The Virtue of Gratitude . . .

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedom–to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances." - Victor Frankl

Have you ever stopped to wonder how some people are able to have such a positive attitude, where others do not? Some of the most impaired persons show us their inner strength by just loving to live. The secret to love—and a sense of joy and gratitude toward all life—is to see, feel, and hear as if it were the First Time. When we can live our lives as if it were always the first time—the first time we gazed upon the face of our beloved, the first time we tasted ice cream, the first time we saw a bird fly through the blue sky—we would not have to try to experience a sense of gratitude. It will be there, automatically, as a natural response to the beauty and the bounty.

If you want the habit of gratitude to grace your life, it is essential that you develop the belief you are here on Earth to fulfill some special purpose only you can offer to the world. You are an amazingly rare, totally unmatchable individual with talents and gifts the world anxiously needs. The more you experience the truth of your uniqueness and beauty, the more you will feel gratitude for your particular gifts, and the more you will be able to deliver those gifts.

It will help to realize the value of gratitude toward ourselves if we visualize our heart as a delicate treasure, hand-blown from the rarest ethereal glass. It is a treasure valuable beyond imagining—fragile, irreplaceable, priceless, and ancient. There is no other like it—infinitely precious, existing before time and after infinity.

In reality, we were entrusted with such a mysterious treasure when we were given the gift of life.

An attitude of gratitude gets us off the treadmill and out of the rat race. As we cultivate a true and deep appreciation for what we do have, we realize that our sense of lack is, for the most part, an illusion. No matter what the circumstances, the richness of our soul is ultimately what brings us true happiness.

Gratitude has to do with feeling full, complete, adequate—we have everything we need and deserve; if we approach the world with a sense of value.

Gratitude is an attitude that can be consciously chosen, no matter our circumstances. We have two options: We can focus on the negative and descend into a spiral of negativity and gloom, or we can choose to look at what is right in any given situation, and become a beacon of love and joy.

Let us focus on the positive and make a virtue of our attitude. With this positive attitude, We will not be disabled, but, will instead be able to lead the fullest of what life has to offer.