We often hear that we should have gratitude gratitude for our life. And this, of course, is true. I should be grateful that I was able to wake up this morning, and this is especially true. If you’re old like I am for instance, even though I don’t feel old, my body is aging, of course. But that said, we are told that we should have this gratitude for being me.
And then additionally, each and every day that my path is clear. I don’t have to be packing the demons of yesteryear or yesterday for that matter going forward. But I would like to give you a slightly different spin, if you will, on this idea of gratitude. I think that we actually should acknowledge, identify that I am alive. Me.
The person known as me to myself. I am alive and I am awake. But that’s all I get, baby. That’s all I get. I just get me, this set of givens.
I am a man. I am 68. I do have two children, a certain amount of money, certain amount of intelligence, etcetera. We all have the givens. And then the acknowledgement part means that now it’s really truly no joke up to me.
Acknowledgement number one. Life is not fair. It’s just not fair. When we finally come to, when we gain consciousness at about 20 or so, we immediately realize that there are better looking people than me. Sad to say, but it is true.
Smarter people than me, also for sure, Also true. And inevitably, on the wealth scale, when that wealth scale, of course, goes to the stratosphere, there are people always wealthier than me. But I acknowledge that there is no one like me. No one. There never will be and there never has been.
Now to get to work. But at the very onset, I think that I will be terrified of this freedom. Absolutely petrified. I can barely get out of bed because I don’t know what to do. And yes, I am on the academic path.
Sure. That’s fair enough. Most of us are. And I do come from a nice family. Okay.
Great. And it goes on and on and on. But how am I going to bring forth my individuality? The me that exists inside of me as that unique person? Well, I think firstly, once again, after I acknowledge that I’m awake, I now must realize that I’m going to constantly evolve.
I’m going to constantly strive to be a better person. And here I must adopt an axiom, I believe. Always excellence. Why not? In other words, whatever I attempt to do, I should realize that I’m doing my very best or realize that I haven’t done my very best, but I could have.
So I must acknowledge this. Then I say to myself, if I’m a positive individual in this world of pain and suffering, I’m going to do a lot better. It’s going to be a lot easier to go forth in life if I can think in this way. Right? And then ultimately, I can’t control everything.
I can control, however, the things that I can control. There are things within my power. My thoughts, my action, my grooming, my schooling, my efforts, these are within my control. And I must, of course, set a plan. And then once I have a plan, I must implement that plan.
I must implement that plan. And I must have this constant self understanding that I must acknowledge that I’m alive. I’m conscious. Now I’m not sure if you’re conscious, but I know that I am. This, I think at least, develops into a type of self love, not a self vanity.
There are some people that are narcissists, of course, and they get carried away with their beauty or their money or their power or their sex or God knows what else. Very foolish in the long scope of life for sure. Because ultimately, the only person I really have to be true to is me. Now people such as Jordan Peterson, of course, also suggest that I should look for a partner in this quest for knowledge in my life. The acknowledgment of my life.
I should look for a partner because a partner will help me and I will help him or her. We will guide each other with the realization that this partner rather tragically may go away. They may go away someday with perhaps life life is mortal for sure or perhaps the relationship will end. But the experience will stay in my mind, won’t it? It will stay with me forever if I want.
Then, of course, happiness is something I give myself on a daily basis. You know, I went to a yoga conference in India A Number Of Years ago and the guru there said, and I never forget this. When you wake up in the morning, you can decide whether it’s going to be a good day or a bad day. It is truly up to you. And of course, as I’ve often said, some days I wake up, I perhaps had bad dreams, haven’t slept well, forgot to do my homework, etcetera.
And it’s a bad day. And I’m not going to artificially create a good day when it’s supposed to be a bad day. But I still create that day, don’t I? And once again, you can be your best friend at that point or not. You really can.
You know, I often wonder to myself about the people who are charming and good looking. Perhaps they’re famous. Perhaps they’re rich. And they don’t acknowledge their gifts, their beauty. Now some of them, of course, become famous for a period of time.
But the suffering that is associated with so so many people makes you question why you wouldn’t have taken that step further and just acknowledge the gifts that you received and did not suffer over them. Now many people descend into alcoholism or drug addiction or bad relationships, you know? And why is this? Because this does not have to be. Once again, each and every day, your path is clear.
It’s really up to you what you want to do with all of this. Put life in perspective. The small moments are sometimes the biggest moments, aren’t they? They really are. The other day, I’m taking a shower and there was a tiny fly moving around at the very top of the shower where the steam was.
And I thought to myself, wow. That little life is still going on. Right? And that fly, of course, can’t acknowledge that he’s a fly in the same way that I can acknowledge that I’m a human being. For sure.
So the next time someone tells you, you should be grateful for your life. Acknowledge that you have received this gift of life in the cosmos with the bugs, the bees, the ants, the stars, the sun, etcetera, you somehow were given you. Acknowledge that you’re this treasure, this gift, this raw diamond and then get to work on you. And if you do, if you get on the path, you will acknowledge that it’s not a short life. It is a very, very, very, very long life.
But you must enjoy the journey and find some level of contentment because it exists. It is there for sure. So acknowledge your gifts. And you know what they say. You know what they say.
Critical thinking is everything, especially when you want to acknowledge the reality that you occupy and critical thinking is, of course, great. Truly great. You take care. God bless. Bye bye.