2020 Hasn’t Given Us Many Chances to Express Gratitude but Life Is Always Filled With Blessings to Be Thankful For.
It’s easy to write off a time in your life, or a year (er hem cough 2020) as a rotten time. To sink into a heap of despair and say that nothing is worth being grateful for, and everything is wrong and bad and horrible, is wrong. But the only thing that would be truly wrong…is you!
The truth is that at any given time, with some accurate perspective you will realise that there is far more going right than wrong. Living with a grateful outlook helps you keep perspective and remain positive despite some bumps or twists in the road. Because after all, without a few challenges, life would be no fun! You might be pleasantly surprised what we at Alux are most grateful for, so read to the end.
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Here’s one thing you can be grateful for… not having to read a long listicle right now. Watch the video version of this article here:
With that in place, let’s get to the number 1 item on today’s list…
1
Your Heartaches
Ask any singer or poet or artist what their greatest inspiration is, and most will tell you it’s their heartache. It’s our ability to love, and care and break and recover that makes the lightness of life so worth living for.
We aren’t moulded and refined from the good times, they barely teach us anything. It’s the hard times, the struggles and the heartache that help to define the wonderfulness in us. They remind us what we don’t want to be, or how great life can be when we can’t feel it in that moment.
Thank your heartache for the hard times, and see the wonderful lessons it brings.
2
Health
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that health is central to our existence. Health brings freedom, and living in sickness is like a cage. Even if you aren’t the healthiest person, or have the most ripped body or perhaps have parts missing, praise your body for the wonderful machine that it is.
For all the incredible processes it maintains every second. Being grateful for our body leads to a natural pattern of treating it better and in turn increasing that health status. Be grateful for the freedom of the health you have.
3
Family and Friends
The Africa proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” is so completely accurate. Especially considering that our inner child is always with us, so we never stop needing our friends and family. These relationships are one of the greatest gifts of the human experience.
Even if your family is a motley crew, or maybe you have a chosen fam of friends, be thankful you have them. Because somehow, it’s a bond that supports us even in the most difficult circumstances knowing we can always go home.
4
Human Invention
God bless human invention and all the tasks it makes easier. Imagine still needing to buy a stamp and post a letter to get a message to a faraway friend, then wait for their reply. Or bridle up a horse to go to the gym! Or gym for that matter!
Thank goodness we have streamlined, fast tracked and removed so much risk through invention. It’s the innate spirit of problem solving in us that is such a gift and is an easy one to be grateful for. Just pick up your remote and feel some joy!
Without science, we wouldn’t at all be as progressive as we are today. Check out the 10 Most Expensive Science Experiments.
5
Life and The Universe
If you really want to feel like a winner and feel a mountain of gratitude, just take a minute to think of your mere existence being possible. You won a lottery ticket when the chances of success were 1 in 102,685,000 . That’s a 10 followed by 2,685,000 zeroes chance of you being born!
Then through all the chaos and craziness you have stayed alive to be here in this exact moment. Clearly you are a survivor and meant to be here.
When you consider the wild and intricate construction of the whole universe it’s a complete marvel that we are the fortunate ones who made it through this random chaos and order of a hot mess and are alive today. Just that is enough to shout from the roof tops in gratitude every day.
When our problems overwhelm us, and we wonder what the value is of our lives, remember this, and give yourself the perspective of an astronaut, when you look back at planet earth from a distance – it is one unified place.
Minor problems don’t rock it from its perfect spin. Discomforts we face don’t break its stride. You get a glimpse into the eternity of the picture, that being part of this system everything will keep turning and working out. After all that is the grand design of it all.
6
The Small Things
There is nothing quite like a crisp Sunday newspaper, or a perfect summers day, or finding money in your jacket. In all these things take a minute to appreciate the gift. It’s the small things that make every day worth being grateful for.
So next time your house plant springs a new leaf, or you have the perfect cup of tea, or a friend text just when you are thinking of them, remember how great the quiet small moments are and be thankful.
7
The Big Things
Word to the big days, the huge moments that go down in history in our lives. The ones that make the picture frames and that warrant a printed photobook. The graduations, anniversaries, new babies and first days of schools. The days that make us smile until our cheeks hurt, and swell with pride.
These are the bright lights in the timeline of our life, that cast brightness on the everyday. Enjoy the pay-off for the hard work or the everyday struggles, and take time to be present for these moments in your life.
Stick around to find out what we are most grateful for, it’s a pretty big thing.
8
The Internet
Hail the internet, without it 2020 would have felt like solitary confinement. We can’t help but be grateful for the simplicity, ease of access, entertainment and connectedness this great human invention offers us.
The internet has also begun a path of bringing the world together, of liberating us from our differences and offering us insight into the abundance of similarities between cultures and locations…and we’re not just talking about the effects of Match.com!
9
Pets
Having pets are one of the major advantages of the human experience. It’s what sets us apart from the rest of the animals on the planet. The fact that we can adopt another species and care for it like it’s a member of the family is a uniquely human trait.
And what a trait it is, the joy and comfort pets bring us is the ultimate reward for coming home from a hard day in the office. No matter how much money you have in your bank account, or how many matches you get on Tinder, your pet will always think you are number 1.
10
Your Single Days and Your Partnered Days
If you’re feeling down in the dumps for not having a partner then listen up. This is just a temporary season, most of us end up coupled up. So take a minute to appreciate all the good things about being single. Like all the shaving that is unnecessary, all the snack sharing you aren’t obliged to do and all the scheduling you don’t have to check with anyone on.
You can spend time bettering yourself, spending money on yourself and choosing any travel destination your budget allows without having to consider a second party.
On the contrary if that just made you long for your single days but you’re in a committed relationship, consider how lucky you are. How great it is to have someone to come home to, to know you can share your joys and disappointments with, someone who adores you regardless. And be grateful for having a hand to hold that is holding yours back in this wild and wonderful chaos of life.
11
Your Senses
Aren’t our senses just a complete marvel? As kids, we spend lots of times touching, smelling, looking or listening with such great contentment. But as adults we tend to only take a minute to appreciate taste, while the rest kind of fade into the mundanity unless they stop working.
The sheer design of our senses to constantly feed us the information we need to navigate the world is worth being grateful for. But also the joy we get from all the sights and sounds of life through the day is worth a moment or 3 of gratitude.
12
Your Education
No matter what schooling you got, take a minute to be grateful for it. Education doesn’t end at school though, it includes the knowledge you have access to including YouTube, reading and even conversations. If you have a hunger for knowledge you will educate yourself wherever you go because you understand the true value of learning.
At Alux we value continued learning so if you’re looking for a new avenue to up skill yourself, take a look at our latest course all about Cryptocurrency.
13
Nature
Nature is an unstoppable force. As much as we credit ourselves for causing climate change, this will only inconvenience us in the long term, nature has always been here and always will. No matter how built up the area is you live in, nature will be busting out and beatifying it in every nook and cranny it can get a tiny foothold in.
Something we can be ever grateful for is that being in nature is our default and we will always find wonder and calm when we revert back to her company. It’s hard not to bust out in thanks for trees or birds when you spend a minute or two entertained by their very presence.
14
Access to Knowledge
Take a minute to try to fathom just how much access to information you have at this very minute. I know we mentioned the internet and education. But isn’t it just incredible that pretty much every bit of knowledge, theory and fact we might need is available at our finger tips. We’re the only generation who has ever had this gift. It’s hard to plead ignorance on anything when we have access to so many smart minds to be grateful for.
15
All That You Have
Let’s go back to the basics. If we have to be real we all have a lot. We have some form of a home. We have meals, clothes, transport and for the most part access to an income. And the working class has the most freedoms we have ever had. We’re in the most privileged position in history, it’s a great time to be alive. Give some thanks!
Question
What are you most grateful for?
