“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”
— Tony Robbins
Early in my career, I was given a very valuable piece of advice: “Read two books a month, and you will never lack for anything.” Being a practical guy, it made instant sense to me. More importantly, I did what we sometimes forget to do with good advice: I acted on it. Reading became a habit, and over the years, certain books and ideas have stayed with me long after I turned the last page. One of those books is You Are the One by Kute Blackson, and there is a story in it that struck a chord with me then and still does today.
Blackson describes a powerful experience from a trip to India. While making his way to the Bodhi Tree, the place associated with Buddha’s enlightenment, he encountered a group of beggars. Among them was a man wearing a blue sash and singing with such passion and beauty that Blackson stopped to listen. As he watched, he realized that the man was blind and had no limbs. Yet what stood out most was not what the man lacked, but the joy and gratitude with which he sang. Blackson wondered how someone facing such extraordinary circumstances could express so much gratitude. The man’s answer carried a simple but powerful message: Life may or may not give us what we want, but we can still choose what we give back to life.
WOW! That one hits you right in the heart, especially at this time of year. November brings Thanksgiving, a holiday built around gratitude, yet it’s easy to spend more time thinking about what we’re missing than appreciating what is already in front of us. We work hard and naturally expect rewards, praise, success and recognition. When things go well, life feels great. But when they don’t, it becomes easy to blame, hold grudges, resist change or focus on everything that seems unfair. The truth is, we cannot control everything life puts in front of us, but we can control what we do with it. Gratitude doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect or ignoring hardship and disappointment. It means recognizing that even when life doesn’t look exactly the way we planned, there is still something worth appreciating, something worth learning and something worth giving.
One of my favorite sayings is, “Happy is the man who loves what he has.” Maybe that’s worth remembering as we gather around the table this Thanksgiving. Before thinking about what you want next, take a moment to appreciate what you already have: the people beside you, the experiences that shaped you, the challenges you made it through and the opportunities still ahead. You don’t have to wait for life to be perfect to be happy, and you don’t need everything on your wish list to be grateful. Show the world who you are, flaws and all. Give life the best version of yourself and appreciate the journey while you’re on it. This Thanksgiving, perhaps the greatest thing we can bring to the table isn’t something we cooked or bought. It’s gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ralph
