You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.
- G. K. Chesterton
I know a therapist here in Los Angeles who is charmingly warm but very frank. He specializes in treating depression. Over lunch this week, he shared with me that he has two categories of patients. First, you have those that are genuinely battling varying degrees of depression due to an experience as found with serving in the military or those who have a family history of depression and are genetically prone to experiencing symptoms. These cases make up the bulk of his patients.
"Then there are those who are simply ungrateful."
I couldn't believe it so I asked him to clarify. He shared with me that he has about two dozen patients who regularly come to him--paying his exorbitant hourly rate--to complain.
"Complain about what," I asked.
"Everything you can possibly imagine."
To sum up this topic of our conversation, these patients were miserable largely because they were ungrateful. They spent most of their time being negative, complaining about every detail of their day to day lives.
The prescribed treatment was actually very simply and something that many people do regularly, almost as second nature.
Take inventory of what you're grateful for.
Every day these patients had to keep a journal of what they were grateful for and, for most of them, the list gradually grew and positive change has and continues to take hold of their lives.
For others, misery seems to be their preferred companion.
Grateful Brand was created to serve as a reminder of the importance of being grateful, expressing this gratitude through positive messaging and acts of kindness.
So right Dane. I am grateful for everything I am fortunate to have and who I am. Did not used to be that way. I read a great book a few weeks ago for business, but it can be applied to everyday life. The name of the book is Change you questions,Change your life. It teaches one to go down the path of a "learner" vs. the"judger". I learned so much and how simple questions in a situation are always better than judging people and blaming others for not being grateful or successful. Yet another great post and topic. Thank you.
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