Exploring Possibilities: Science Of Gratitude, Be Thankful For The Bounties!
Today I am going to talk about the science of gratitude. It has 3 essential principles. These are extremely
easy to understand and practice. All it needs is cognisance and intention.
These three principles are
Recognize
Remember
Reciprocate
In the hustle and bustle of life, we all are doing things unaware, without being conscious and mindful of
what and how we do. We are not able to recognise the gifts and virtues bestowed upon us. We have
loving parents, children, spouses, teachers, amazing friends.
Our life is actually a collective sum total of lots of things that have been done to us by so many people. Do we remember a Doctor who used his skill and cured us or cured someone dear to us? Spiritual advisor, or a genuine neighbour who gave us guidance when we needed. Let’s recognise them. When we recognise these contributions we say Thank you, Dhanyavaad , shukriya.
Say this to all those who have made your life better. If you play the reel of your life since birth, you will get so many people to whom you will love to say thank you. Does anyone stop you…? Now once you recognise, its time to remember the goods which were done by those whom you recognise. When we talk about good things, unfortunately we have a very bad memory.
We strongly remember all those things and acts, through which others have been bad to us. Whatever we are today, there are sacrifices of so many people, who have gone beyond their limits to make this a better world.
Henceforth to remember the good done by those whom we recognise, becomes the second aspect of the science of gratitude.
Now one thing is extremely important to understand, don’t only say thank you, express that thank you, mean it. How many times do we say sorry, but do not mean it? So just don’t make a formality of it. Give it space in your profound senses. Your thanks which comes from deep within has a different voice and sound.
So till now you have recognised and remembered, let's learn about the next principle, reciprocate. We
can recognise those who have been good to us, remember their deeds and smile in solitude, but if we
can reciprocate, we can actually reward their sacrifices. Till now gratitude was just a word, deep feeling,
but once you reciprocate you convert gratitude into an action. It will be incredible to pay back the good
deeds, its about giving, sharing and living.
Gratitude is about memories. Its about our experiences. By having the attitude of gratitude we create a
great memory bank. In yogic science we call in "mano mai kaksha". A memory which creates great
experiences. It is said that a human being is made by his experiences, his nurture. With such grateful
memories one can carve a great person out of himself.
Not only a great personality, one can evolve a great character and a great life too. It will also help us to focus on positive and deal with the negative. I will summarise my article with a morning prayer of our school times, “count your many blessings and name them one by one, it shall surprise you what the Lord has done”
Let's be grateful, as gratitude is the attitude, which gives us the fortitude to deal with the toughest times. All the best and keep exploring possibilities…
(The author is a Certified Designed Thinking Master practitioner and Clifton Certified Strength Finder Coach, Corporate Trainer and a Leadership coach. He is based in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India.)