“Gratitude” Can Turn To “Taking Things For Granted” Quicker Than We All Think.
“Be Grateful” is probably the most overused phrase you hear today both in your personal life and as I’ve seen lately, in business as well. I say it’s overused not because we should be “ungrateful” but rather because we have no idea what “being grateful” means in the first place. In fact, I’d even say that we don’t spend enough time being grateful, provided that we understand what it really means to be grateful.
In a world like today, with all the masochists, narcissist, vile and substance-less individuals/gurus with their podcasts and youtube channels telling you to “be grateful” gratitude has become a synonym for being lazy. You may understand me or you may not but I’m here to tell you that if anyone excessively talks about “being grateful” look at their actions very closely. Observe them, understand the patterns of their behavior, see what excessive talk about gratitude has done to them professionally or even personally.
They are the most Unmotivated, Undetermined Snollygosters out there (by the way, Snollygoster is my new favorite word). Being grateful at the expense of being unproductive is almost insulting to the word Gratitude.
If you’re a spiritual/religious person, you’d be aware of the principle in Faith that always talk about Gratitude. Does not matter what Faith you follow, practicing gratitude has always been highlighted because it is so necessary to us. It keeps us in check. So if you think about it logically, if God wanted you to be be grateful by behaving like a lazy jacka** pretending or even actually thinking that what you have achieved/received will not be taken away from you, it does not make sense now, does it? You’re insulting the Almighty.
They spend so much time “being grateful” that the reality is that they are taking things for granted living in a fake omniscient bubble. By the way, it’s not to say that they are not aware of this. They are fully aware that they are full of shit and they’re afraid the world will see it. So how do you slow the world finding out that you’re full of shit? Talk about how grateful you are. That alone is enough to manipulate people because it gives out the impression that they are humble in nature and are appreciative of life, even though they aren’t.
But as I said earlier, observe them. You’ll see things start to fall through the cracks. Their lives gradually diminishing in value. Personal lives in utter dysfunction, businesses on the verge of shutting down, colleagues, friends and even their own kids that grow up to lose respect for them because they start to see through their “fake gratitude”.
As with anything, anyone can talk about how grateful they are but you only know if they are full of shit or actually practicing it when you observe them over time.
Gratitude is where you do appreciate what you achieved/received, knowing that Life can take it away from you in a span of minutes if it wants. That humbles you. Knowing that it can be easily taken away from you means that you still do what needs to be done to hold onto it. You still work hard, you still keep improving because of that fear that you may lose it.
Let’s say you build your body, you think “being grateful” all the time is going to help you keep your body that way? No. You still need to do what needs to be done.
You think the business you run will grow if you are “being grateful” all the time? No. You’ll stay stagnant in the immediate and then lose eventually.
Gratitude if you’re not careful, can turn to you taking things for granted very quickly.
Anyone who talks excessively about “Gratitude” is actually takings for Granted. Always remember that.
To whoever is reading this, I hope you practice gratitude in its authentic sense. Appreciate where you are but never lose sight of the fact that you may lose it if you’re not careful. Only losers think they can hold onto it forever without doing the work.
Much Love,
Azfar
