After reading the morning paper, I checked my email. Three people sent me editorials and meditations that focused on approaching life with a positive attitude, suggesting we all actively focus on the positive, rather than the negative, especially in our current political climate. We’re not to ignore the many problems that face us, but each article suggests that our attitudes and how we approach something are all important. Negativity breeds negativity. On the other hand, being positive doesn’t necessarily solve our problems, but it does make it easier for us to find solutions. One author suggested that we try to see the world through a child’s eyes, a child who has little concern for politics and such stuff, but can spend endless time watching an ant or laughing in delight when a squirrel performs its upside-down acrobatics at the bird feeder. I heartily agree with everything they wrote. After all, I have long touted the positive effects of gratitude. It’s our deliberate choice to focus on generosity, kindness, gratitude, and respect that will make all the difference in how we experience life, these authors suggested. As my husband was fond of saying, perception is reality.
We take so much for granted, especially what others do for us. We simply assume that clerks will wait on us, that people will obey stop signs and stop lights, that shelves will be stocked, that our internet will work, that the garbage will be picked up, that our food will be safe…. Yet all of these things take people and effort, and we do ourselves a disservice as well as those who serve us in some way when we take them for granted. It is always a good time to resolve to say thank you to those who assist you in some way. And there is something absolutely gratifying about seeing someone perk up and sparkle when receiving a compliment or being thanked.
The author of a recent article I read talked about what he called “greed-flation.” I like that word as it describes this country’s current measure of success…becoming filthy rich. We’ve returned to the Gilded Age with all of the social problems and inequities that were produced at the end of the 19th century. Yet yesterday I listened to a podcast discussing a Harvard study on happiness. It discussed the longest study on happiness that’s ever been attempted and followed a large group of people since 1939. Surprisingly, nowhere on their list of things that have made people happy was excessive wealth. In fact, the excessively wealthy tended to be more unhappy than those barely making ends meet, as the single most important thing contributing to overall happiness, they found, is our relationships with others. We experience more joy from sharing our resources and selves with others than we do in accumulating. Greed does not make us happy. In fact, greed creates anxiety and fear of loss.
As the prayer in our bulletin recently read, “Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe. “ And to that I would like to add, ‘Let gratitude shape everything we see and do so that we might experience the joy that flows from a truly grateful heart.”