Gratitude pays- if this is how we understand and appreciate the widely popular give and take concept of life. What we give in this case is our humble acknowledgement and sincere applause for the help or assistance that we receive from the source. This source could be any. From animate to the inanimate; from this world to the other world. The important thing is to be thankful for all the graces that we are being showered with. 'Count your blessings' is the mantra that works against our endless complaints and cribs for the smallest losses and heartaches to the major disappointments. The moment we start focusing on our 'haves', digressing from what we 'have not', things start changing for the good, in terms of mental peace ,calm, composure and a certain acceptance that helps us face the problems, that grip our mind and soul, in a wholesome manner.
It is about conditioning our mind to say a simple sweet 'thank you' to Him which is possible if we keep ourselves plain and grounded; embedded in the belief that to have our way is good but to have the way as planned by Him is even better. For He is the best planner who makes us realize the true meaning of the adage-man proposes, God disposes. It doesn't imply that because of this sheer belief we abandon our efforts. We should rather intensify to make them attainable. A Brazilian poet and writer, Paulo Coelho, in his best seller "The Alchemist" quoted: "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
In the process of planning and designing our future, if we stop for a moment to thank the All Mighty, we will sure feel better- mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Then the failures will lose their sting and the successes will not overpower our senses. We will remain collected as we would then know that we are not the makers; it is Him who pulls the strings and makes us dance to His tunes. In our revelry we swell with pride thinking we could 'get it' because of our brilliance and perseverance and in our lament we put the blame on our destiny, giving a sorry picture of our mortal existence. We should rather stay thankful to the Good Lord for teaching us a lesson if we have stumbled and giving us an opportunity to prove ourselves if we have soared. Sounds simple. But the problem is that it is the simplest things that we find most difficult to practice. Though we are taught from our childhood that we must say 'thank you' to the person who extends his/her help to us, irrespective of how little or insignificant it is, we somehow forget or find it too trivial to matter us in any way. But in reality it does. When we are clouded by our vanity, how would we possibly remember our Creator? It is not about any particular event or so, it is about habit. And habits can be formed and nurtured to make us better and useful to the society.
We need to unlearn our rashness and our feverish fit in which we tend to overlook the lessons that the Ultimate Master teaches us. He is forgiving to the core. And we are in the habit of taking Him for granted like we do in case of every thing else like our relationships which we manipulate and our environment which we exploit for our perpetual greed. Psychic disorders can be cured to a large extent if we give room to our humility and submissiveness. If we surrender our egoistic state and submit ourselves to His magnificence, He will take care of the rest. We need to believe in his authority without question. Questions raise doubts and doubts make us cynical. Gratitude is not the asset that the cynics flaunt; it is the virtue that the believers harbor.