GRATITUDE - NEWLETTER 08

After almost a month after my adventurous last post, I am glad to inform you that I have settled to my rather mundane lifestyle. The pace of things have since generally slowed down in the bid to prepare for the final lap of my education and I have begrudgingly accepted that everything has an end. I promise it hasn't been too bad or terrible it's just been what I was expecting after my time away from my teeny tiny city. So while I might have no new fun stories to regal you with or any new adventure to share, I have decided to talk about something else. I still might have one last hurrah before we get to the work in September so fingers crossed and you know how they say it, never say never. 

You will probably look at today's title and wonder if it is thanksgiving in my part of the world. So yes even though I know it is not thanksgiving until a few months, gratitude is something I think should be practiced in our daily lives. I often think about how many things I have complained about in the past and what my reaction has been after it got fixed. It almost looks like this; first it is a struggle with your underpaid job and boom you land a better opportunity. Then it is something about not having enough time to go about other things since you got the better job and there goes another round of complaints. Then you get the time to do these other things but you start to look for a better paying job again after a year. A more familiar cycle might be getting an answer to a prayer and you moving on from it without thanking God for that one thing he did and asking for something else gain in a few weeks. If you catch my drift or what I am trying to explain at this point - it is always one thing or another and us failing to remember where we even started from. How many times have you asked and asked and asked and. never thought of giving back? Now think of how one-sided it looks if you are other to take and ask and not give back.

A bunch of people in the western world think gratitude is overrated and you will marvel at how weird people react to 'thank you's' and appreciative remarks every once in a while. I remember how someone I kept thanking every time he chauffeured us round a new city said 'what are you thanking me for'. It was the shock fo my life and a very embarrassing situation because I felt smart aleck in the emidst of other people. This was someone in a position of authority that managed to show up and wait for us to get ready to leave almost every morning and night. I since learned not to be overly thankful and just smile in worst case scenarios if someone did something for me. Coming from my part of the world where, my parents instilled a gratitude-attitude from a very early age and things people did for me or gave me was revered I have devised a means of thanking people by paying forward kind acts and services. I remember just thinking one day to myself that If I don't ever feel indebted to God for all the best things he gives me or does for me why do I need to ever feel that way with people. I mean it is easier said than done but I am learning everyday that a better outlook to these things, is being kind all round and sharing love to everyone your path comes across.  Even the dictionary defines gratitude as the quality of being thankful and the readiness to show appreciation and to return kindness. A deeper reflective meaning is pausing to notice and appreciate things we take for granted for even the simplest of things like having food to eat, water to drink or a place to live. Take it from me, spending time in larger cities means you get to see a ton of homeless people who live fro hand to mouth literally. Think of it this way, you are being kind to ten other people because just one person did something great for you.I see no better way to live life than this. I remember this one thing on my bucket list from about two years ago;

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  CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE FOR THE BETTER - Scratch that, I want to change lives. I want to be the reason people give life another chance and come back from their setbacks stronger. I want to preach love and act love and be love. I want to die happy knowing I left my footprints in the sands of time where no amount of water or wind can take that away. It doesn’t matter if I have to sacrifice so much I just want to do it right 

Gratitude should be a lifestyle and not just an act you think you owe to someone at a particular time for what they do or did for you. It should be first in your service to God and then man or whatever order is most comfortable for you. I found out something cool last year and started mine this year: a gratitude jar. Often times we are not able to express how grateful we are for the many blessings in our life but a good way to collect every of these moments is writing something you are grateful for everyday and sharing it with someone or not. Most people are encouraged by the things we experience good or bad and a service of gratitude to God will definitely be met by sharing how he comes through for you. I might not be writing something every day or every other day in it but i started slow by writing and acknowledging every answered prayer. I stopped complaining about things that did not work out and saw them as a blessing in disguise and still thanked God for them. It is more freeing for your life and spirit and I promise that the anxiety that stems from the worry of things working out or not will is curbed. All you have to figure out daily is if you are living in an answered prayer and if you are thankful enough for it. I bet most of the time, the answers are YES and YES. Even the best of us still struggle with being grateful enough so its totally fine if you think you have taken too many things for granted till now. But this is your chance to change your outlook on these things and spread more love. 

August is slow on some days and faster on other days but I hope it has been a joyride for you. I hate and dread the rush that I feel coming in September so forgive me in advance if I fail to check in with you early enough. I cannot believe we're 3 and a half months short of the new year. Just WOW

Yours in Love

Helen Damilola 💚