Powerlessness And Gratitude

There are things in life we have to accept. Death, aging, unrequited love, and a general lack of answers to philosophical questions. For animals with large pre-frontal cortexes, it’s hard for us to accept these unacceptable realities.

Myself, being a type-A person, it is particularly difficult to accept powerlessness in the grand scheme of things. But, while researching vulnerability via Brené Brown’s work, I discovered a coping skill worth sharing. This coping mechanism is called gratitude.

Gratitude is “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”

The way I practice gratitude is in a journal. Every day I write down 10 things I am happy about in my life. I have been doing this since 2018. It has helped me because, during the difficult days and months, I am in the practice of counting my blessings. This helps me to separate the past from now and from the future. In essence, it’s easier to see the perspective of a bad day, not a bad life, when you flow-your-focus, as Lisa A. Romano instructs, to what is working in your life.

Since I have practiced gratitude, I have realized that vulnerability and powerlessness are parts of life. I don’t have to be happy about them, but I can accept them with grace. I can do this because I have spent years reprogramming my mind out of poverty and victim mindset into creator and victor mindset.

And after four years of practicing daily gratitude, I can honestly say it is necessary for building a healthier you. I would not have the sense of peace I have gained if I did not practice gratitude by mindfully looking around my life and counting my blessings.

So, if you are a hypervigilant overachiever, as I was most of my life, I highly recommend taking your excellent list-making skills and making yourself a daily gratitude list. It will drastically improve your resilience and general mood management over time. It’s worth it because you cannot control everything. You can’t control anything really except yourself and your responses.