Gratitude is made up of two components. The first is,

the state of being grateful / which means (appreciative of benefits received.)

The second is,

THANKFULNESS: which means (conscious of benefit received.)

Gratitude is a gift that is often overlooked in our modern day. The other day, I witnessed an incident where a homeless person was offered $5. Now, the funny thing is, the homeless person rejected the $5 gift and replied, “That’s not enough.”

What kind of a world do we live in where we lose the ability to be grateful for the benefits that we receive, the kindness from others? This is disruptive in many ways and very alarming at the same time in our society. When we feel that we are so entitled and that we are above the help because it’s not enough, that’s when we’ve hit critical mass.

It’s time to really wake up. To be thankful is a wonderful thing. Once you can be thankful, you can start giving because you have the gratitude and that state of being grateful. Once you find that, it’s like finding out that you already have enough.

I really ask that we look at ourselves and how leavened we are and puffed up in our society today. It’s fast-paced, it’s disposable, and it’s very harming to all of us. When we find ourselves without gratitude, we find ourselves without care. That, my friends, is a very dangerous place to be.

People throw around the term narcissistic, narcissism all the time, and many of the times we hear those terms coming from individuals, they themselves are suffering from narcissistic behaviors. We find ourselves now living in a very competitive world. Sometimes, the competition is way overboard, and this is part of the world that we are living in today.

Every day that you wake up, it’s a gift. Are you grateful for it? Each time you get a nice clean drink of water, it’s a gift. Are you grateful for it? Every time you have the luxury of a decent night’s sleep, it’s a gift. Are you grateful for it?

When someone takes time out of their busy day to offer you help and you show a lack of gratitude, it dismisses humanity and it makes the person offering that support second guess himself or herself the next time. How is it that we can be so bloated that we cannot accept a portion? That’s what it’s all about really, is portions. It’s about, can you handle the portion that you receive?

If you don’t have gratitude for what you receive, how can you handle the portions that you receive? When someone offers you a portion, be very thankful. It’s a promise of new beginnings. It’s hope for a brighter future. It’s a promise for a better tomorrow.

How can we battle this lack of gratitude? Some simple things that you can do: make a list of things that you’re grateful for, keep a daily diary and list at least one thing you’re thankful for each day, say thank you to people when they do something for you or when they say something nice to you, and most important of all, tell people how you appreciate them when they help you.

It’s up to each and every one of us to make this a better world, and really, this is one of the major issues that we have to fight and battle and face each and every day because all of us feel kind of belittled in some way. But I’m here to tell you that you’re precious and you are very valuable to our world. We need you, and most of all, we need each other.

Let’s learn to be grateful and show gratitude where we need to the most. It starts with you.