Grateful living is possible only when we realize that other people and agents do things for us that we cannot do for ourselves.” — Robert Emmons.
According to his website, Robert Emmons is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. I never thought of gratitude as a science, but his website, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/profile/robert_emmons, is full of stuff.
I look on gratitude differently, more of a way of life, an attitude, rather than a scientific endeavor. I am no expert, but I would add to Professor Emmons statements. Instead of limiting gratitude to those who do things I can’t do myself, I would add gratitude is when we recognize someone who does something for us we choose to not do ourselves. I used to have a man who would mow, edge, and pick up leaves once a week for $25. He had all the equipment. When people accused me of being lazy by not tending to my own lawn, I reminded them I didn’t have to purchase and maintain all the equipment, and that I could spend that same hour at the office and come out way ahead.
Now, it would be wrong for me to think less of the man, because he was doing something I didn’t want to do. In fact I admired the heck out of him. He could do every lawn on our street in a matter of a few hours. I was also grateful and so was Suzy. He was doing what he enjoyed and so was I. We became fast friends. So to my way of thinking gratitude is not limited to people who do things I can’t do myself. I am grateful and thankful of lots of people who do what I don’t do, even though I could.
What do you think?
Leave a Reply +