We most often only realise that we’re ungrateful for a blessing that we have when it’s too late.
That’s when regret sets in and either spurs us on to improve our awareness of what we should be grateful for, or it makes us bitter for the loss that we experienced.
Gratitude is something that no one can instil in us.
Others may be able to give us something to be grateful for, but they can’t insert that gratitude into our hearts.
Gratitude is therefore something that we must connect with through our own way of valuing what we have.
But, valuing what and who we have in our lives becomes difficult, if not impossible, if we believe that we’re entitled to what they offer.
If we reduce the contribution of others to simply bring their duty, or the expectations of the role that they fulfil, we’ll inadvertently diminish our own value to simply being one of duty and responsibility as well.
We see ourselves through the same lenses that we use to judge the contribution of others in our lives.
When we regret the loss of something or someone because we took it for granted, we need to pause and reflect how much of who we are do we take for granted.
What do we recognise as cherishable traits or attributes about ourselves that we must nurture and protect from contamination?
Or do we take who we are for granted because we’ve grown so accustomed to trading and transacting with those around us?
This happens when we believe that what we do for others deserves reciprocation because we need something from them.
That’s how we lose sight of who we are, and the value that we are capable of creating in the lives of those around us because we want them to experience that value, and not because we need something from them in return.
You can’t give what you don’t have. That’s why ingratitude towards others begins with ingratitude towards yourself.
It always starts with you.
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Ingratitude starts with you
