My mother frowned at ingratitude. She made her intention known as far as I can remember. Saying “Thank you” and repeating the phrase “Thank you for yesterday mummy” was a norm. Throughout my childhood, I repeated these phrases many times. It was an abomination not to utter those phrases on waking the morning after my mother bought you anything. We never questioned this notion, that was just the way it was.

Gratitude is not just saying “thanks”, it is far more than that. Gratitude is appreciating NOW, it is appreciating human in general, it is appreciating your situation no matter how bad it might be. It is saying to yourself that you are worth living. It is one of the ingredients to a sustainable life.

However, the challenges of life can sometimes make us forget life little miracles. We sometimes forget the worth of people that truly love us. We ignore the beauty of waking up in the morning. We forget the meaning of a genuine smile. We forget to notice the tweeting of the bird. We forget the importance of living and surviving. Most importantly we forget to appreciate ourselves and the people around us.

We are easily carried away by our emotions and our needs. We search blindly forgetting to give gratitude on where we were and what we have become. In our lust to match up with the society, we sometimes lost our minds. We lost the purpose of living. We lost love and hope. We, however, gain selfishness, ingratitude and emptiness. We see no goodness in people, we lost touch, we lost trust and we develop a little hatred for everything in our lives. (more…)