Any holiday season week-end can find the lonely, or the alone, facing dire circumstances - real or imaginary. Sadly, the joy and outward satisfaction of others tends to magnify their own perceived inadequacies.
So much dissatisfaction can come from focusing on what we don’t have that we tend to forget to acknowledge and value what we do have, skewing our whole outlook.
Don’t get me wrong - I know there is a lot wrong in the world. Far too many people are losing their homes because of bad loans, while even more people have no job at all. And, worse still, in an era of so-called peace, far too many young people are dying in too many bad wars.
Even during my most financially challenging and emotionally discouraging days - juggling with a corporate job and working on my own ambitious side-lines - on any given day I knew that I was blessed. I was, thank the Lord, free of disease. I could see, hear, and had all my limbs.
I am blessed to have family and friends who love me, and living in relative safety with all the trappings of modern living - so gratitude, to me, is not just an exercise in happy thinking, it goes much deeper than that. I remember reading somewhere: ‘Once we are above the survival levels, the difference between prosperity and poverty lies simply in our degree of gratitude.’
Achieving a dream takes hard work and perseverance, but life is too short to put off happiness until we have achieved our goal. In essence, with dreams, as with life, the journey is just as important as the destination.
So as you enjoy your warm bed or a meal in pleasant company, pause and be grateful for what and who is in your life right now. Seek that better future by all means, but stay firmly grounded in the here and now and savour the journey.
mgs322wds311209 mylesgee@eircom.net
