Gratitude is life’s most impactful emotion. It is the undercurrent beneath all other healthy emotions. Gratitude is not getting or having what we want or believe we need to be happy. It is instead paying attention to the blessings we have in our lives, expressing appreciation deeply. Gratitude promotes kindness toward others, toward the world. Practicing gratitude however is not always easy in our culture of commercialism. These TED talks bring home points to help promote the practice of gratitude in our lives.
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The Price of Invulnerability: Brene` Brown
Brene` Brown is humorous, poignant, intelligent, insightful, and one of the most motivational speakers. In this talk, Dr. Brown identifies the impact of numbing ourselves against vulnerability and pain, which also numbs us against joy and happiness. Our culture drives our vulnerabilities to the forefront, driving fears of the worst things happening. And in turn, encouraging us to buy products, drink, to find means to numb ourselves against those vulnerabilities. Losing sight of what will make us truly happy.
Embrace Vulnerability, Practice Gratitude
Dr. Brown sums up her talk by identifying that we must embrace vulnerability to truly be happy. To do this, we must practice gratitude:
“So to practice gratitude, to honor what’s ordinary about our lives, because that is what’s truly extraordinary. We can compete with the images from the media, from the news, from the scary shows on TV, with our own images of gratitude about what’s ordinary in our lives: The people we love; our kids; our family; play; our community; and nature. These are things that happen every single day that we’re so busy being afraid we’re missing these. So that’s, I think, the biggest thing, is to be grateful for what we have, to honor what’s ordinary.”
Look around you. Pay attention in your day to day. Practice the effort to stop moving and just be still. Say thank you for the small and ordinary. How happy ice cream makes a child. A dog greeting you at the door. Those seemingly insignificant events that occur throughout our day that we don’t notice but that leave a void when they are gone.
Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.: Louie Schwartzberg
This TED talk is the most beautiful ten minutes available on YouTube. Louie Schwartzberg shares part of his project called, “Happiness Revealed.” He shoots time-lapsed photography of nature. While the beautiful imagery is displayed, you hear the words of Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast. His powerful words are moving, urging us to pay attention to the beauty and uniqueness of each day. The gifts we possess when we just open our eyes. Cultivate the gratitude in your life. Be present. Open our hearts.
“Do you think this is just another day in your life? It’s not just another day, it’s the one day that is given to you. Today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.“
Send this link to someone you love. To someone who is struggling. Use his beautiful words to center yourself and shift your thoughts for the day.
Want To Be Happy? Be Grateful: David Steindl-Rast
Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk describes how gratitude happens. He defines happiness as gratefulness. That only when we become grateful do we experience happiness. When tragedy and suffering occur in our lives, that we are not grateful for it but that our gratitude has filled our reservoir to help us weather the suffering.
Brother Sreindle-Rast offers us wisdom on how to practice gratitude. He encourages us to “Stop, Look, Go.” That we must push back against the busyness of our lives and be quiet. You look, with all of yourself, your senses to open yourself to the world around you. Then we must go with the opportunity that is given to us, the good and the bad. He describes that “A grateful world is a world of joyful people. Grateful people are joyful people, and joyful people, the more and more joyful people there are, the more and more we’ll have a joyful world.” What would be better than that.
Happiness is born in gratitude.
How a Penny Made Me Feel Like a Millionaire: Tania Luna
Tania Luna offers a sobering representation on gratitude. That when we appreciate what we have, we are rich. How can you cultivate gratitude in yourself? Begin a practice that promotes mindfulness, to slow down the busyness, so that you can see. Take a few moments in the morning and throughout your day to stop and look. Write down everyday three things that you are grateful for. The small, ordinary, the everyday.
It will not be an easy shift. Work everyday to practice gratitude. Seek out ways to recenter yourself. Set your intention each morning to be aware. Begin a Gratitude Journal, write for just a few moments a day about those intentions and how you see your blessings. Research identifies that there are many benefits contributed to the practice of gratitude. These include better sleep, improved empathy, improved physical and mental health, and healthier self esteem. All from a simple practice of being thankful.
Wander well…