argued with me about my choice to turn around. The wind picked up a bit. However once I got turned, the boat settled into the familiar water. Rowing with the wind and against the turning tide, I found the rhythm in appreciation that I could change direction and keep moving. The pace was not fast. I just kept moving. Also, if I had not kept moving, the water would have taken me where we didn’t want to go.
The row back was harder. The water really wanted me to go out to sea, but I knew the way home. My legs pressed the boat past the blades against the tide over and over. Finally, the dock was in view. One lap was better than no lap at all. I decided to call that my practice.
Back at the dock, as I was just getting my hands on to step out, a boat sped out of the nearby marina. The wake it created was like a tsunami coming to wash me and my shell over the dock. I braced my self to the boat and the dock. I held on. Will I get washed on to the dock? Will I get shoved under the dock? Will I fall out of the boat? The wake settled my shell grazed the side of the dock a little harder that I would have liked but no damage was done. I felt like I just went 8 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu.
Grievances were aplenty that day. But they were all about things that I had no control over once I decided to put my boat in the water. The gratitude that I felt was more. I am braver than I once was. I have learned where I can push my limitations and I know that there is more to push. I sculled suspended between sky and water. I chose my direction. And when the tsunami wake came, I stayed calm and I found a way to protect myself and my equipment.
This is life. Am I right? We stare at the decisions that we must make. We navigate through the consequences of those decisions and then we can be grateful for the rewards. We might have some grievances with some aspects of the journey, but we must always be ready to be grateful for the rewards. That is why we push through the things that are hard.
The rewards that bring gratitude can include, joy, relief, accomplishment and forgiveness.
I found joy in the blue sky. I felt relief with the boat safely turning in the agitated current. I felt accomplishment when I averted disaster at the dock. And I gave forgiveness for the boat driver that had not given any thought to the consequence of motoring out of the marina at full throttle.
There is no choice in life that will not bring us a little grief, but the most important choice we make is to find gratitude in the grievance. Seek your blessings and you will be blessed. Indulge your grievance and you will find grief. Be grumpy or be blessed. I recommend being consciously motivated to be blessed.