Last January while jogging I took a spectacular airborne skinned-knees-and-elbows fall. I looked like road kill. I heard a crack; I knew I had broken my ankle. It was painful, and minutes later sitting on the couch while still in pain, I started laughing and feeling intense gratitude. After 15 years as a conscious practitioner of gratitude, in that moment I knew I was onto something. I had built a strong gratitude muscle.
I did not like the reality of being awkward and moving slower and was grateful that it opened my eyes to how much gratitude had seeped into the rest of my life including the business world. That was the start of writing the book I had been working on for five years!
Why was I grateful that I broke my ankle? I didn’t get hit by a car as I was lying in the center of the road. I was grateful for my new husband and cell phones at that moment. I couldn’t put any weight on my ankle but could call my husband who came and picked me up. I was grateful he was at home. I was grateful I didn’t need to go to the emergency room. Even though I had moved to New Hampshire two years before, it was only a few weeks ago I had finally found a primary care physician. I was grateful I had just signed up for a quality health insurance plan that would cover most of the cost, unlike the poor plan that I had years ago that required me to pay over thirty-thousand dollars myself to cover an illness. I was grateful for the crutches in my basement that my sister had just stored there while she was moving.
I had just put David Bowie’s new CD Blackstar in my Amazon queue to purchase for my birthday that was in a few days. Sadly, David Bowie died that day. I was grateful to be alive on my birthday, Bowie wasn’t. Gratitude showed me what I had and didn’t have in that moment.
Pain and gratitude existed at the same time. Gratitude kept me calm. I even believe gratitude helped me to heal faster.
I’d love to hear, how has gratitude helped you?
This message of being grateful at times of misfortune is so poignant. When we experience the things life throws at us, I think we always have an option to be grateful. Gratitude has absolutely helped me in my life. When I was deep in depression over 10 years ago, I couldn’t see the things I had to be grateful for. I had lost both parents within 3 years, I had lost a brother to a sudden illness. I was not happy with the way my life was going. Today, however, I’m so grateful for that time in my life. Grateful I was strong enough to move past it. Grateful I was wise enough to see that I had choices. Grateful I had a job that allowed me to leave an unhealthy marriage. Grateful the divorce was amicable. Grateful for the deaths of loved ones to wake me up to how precious and precarious life really is and it was time for me to start living! The list really goes on and on. Thank you, Star.
Monique thank you for a moving and heartfelt reply and for you! Wow, what a time in your life. Amazing to me too, how much gratitude helped me heal during a difficult time and once I saw it’s power, I kept it closer and used gratitude more and more… till I noticed how much it had spilt over in all areas of my life.