In my last piece, “I Know I Can (Do It)”, I spoke a bit about my East Coast trip. In this piece, I would like to write about a practice that I started doing leading up to the trip: practicing gratitude.

I am constantly on the look for practices or ideas that can help me to update my “operating system.” My “operating system” is a sum of everything that directs among other things what I do, why I do it, what I think and I think it. Among these various influences is Stoicism, which I wrote about in my mission statement, “Hello World”. In it, I wrote about how I tangentially discovered it through Tim Ferriss. What drew me to it was it’s emphasis on accepting circumstances for what they are, as well as acting on what is under your directing control to help nurture your “happiness,” although contentment might be a better word.

In the Daily Stoic’s piece, “The Daily Art of Giving Thanks,“ it quoted Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations,

“All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.6

Then, there is, also, a passage from Epictetus’ Discourses that, also, speaks on gratitude:

“It is easy to praise providence for anything that may happen if you have two qualities: a complete view of what has actually happened in each instance and a sense of gratitude. Without gratitude what is the point of seeing, and without seeing what is the object of gratitude?” — Epictetus, Discourses, 1.6.1–2

My life is far from “perfect,” which I don’t even know what that really means anyway. I have most of what I need: a loving family, an adequate house to house it, a loving family and other close people, food, clothes, a job and a car to take me to where I need to go. These are the things that matter to me and for which I am grateful.

Yes, circumstances don’t always work for me in the way that I wish. It never does for everyone all of the time. However, I made the conscious, ongoing decision to focus on the things that are going my way even if they might be few. Especially on the days, when it seems that everything is going wrong and the world seems like it’s imploding around you, this practice, built up over time, can be a lifesaver.

My hope for you, as it is for me, is that instilling this practice into your day and developing it will help you to focus on what matters, so that you can accomplish the great things that you are capable of doing, but haven’t done yet.

BE MORE GRATEFUL, REFOCUS AND GET AFTER IT.