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It is only a great fool that will not be grateful

By Gbenga Adebambo
30 December 2017   |   2:36 am
When you take things for granted, the things you are granted, get taken”-Anonymous THERE is a hymn song that formed my early childhood and in no time became my favourite: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed. “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed; “When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost; “Count…

When you take things for granted, the things you are granted, get taken”-Anonymous
THERE is a hymn song that formed my early childhood and in no time became my favourite: “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed.

“When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed;
“When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost;
“Count your many blessings, name them one by one;
“And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done;
“Count your blessings, name them one by one;
“Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
“And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”

It is only a great fool that will not be grateful. A few days ago, I was struggling hard with what to write for today, suddenly it dawned on me that the best way to end the year would definitely be with gratitude.

I began to count my blessings until I lost count of them. When you truly begin to count your blessings, you will lose all your complaints.

I have decided to put the readers in gratitude mode and I am in no doubt that this is the best way to end the year.

Abu Bakr said: “He who avoids complaint invites happiness.”

If you want to evaluate a man’s mental state, look at his attitude of gratitude. A man that is mentally healthy believes strongly that there is always something to be thankful for.

Hal Elrod said: “Love the life you have, while you create the life of your dreams.”

It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy.

Gratitude is an essential component in living a fulfilling and abundant life and aligning yourself to receive all the good the universe has to offer.

Naomi Williams said: “It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.”

We must look for platforms to appreciate people that have contributed immensely to our lives.

William Arthur Ward said: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed; happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with the heart of gratitude.

Gratitude is perhaps the greatest form of attitude.

Cicero said: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

Gratitude will always turn what you have into enough. There is a direct correlation between gratitude and abundance. When we are grateful, we will continually attract things to be grateful for.

Michael Bernard said: “Nothing new can come into your life unless you are grateful for what you already have.”

Doris Day said: “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.”

I have observed that people that complain don’t reach their destinations in life. Like the biblical story of the Israelites with uncontrollable penchant for complaining in the wilderness, it is sympathetic to know that virtually all of them didn’t reach the promise land.

Gratitude helps us to see what is there, instead of what isn’t. We will always have reasons to complain, but a wise man sees more reasons not to.

Charles Spurgeon said: “It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” Gratitude is the greatest multiplier.

Melody Beattie said: “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

According to Robert A. Emmons, the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, with 10 years of research on gratitude, pеорlе who рrасtisе gratitude tend to be more сrеаtivе, bоunсе back mоrе quickly from adversity and have a ѕtrоngеr immune system. Practising gratitude саn increase hаррinеѕѕ lеvеlѕ by аrоund 25 per cent.

Steven Furtick said: “Gratitude begins where my sense of entitlement ends.”

There is a fascinating story I will like to share on the power of gratitude. There was a woman in one of the Lebanese-owned fish industries in Lagos. The company deals mainly in frozen seafoods and has deep freezers built like micro houses (cold rooms) in different locations inside its premises.

There were different workers in different departments, some were involved in processing, some in packaging and some attached to the different cold rooms.

There was one amiable young woman who seems attitudinally different from the rest. While others went around with their sense of entitlement, this woman was always full of gratitude for even the most ‘entitled privilege.’

There was this eccentric gateman who everybody loathed and counted less than nothing. It was seldom to see the factory worker exchanging pleasantries with him, as most people were always in a haste to either enter the factory gate in the morning or exit it in the evening.

The young woman would always take her time every day to appreciate this gateman, whose job seemed like the most looked-down-on in the factory. Though throng of workers entered the same company every day, they all carried a sense of entitlement as the gateman opened and closed the gate.

But not this young woman; she would always say, ‘thank you’ each time she comes in contact with the gateman.

One fateful day, or maybe I should say ‘unfateful’ day, in a rush to change over from the factory’s outfit to her casual dress, she mistakenly locked herself in one of the room-sized cold room. She did everything to unlock it, but to no avail, as it can only be opened from the outside.

She tried some few more tricks, but none worked out. She started shouting on top of her voice to see whether someone somewhere could come to her rescue, but all the cold rooms were heavily insulated against heat and noise.

Around 6p.m. when virtually all the workers had left, the gateman felt uneasy, as he observed that he had not seen the young woman who he has gotten almost used to exchanging pleasantries with. He suspected something wasn’t right somewhere and decided to search through the factory for her.

His diligent search led him to the cold rooms and he started opening them one by one until he got to this particular one where the woman was almost frozen to death.

She was rescued, as many will say, by the gateman, but actually by her act of gratitude.

Albert Einstein said: “I am thankful to all those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I did it myself.”

A deep understanding of gratitude extends even to the people that rejected us. You need to also appreciate people that said NO to you, people that rejected you and even the people that left you when you needed them the most.

The truth is that if they had done otherwise, may be you would have settle for less in life. Good people give you happiness; bad people give you experience, best people give you memories. Appreciate everybody.

John F. Kennedy said: “We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”

Learn to celebrate the people in your life; they are in your life for a reason. List out seven people that have been so instrumental to your development and send them messages, telling them how they have added so much value to your life. Be intentional about appreciating the people in your life. Stop taking them for granted.

An attitude of ingratitude can literally block love, blessings and destiny from finding you. Don’t be the reason you don’t succeed.

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