Gratitude: The First Key to Living with Joy

 

Recently, an acquaintance of mine kept looking very upset and upset, so I asked him all the time why.

Then he said that he didn’t want to live.

I asked him again what was wrong with him.

But when I was in Mexico, I was the boss and went pretty well, but here in the United States, I’m doing this little thing… So there is no joy and it is not worth living.

Maybe it’s homesickness.

Looking at him, I thought of myself about 20 years ago as to learn a lesson.

 

I started a part-time job at a restaurant to earn pocket money as a student, and I met all sorts of people and went through all kinds of humiliation while working part-time here, and my fantasy was completely shattered, and I was always like what I used to be, and who am I? It was a life full of complaints and complaints… but fortunately, one thing I suddenly realized in this difficult environment shortly after was that there was no “thank you” in my mouth.

 

In Chapter 6 of Thessalonie’s Book, there is a Bible verse that everyone in Christianity knows and recites.

“Always be happy.

Don’t rest and pray.

Be thankful for every circumstance.”

 

It was a phrase that I muttered a lot, recited, and studied the Bible, but I couldn’t fully take root in my life.

But how can I always live with joy as this Bible passage says? How can I always be happy and happy? The difficulty of doing it has always remained a question mark in my life with my heart, not my head.

There is a movie called “Inside Out” that I watched with my children a few years ago, and it was very impressive. It was an insightful animated film about how each human emotion – pleasure, depression, anger, and shame – affects our lives and controls our lives. Of course, it is somewhat regrettable that the film is based on Freud’s psychology of “trauma” and develops a story, but it was a well-made animated film that is easy to understand how each emotion affects our daily lives.

The question I heard while watching the movie was how the character Joy (joy), the main character of the movie, was able to establish himself as the main emotion and lead other emotions well. This was because if it could be done like that, it could be much easier to practice the words “Always be glad” mentioned in the Bible verse above. It was because if that happens, our lives can always be happy, joyful, and happy.

Among those thoughts and concerns, the conclusion I found was not too far away.

It was just “thank you”.

Living a life that is always grateful for very small and trivial things.

 

Like Freud, I don’t force myself into my past life by introducing myself to the present, nor do I live today for my future existence. I want to face myself in this present moment, leaving behind all my objective and subjective evaluations and abilities of myself… It is to be grateful for all the little things around me and myself that exist in my environment and situation have given at the moment.

 

In the middle of our psyche is a tiny spring. This spring becomes a spring that flows through our lives with joy without drying up when I constantly fill it with the words and actions of “thank you.” However, if “thank you” disappears from the words and actions even for a moment, the spring dries up quickly at some point, and the joy disappears, and rather, it is quickly filled with the spring water of “complaints” and “complaints.”

Joy is due to gratitude. Whether or not to practice it is due to my subjective behavior. Therefore, it is up to me to choose and practice.

What kind of spring water is filled in my spirit’s spring now?