Could it be that the attitude of gratitude so popular these days is a recipe for compliance and supporting the status quo?
The attitude of gratitude directs us to focus on what we have and what is going well. It says we should feel grateful for what we have and what's going well. It promises us that when we focus on what's right with our life and feel gratitude for it, we'll be better human beings and much happier too. It even has scientific evidence to support its claims.
Question: Is this not a sugar-coated form of, "Shut up, stop complaining, and be grateful for what you have"?
Think about it. If our roof is leaking, do we ignore it and look at all the roof that is not leaking and feel grateful that so much of our roof is just fine? No. We attend to the leak. We might feel irritated and even cuss about that leak. We then do something to fix it. Afterwards, we might feel grateful that the leak is fixed.
If we break our leg, do we ignore it and look at all of our other unbroken bones and give thanks for them? No. We do something about the broken bone. We feel grateful when the cast comes off and we're healthy again.
If we're in an abusive relationship at home or work do we ignore the abuse, attend to everything that's going well and feel grateful? Too often we do.
We would do well to save our gratitude for later, after we have changed our situation and moved on with a better life.
Too often the attitude of gratitude teaching directs us to ignore our problems and injustices, count our blessings, and give thanks for everything that isn't a problem. When we do so, it promises that we'll feel much better.
Guess what? It often works. We do often feel much better when we ignore what's harmful, attend to what's going well, count our blessings, and feel grateful. It's a mental narcotic.
This approach to living is fine if we want to be mentally and emotionally anesthetized to genuine problems and injustices that we face in life so that we can endure them rather than rise up and make a better life for ourselves.
Personally, I'm going for actually living a better life rather than anesthetizing myself, complying, and maintaining the status quo.
Where to start? This is one of your strongest blogs among so many thought-provoking writings. For starters, I could hear echoes of my mother in "Shut up, stop complaining, and be grateful for what you have." That alone is enough to make me question the attitude of gratitude.
ReplyDeleteYour follow-up points are so well-taken. Of course in life, if there is a problem, situation, or illness/disease, we do our best to address it, and not overlook it. Feeling better because one is ignoring something doesn't make it go away. If anything that ignoring only exacerbates it. The hole in the roof gets bigger. The broken leg doesn't mend, and may become infected or damaged beyond repair.
This goes for planetary problems as well. Ignoring the implications of global warming while being grateful for the flowers and the sunshine ignors the real problems global warming has created. There are other examples I could provide.
For me, your comments on this attitude of gratitude take me in two directions, it seems to me that I don't ever seem to get the gratitude thing right. I'm never grateful enough, and therefore come to feel badly about myself because what I do feel isn't sufficient, and nothing changes.
This also links to an earlier blog of yours--the one about choosing doing over being. Linked to this attitude of gratitude is "Be the change you want to see in the world." I'd certainly change this to "Do the change you want to see in the world." I want to do the action that needs doing, and then see gratitude in that change becoming reality.
Thanks for encouraging my actions through your writings. These actions are some of the best food for spirit I know.
Sara, thanks for reading and commenting!
DeleteYes, there are so many examples of things that we need to address but ignore. I will not be surprised if we see significant effects from global warming in our life-time.
Thanks for pointing out the connection between this posting and my post about prefering doing over being. Yes, they do go together.
Taking action both requires spirit and inspires (in-spirits) further action.
Ick, missed the follow bottom again! I will get the hang of this.
ReplyDelete