Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Always Grateful

Always Grateful

I think that being always grateful is a choice (like patience).

This point came up with a friend of mine some years ago and he was appalled where my mind was capable of going.

If I remember correctly, he said something along the lines of: “Things just couldn’t get any worse.”

I nearly laughed. “Of course they can.”

She make have broke your heart but…

  • You didn’t get mad, kick the curb and break your foot.
  • You didn’t find out your mom has cancer today.
  • You didn’t wreck your car tonight.
  • And you didn’t get home to find your house burned down, and your dog is dead.

He looked at me like I was crazy, but the point is that we pick which side we look at.

Are you grateful for what you have? Or wallowing in what you don’t?

Your choice.

“Yeah, Jones told me that,” Baker said. “I keep saying it, you know . . . the part about living indoors? I need to remember that. I feel better when I do.” Jack agreed. “That is a human absolute. We all feel better when we are grateful. There is great wisdom in understanding that no matter the situation, there is always something for which we can choose to be grateful.”

-Andy Andrews, The Noticer Returns

For Granted

For Granted

Let’s stop taking anything about this life for granted.

Don’t let your world have to fall apart for you to open your eyes for the first time.

Sure there is tragedy everywhere and sure everyone has something better.

But look at your life right now. Look at what’s right in front of you.

I could be wrong, but my guess is that large parts of it are devastatingly beautiful.

There is grace in the provisions we are given.

And there is meaning in the relationships we forge.

In fact, there is little else.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, as I often did, I’d walk from one room to another to gaze at my sleeping husband tangled in the sheets and my daughters surrounded by their stuffed animals, all safe. I had everything I could possibly want—yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I too often failed to comprehend the splendor of what I had. I didn’t want to keep taking these days for granted. The words of the writer Colette had haunted me for years: “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” I didn’t want to look back, at the end of my life or after some great catastrophe, and think, “How happy I used to be then, if only I’d realized it.”

-Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

Sterling Terrell