I like to think about gratitude as a “state of being”, but I am searching to learn how to keep myself in that “state” throughout the days and weeks. On tennessean.com I found an opinion piece by Bishop Joseph W. Walker III about gratitude. One particular point he made was:

Add up the things in your life that money cannot buy.

Money can buy you a bed, but not a good night’s sleep. Monday can buy you a nice steak from a great eatery, but cannot buy you an appetite. It can buy you a beautiful house, but not a loving home.

The Bishop reminds us that “thankfulness” is an intentional act. We are recipients of what we sometimes do not deserve. Sometimes we take our life for granted. Sometimes we become arrogant, or feel entitled. We may have unrealistic expectations. The Bishop accepts that it is ok to have needs and wants, but we must be careful of our own conditioning.

We cannot be in a “state of being” of thankfulness if we expect “gratuitous endowment”

I suppose this relates to the old saying, “be careful what you wish for!”

The Bishop informs us that it is staying in a “state of being” that will help us remain in that “state”. Simply, if we are only sporadically grateful then we think we have to do something, or something has to be done, while if we are always grateful we remove the focus on situations and circumstances; we remove pessimistic notions of what happened to me, or I am a victim today. We stop all the comparisons of what we do not have.

It’s a nice feeling, you know, to always feel grateful. Funny to learn that to always be in a state of gratitude is less stressful on us than to only be grateful here and there.

Minimizing stress is always helpful! Thank you Bishop Walker.

This is #gratitudeultra. See the post on February 28, 2021 for definitions of gratitude categories.