“If you see no reason 
for giving thanks, 
the fault lies only in yourself.” 
~ Tecumseh

On December 23, 2006, I launched my first blog — Attitude of Gratitude. Over the next sixteen years, I penned approximately 2,000 posts about the people, things, and experiences for which I am grateful in my life. On November 9, 2022, I put that blog to rest and created A Beacon of Light. My purpose in doing so was to provide a forum on which I could write about topics other than simply gratitude. In the past eight months, my blog posts have touched on a variety of topics. Today, I would like to return to the theme of gratitude. 

As I said so often in my posts on Attitude of Gratitude, I have much for which to be grateful. My life may not be perfect, but when I step back and look at myself from a distance, I cannot help but be overwhelmed by the amazing people who have enriched my life. I cannot help but be grateful for the plethora of “things” which have helped me to live a productive and enjoyable life. And I cannot help but be humbled and filled with gratitude for the countless experiences I have enjoyed in my almost seventy years of life.

Have I gotten everything I’ve wanted in my life? Absolutely not! And I supposed I could dwell on the things and experiences I didn’t have and feel deprived, but I don’t. In his book, How to Want What You Have, author Timothy Miller wrote, “Gratitude is the intention to count your blessings every day, every minute, while avoiding, whenever possible, the belief that you need or deserve different circumstances.” I’m sure it’s possible for anyone to envision a life better than that which they have. To do so, however, deprives us of the opportunity to be grateful for those things with which we have been blessed, and therefore, to be deprived of genuine happiness.

Dr. Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at U.C. Davis, is considered to be the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. In his book, Words of Gratitude, which he co-authored with Joanna Hill, he quoted cultural anthropologist Ralph H. Blum, who said, “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude — a quiet joy.” This might be one of the best-kept secrets about gratitude, one which, I would think, would benefit us all.

Back in 2006, when I began to focus on gratitude in my life, I made an effort to identify the people, things, and experiences for which I was grateful. In doing so, I lost sight of the people, things, and experiences I did not have in my life. This simple change in focus has, without a doubt, created a calmness and sense of contentedness in my life.

To live a life of gratefulness requires a bit of effort on our part. It’s so easy to focus on those things which we lack in our lives. There is a tremendous payoff, however, when we make the effort to focus on gratitude.

The words of the Greek philosopher, Epicurus, are as true today as when he spoke them. He said, “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”